Morning Prayer Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Salutation
by Ezra Pound
O generation of the thoroughly smug
and thoroughly uncomfortable,
I have seen fishermen picnicking in the sun,
I have seen them with untidy families,
I have seen their smiles full of teeth
and heard ungainly laughter.
And I am happier than you are,
And they were happier than I am;
And the fish swim in the lake
and do not even own clothing.
Good morning and welcome to Morning Prayer
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever.
Amen.
Breathe in
Breathe out
Be still…
I arise today,
embraced in the arms
of God the Father,
empowered by the strength
of God the Spirit,
immersed in the love
of God the Son.
I arise today
in the company
of the Trinity,
Father, Spirit and Son.
I arise today
Amen
Presence
“Come to me all you who are burdened
and I will give you rest”
Here I am, Lord.
I come to seek Your presence.
I long for your healing power.
Freedom
Lord, you created me to live in freedom.
May your Holy Spirit guide me to follow you freely.
Instil in my heart a desire
To know and love you more each day.
Consciousness
My soul longs for your presence, Lord.
When I turn my thoughts to you,
I find peace and contentment.
THE WORD OF GOD
Mark 6:30-34
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
WORDS OF WISDOM
The first recordings of “The Great Themes of Scripture” began in October, 1973. There were about 1,200 young people attending Friday night services through the newly formed New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati. Richard would often preach for an hour, mostly on the Bible. Soon, Sister Pat Brockman, an Ursuline nun, suggested recording Richard’s series of lectures on Scripture and selling the cassettes. Richard didn’t think anyone would buy them. Audiocassette tapes were just becoming popular and widespread—and they were for music, he thought.
Richard recalls: Sister Pat asked me to pray about it for a day and then we’d ask God what to do. So we met the next day and I very hopefully opened the Bible as a good Pentecostal would do. And I put my finger on this verse: “The sower went out to sow the seed” (Mark 4:3). Really! That sounded sort of like making tapes. So we did. For years I was introduced as the “tape priest.” Now my friends say I don’t have a single untaped thought! It is sort of embarrassing. I guess Sister Pat was right; people really wanted to learn the Scriptures. Those first twelve tapes were called “The Great Themes of Scripture.” Here is a brief segment of how I introduced the book of Genesis:
Perhaps the most important thing to bear in mind when reading the first chapters of Genesis is that it is written not about the past but about the present. It is about the perennial present, the present that is always with us. It is not a book of history or a scientific account of creation. It is not an eyewitness report of how the world and the human race began. Rather, it is a mythological portrayal of the relationship between the Creator and the creation.
The first chapters of Genesis contain not one but two creation stories. The ancient writers were not worried by the obvious differences between the two accounts. For them, both revealed the same inspired truth: that God alone is the Creator, that everything else is God’s creation, and that everything which God creates is good.
We see this most clearly in the first creation story: On each day of creation, God looks at what has been done and calls it good. On the sixth day, God looks back over everything completed and says, “Yes, it’s all very good indeed!” And on the seventh day, God rests.
Poet Wendell Berry captures God’s delight in creation:
Time when the Maker’s radiant sight
Made radiant every thing He saw,
And every thing He saw was filled
With perfect joy and life and light.
Put in theological terms, the story is saying that everything is grace, everything is gift, everything comes from God. God is the One who makes something out of nothing and gives it to us, not way back when, but here and now. God makes us what we are, and gives us to ourselves as a free gift.
Fr Richard Rohr
https://cac.org/genesis-everything-is-gift-2021-06-28/
Copyright © 2021 by CAC. Used by permission of CAC. All rights reserved worldwide.
PRAYERS & INTERCESSIONS
We pray for the world…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for the universal church of Christ…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
We pray for one another and all those known to us…
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
May God the Father
prepare your journey,
Jesus the Son
guide your footsteps,
The Spirit of Life
strengthen your body,
The Three in One
watch over you,
on every road
that you may follow.
Amen
THE BLESSING
May your day be blessed
by moments of quietness,
light in your darkness,
strength in your weakness,
grace in your meekness,
joy in your gladness,
peace in your stillness.
May your day be blessed
AMEN
Thank you for join us…have a wonderful day
Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga
