Saturday Psalm #147
How I love to sing praises to you, my God,
how pleasant and fitting it is to praise you!
Build up your people, Lord;
gather them from exile and exclusion.
Heal the brokenhearted
and bind up their wounds.
You know the number of the stars,
you call each one by name.
You are so great, Lord, and mighty in power;
your understanding is infinite.
You sustain the humble,
but cast the wicked to the ground.
I sing to you, LORD, with thanksgiving;
I love to worship you in song,
especially among your gathered saints,
and especially in four-part harmony!
You cover the sky with clouds;
supply the earth with rain
and make grass grow on the hills.
You provide food for cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.
Your greatest pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor in human ingenuity...
you delight in those who fear you,
who put their hope in your unfailing love.
Extol the LORD, O people of God;
praise your God, you saints,
for he is your protector
and your reward.
He gives peace
and nourishment.
He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like cake icing
and scatters the frost like glitter.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
But then He sends his word and melts them all;
he stirs up his breezes, and the spring waters flow.
When he can do all that,
do you doubt that he can speak his word to your heart?
Can you seriously worry
that he will not be faithful to you--
you whom he has chosen,
you whom he has favored?
Praise the LORD.
(photo by AlexasFotos via pixabay.com)
Like a Shepherd
In your pleasant pastures feed me, for my use your folds prepare.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! You have bought me, I am yours.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! You have bought me, I am yours.
I am yours, my Friend and Helper, be the Guardian of my way;
Keep me safely in your favor, seek me when I go astray.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Hear, O hear me when we pray.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Hear, O hear me when we pray.
You have been so gracious, Gentle Shepherd, saved my soul and set me free;
You have led me into spacious pasture, daily shown your face to me.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! I will serve you all my days.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! I will serve you all my days.
(from the hymn, Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us, revised and updated)
Through Weakness
Your power works best in my weakness.
Let the power of Christ work in me
through weakness
by your gracious favor.
Amen.
(based on 2 Corinthians 12:9, NLT; photo by Veri997 via pixabay.com)
You Turn Tables
have long spoken of you.
And we have their spokenness in our hands,
in these old texts.
We propose now to study you,
to weigh and test,
to examine and assess,
to make you our "object"
and so to get a grade.
In your strangeness,
you are studied only temporarily
object only penultimately,
weighed and tested only at the outset.
But then - as always -
You turn tables,
You become subject who addresses,
sovereign who commands,
mother who loves,
warrior who defends,
And we find ourselves turned in our study to praise and adoration.
So we ask for freedom to love you with our minds,
that we may know a little as we are known,
and in knowing may love and adore,
and in loving and adoring, may obey...
to your praise,
and our joy, Amen.
(from Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: The Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, by way of the Daily Prayer blog. The background of the photo is explained here, on the Hither & Yon blog)
On Her Birthday
the loveliest bride,
the perfect woman for me,
and I am grateful.
Thank you
for hearing my heart's cry 46 years ago
and thank you
for giving her in marriage to me 43 years ago.
And thank you
for every day with her since then,
in Jesus' name, amen.
To Joyfully Set Out
creator of a good and beautiful world,
may we joyfully set out on this day
in your name,
and fill it with acts of love
for you and our brethren.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever. Amen.
(illustration by jplenio via pixabay.com)
Saturday Psalm #146
Oh, how I praise you, LORD.
I praise you with my whole heart!
I praise you with my life;
your praise will live in me as long as life lives in me!
I have learned the folly of putting my trust in people,
of expecting constancy and faithfulness from mere humans.
We are all so faithless and so fleeting,
and even the best among us fall so far short.
That's why it makes sense to look only to you for help, God of Jacob.
That's why my hope is in you alone,
maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
Yahweh, Adonai, El Shaddai, the Faithful One forever.
You uphold the cause of the oppressed
and defend the defenseless.
You give food to the hungry
and set prisoners free.
You give sight to the blind,
lift up those who are bowed down.
You give yourself to those who give themselves to you,
you watch over the alien
and sustain the fatherless and the widow,
while frustrating the ways of the wicked.
Why do I forget all this, Lord?
Why do I so easily forget your faithfulness?
Why do I stress,
get worked up,
as if you weren't on the job?
Yet I have seen you
vindicate the righteous
and humble the proud.
