May 11, 2020
A daily prayer during this COVID-19 crisis
During these difficult days, Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar and the members of the Extended Cabinet are sharing a daily prayer based on the Revised Common Lectionary for the week.
You are welcome to use these in worship or in your own devotions.
Today’s prayer
Creator God, as your spirit dwells within us we feel a sense of peace and calmness. We thank you for your abiding presence as we lift our voices in praise. We thank you for installing within us the desire to enjoy life as well as the impulse to call upon your name. We give you thanks for the time to rest in your spirit and ask you to be a part of this day. Walk with each of us, and assist us in our tasks. Keep us ever under the canopy of your care, and let not our hearts be troubled. We pray for wisdom when life becomes difficult in every imaginable way. We ask not to be separated from the stresses and strains of this life, nor kept from problems and pain; but to be guarded by your grace amid all sunshine and shadow. Shelter us through the passages of life and encourage us daily that we may be used to advance your kingdom.
We lift our hearts to you as the source of our strength and inspiration, and we are grateful for the many challenges and possibilities that lie within this new day. Let your spirit push us onward O God, and help us not to become discouraged by difficulties in life. Help us instead to become inspired by what might be. Instill within each of us a desire to face every challenge in life with the possibility of excelling and transforming adversity into victory. Calm our minds, and soothe our spirits as we sense your presence among us.
We thank you for the many qualities that you have endowedhumanity. We thank you for our capacities to experience the senses of touch, sight, sound, smell, to express ourselves as your creation; each in our own way; and to be attached to the earth and to feel the rhythms of time. In all these ways, O God, we are grateful for the gift of life, and we thank you for your abiding presence as we lift our voices in praise. We pray these things in your Name, and we rejoice in your Spirit. Amen
Morning Has Broken Morning has broken like the first morning; blackbird has spoken like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for the singing fresh from the Word! Sweet the rain’s new fall sunlit from heaven, like the first dew fall on the first grass. Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden, sprung in completeness where his feet pass. Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning born of the one light Eden saw play! Praise with elation, praise every morning, God’s recreation of the new day!
By Rev. Dr. David Calhoun, CT/Western MA District Superintendent
Morning Has Broken pg. 145 UMH Words by Eleanor Frajeon Music: Carlton R. Young 1988 United Methodist Hymnal: The United Methodist Publishing House Copyright 1989 Psalm 31:1-5. 15-15, Acts 7:55-60, John 14: 1-14