Daily Prayers Monday, 4 July 2022

SONG
by Shuntarō Tanikawa

Someone
is singing
of me

in a tune of clouds
in a harmony of
trees

someday the rhyming
rhythm of my heart
will cease

but the song will go on
celebrating
you

The melody of water
will flow
along the river bottom

The pause of night
will echo
in the ruins

Welcome to Prayers for the Day.

We light a candle…

Lord, may this candle be a light for you to enlighten me in my decisions,
And may it be a fire for you to purify me from all pride and selfishness.
May it be a flame for you to build warmth into my heart towards my family,
my neighbours and all those who meet me.
In leaving this candle, I wish to give you something of myself.
Help me to continue this prayer into everything I do this day.
Amen.

Presence
I pause for a moment and think of the love
and the grace that God showers on me:
I am created in the image and likeness of God;
I am God’s dwelling-place.

Freedom
I ask for the grace to believe
in what I could be and do
if I only allowed God, my loving Creator,
to continue to create me, guide me and shape me.

Consciousness
I remind myself that I am in the presence of the Lord.
I will take refuge in His loving heart.
He is my strength in times of weakness.
He is my comforter in times of sorrow.

THE WORD OF GOD

Philippians 1:4-6
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy – being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

WORDS OF WISDOM

Your body is spiritual. There are not two halves of you: soul versus body. You are one whole, made in the image of a God who is integrated and indivisible. Your relationship to your body cannot be separated from the health of your soul, for the two are intertwined to make up all that it means to be you. Your flesh and bones are sacred; they connect you to your soul’s experience of the divine. Science indicates that your body is composed partly of stardust. Faith tells us this was no accident. The presence of your body on this earth today is a miracle—a massive statistical improbability. And yet here you are, held fast in the divine generosity of this body you were given. Here you are, your flesh and bones a product of a perfect, generative, mysterious Love; a Love that holds all things together.

The contemplative tradition centers on an awareness of the reality that all things are interconnected; all things find oneness within one another, and thereby within God. With this contemplative posture in mind, think about the miracle of your body’s existence on the planet, here against all odds. Let yourself be amazed and humbled. As you come to honor your place in the universal life of God, see if you can notice and physically feel the gratitude in your body.

by Shannon K. Evans

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for the work you are doing. We thank you for working through people of all kinds and of all vocations and through the many hearts that know your goodness. We thank you for the great work led by the Lord Jesus, who will overcome the world with patience and with gentleness. He will overcome the world, opening the door wide for all, including the poorest of the poor, to come to you, their Father in heaven. Grant that with the light we have been given we may remain firm and true. Do not let us come into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever.
Amen.

IMAGE FOR TODAY

Night Music, A Song To The Moon, 2019
By Christopher Corr

THE BLESSING

May God the provider of green pastures and
quiet waters be the peace in our hearts today
May Jesus our guide on mountain top and valley
deep be the hope in our hearts today
May the Spirit of truth and knowledge
comforter and friend be the strength in our hearts today
Amen

Thank you for join us. Have a wonderful day

Revd. Ernesto Lozada-Uzuriaga