I have seen you
prove yourself faithful to those whose hope is in you.
I have seen little, vindictive, unforgiving people
wither and waste
like untended vines.
You reign forever,
God of Zion,
God of me,
for all generations.
Oh, how I praise you!
To Know Who They Are
My prayer today for my kids and my grandkids, from the "31 Ways to Pray for Your Kids" app for iPhone and iPad:
Grant Me These Good Things
to grant me a good heart,
a good portion,
a good inclination,
a good friend,
a good name,
a good eye,
a good soul,
a lowly disposition,
and a humble spirit. Amen.
(from the Talmud, Tractate Berakhot)
Until Respondent Voices Rend the Air
Son of the All-highest, bringer of salvation to the human race, you to whom your Begetter has committed all the powers of his Fatherhood, keeping none back in envy, but giving freely, open a way for my prayers and safely convey them to your Father's ears.
Grant me a heart, O Father, to hold out against all deeds of wrong, and deliver me from the serpent's deadly venom, sin....
Prepare a road that I, being freed from the fetters of this frail body, may be led up on high, where in the clear heaven the Milky Way stretches above the wandering clouds of the wind-vexed moon--that road by which the holy men of old departed from the earth; by which Elias, being caught up in the chariot, once made his ways alive above our lower air; and Enoch, too, who went before his end without change of body.
Grant me, O Father, the effluence of everlasting light for which I yearn, and bring to your altar the offering of a stainless life.
Grant me your pardon, Father, and relieve my anguished breast...and when the hour of my last day shall come, grant that the conscience of a life well spent cause me not to fear death, nor yet long for it. When, through your mercy, I appear cleansed from my secret faults, let me despise all else, and let my one delight be to await in hope your judgment. And if that day delays, keep me far from that fierce tempter, the serpent, with his false allurements.
Claim these prayers as your own before the eternal Father, Son of God to whom I pray, Savior, God and Lord, Mind, Glory, Word and Son, very God of very God, Light of Light, who remains with the eternal Father, reigning throughout all ages, whose praise the harmonious songs of tuneful David echo forth, until respondent voices rend the air with "Amen."
(a prayer by Ausonius, shortened and updated slightly)
That Inner Gift
Lord, I would share,But first possess,That inner gift, serenity.Then, comforted, blessed, free from unrest,Serve you nonetheless,But with tranquility.(from Abundant Living, by E. Stanley Jones, p. 155; slightly revised)
It Pales
All that is future and unknown
All that the world would sell--it pales compared to you.
All that is in us hears your call
Mountains of doubt before you fall
All that we could not give before--abandoned now.
(by Frederick Booth-Tucker;
photo via everystockphoto.com)
An Independence Day Prayer
Lord my God, I worship you today,
on this 244th birthday of this nation,
these wonderful United States of America
in which I live.
I thank you for the freedom
to worship you publicly...
even as I ask you to show kindness and mercy
to those who lack that freedom
because they live elsewhere.
Thank you for all those
who have sacrificed for my freedom,
for those who risked
(and some who gave) their lives
to make this a free and independent nation,
for those in my nation's armed services, past and present,
and for all who have served the cause of liberty in other ways...
even as I pray for those who even now
are in harm's way,
far from home,
in this nation's service.
Please meet their needs,
watch over them and their loved ones,
and grant them your favor in every way.
And, Father, on this Independence Day 2020,
I pray for the people in this land
and every land
who have not yet discovered the freedom
that is offered to them in your Son, Jesus Christ.
Draw them to you,
set them free
from sin and sadness and strife,
and grant them the eternal freedom
that is found only in trusting you,
in Jesus' name, amen.
To Feel the Music of Living
Giver of life, creator of all that is lovely,
Teach me to sing the words to your song;
I want to feel the music of living
And not fear the sad songs
But from them make new songs
Composed of both laughter and tears.
Teach me to dance to the sounds of your world and your people,
I want to move in rhythm with your plan,
Help me to try to follow your leading
To risk even falling
To rise and keep trying
Because you are leading the dance.
(author unknown)
Ready to Give Us Pardon
(a prayer of John Calvin, in his Commentary on Hosea, translated into English in 1846 and updated by me into modern English; photo illustration by fancycrave1 via pixabay.com)
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