Praying at Home: Friday 26 June 2020
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Here you can find some worship resources for each day.
We hope these will help you stay in touch with the Church
and to sustain you on your journey through life.
If this is your first visit to this website, then you might like to read about the common elements and the suggested structure for each day’s prayer.
Opening to the Word
You can spend a few moments in silence,
focussing on your breathing
to become more mindful of the present moment
and to open yourself more fully
to God’s presence within you.
In the name of the living God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Short reading
Occasions for stumbling are bound to come,
but woe to anyone by whom they come!Impossibile est ut non veniant scandala:
vae autem illi per quem veniunt.Il est inévitable qu’il y ait des pièges,
mais malheur à celui qui en est responsable!
Luke 17:1
The Liturgy of the Word *
Here are today’s Bible readings.
You can read just one, or all of them if you have time.
Short Reflection
The people of Judah have not obeyed God and they are about to be taken into exile in Babylon.
They’ve been warned, time and time again:
For twenty-three years,
from the thirteenth year of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah to this day,
the word of the Lord has come to me,
and I have spoken persistently to you,
but you have not listened.
The land is going to be devastated, the sound of merryment and gladness will be gone.
For how long?
Seventy years!
Jesus warns his hearers that occasions for stumbling will be impossible to avoid totally.
But he states very clearly that if anyone should be the cause of others to stumble it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea and drowned.
What an irony, given the news we’re seeing on our screens!
Thousands of people, who are so relieved to have heard from their Government what they want to hear, are putting their own and many, many others’ lives at risk.
They are desparate for a return to normality.
They are foolish, yes, but the greater guilt lies with those who make out that everything’s OK,
that it doesn’t matter if you break the rules,
if you disobey the guidance
because in some invisible, unknown way, they’re “special”,
they’re above the law.
The reaction of many people to this news will be a mixture of grief and horror — and of immense sadness.
How can we allow ourselves to be fooled in this way?
What can we do?
We feel so helpless in the hands of forces greater than ourselves.
As Jeremiah warned the civic leaders, time and time again, at great cost to himself, so governments are being warned by modern-day prophets, and these contemporary witnesses to the truth are mocked and derided.
And disaster is guaranteed.
What can we do?
Prayer Suggestions
We pray.
We pray for our leaders, that they may learn wisdom and humility.
We pray for desparate people, for those who just want things to go back to normal.
We pray for those who despair at our stupidity.
We pray for those who are seriously ill
those who worry about them
and those who care for them.
We pray that we may do our part to keep others safe from the virus.
We pray for our politicians seeking to guide a path of safety for us,
for scientists who try to advise them;
we pray for those who work in our countries’ National Health Services,
for essential workers,
for those in care homes,
for all of us.
Music for reflection *
The Lord’s Prayer
We can say the Lord’s Prayer in any language or version we choose.
Here it is, in English, Latin and French.
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.
Pater noster, qui es in cælis;
sanctificatur nomen tuum:
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie:
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris:
et ne nos inducas in tentationem:
sed libera nos a malo.
Quia tuum est regnum,
et potestas, et gloria, in saecula.
Amen.
Notre Père qui es aux cieux,
que ton nom soit sanctifié.
Que ton règne vienne.
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offences
comme nous pardonnons aussi
à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,
mais délivre-nous du mal.
Car c’est à toi qu’appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire
pour les siècles des siècles. Amen.
Concluding prayer
Loving God,
when the world was at its darkest,
you sent your Son
into the far country of our world
to unite himself to us
and bring us back to you.
We thank you as we pray for our fellow citizens
and for ourselves.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Benedicamus Domino.
Deo gratias.
Thank you for joining us today.
Oremus pro invicem.
* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud
There are several books by Brother Roger of the Taizé Community from many booksellers (Amazon link)
In these strange times, we are called to trust
Other worship resources
Acknowledgements
* Beginning with the week after Pentecost, the lectionary for weekdays is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Currently, we’re following the complementary readings (Track 2).
In that lectionary, the readings are in the following order: Old Testament reading, Psalm, New Testament reading; we have changed the order to the more usual OT, Psalm and NT.
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Images, unless otherwise stated, are from lockdown, by Alistair Warwick.
Music engraved by The Art of Music.
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