Morning Prayer Saturday, 13 June 2020
A reading from the Prophet Micah
6 With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
…
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6: 6a & 8 NIV®
O for a closer walk with God,
a calm and heavenly frame;
a light to shine upon the road
that leads me to the Lamb!
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed,
how sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
the world can never fill.
These words of William Cowper of Olney are a heart-felt prayer, as well as a hymn.
We pray that we may walk closely and humbly with you, dear God.
When we walk closely with you
we are walking together with all your faithful followers in harmony and unity.
Please grant your Church of Christ the Cornerstone, all its people, leaders and ministers your peace and harmony.
Give us humility, grant us patience, and confirm and strengthen our faith that your will be done on earth and in your Church.
Each Sunday we symbolically exchange the peace with one another;
we pray that in our words and deeds we turn this symbolic act into an everyday reality.
We thank you and give you praise for all the gifts you have showered on us, in your benevolence.
We pray that we may spread these gifts with all our neighbours, near and far.
Help us to use this time of enforced isolation to consider and re-evaluate
how we live our lives to minimise our harmful impact on the environment,
and how we can work towards a more just society.
Grant us the self-awareness to recognise when our lifestyle choices are part of the problem,
and make appropriate changes to our way of life.
When we pray, as we are about to, that ‘your will be done’, make us recognise that it is we who have to do it.
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
Return, O holy Dove, return,
sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made thee mourn
and drove thee from my breast.
The dearest idol I have known,
whate’er that idol be,
help me to tear it from thy throne
and worship only thee.
So shall my walk be close with God,
calm and serene my frame;
so purer light shall mark the road
that leads me to the Lamb.
William Cowper (1731–1800)
CCL31580
