Praying at Home Today: Tuesday 7 July 2020
Welcome to PrayingAtHome.com, where you can find some worship resources for praying at home today or wherever you are.
We hope these readings, prayers, music and the short reflection 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.
Please note that with effect from 29 June 2020, we have reverted to the Track 1 “semi-continuous” Old Testament readings (this also affects the psalm or equivalent response); the New Testament and Gospel readings remain unchanged.
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
My beloved speaks and says to me:
‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come.’En dilectus meus loquitur mihi.
Surge, propera, amica mea, columba mea, formosa mea, et veni. **Mon bien-aimé parle et me dit:
«Lève-toi, mon amie, ma belle, et viens!»
Song of Songs 2:10
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
Yet another love story in Genesis
After hearing about Isaac and Rebekah (and how Rebekah helped her younger son gain Isaac’s blessing), we hear more about Jacob.
He has had the dream of a ladder going to heaven, with angels ascending and descending; he has heard the voice of the Lord God, promising him and his descendants the land on which he was sleeping; and he has called the place Bethel, Beth-El, the house of God.
Girl and Boy Meet
Jacob continues his journey to his mother’s family and meets Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother.
They fall in love. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Except that although he does seven years’ work to gain her as a bride, his uncle Laban has cheated him by substituting her sister Leah. And, somehow, he doesn’t discover this until after the wedding night. It must have been quite a wedding feast!
After the wedding week of celebrations, Jacob is allowed to marry Rachel, providing he does another seven years’ work for uncle Laban.
So that’s two sisters he’s married – and it goes further! (This is before the laws in Leviticus 18:18, forbidding marriage of two sisters).
Perhaps karma is playing a role here; as Jacob has cheated Esau, so he is cheated of Rachel at first.
Jacob, of course, is the one we will hear about in the story of Joseph and his brothers.
A significant point here is that it is through these 12 sons that the 12 tribes of Israel come about.
And of course 12 is an important number in the New Testament.
Prayer Suggestions
We pray for the Jewish people,
the people to whom God made the initial covenant.
We pray for justice and peace in the Middle East.
We pray for those who have no choice in whom they marry,
that they may learn to love and respect one another.
We pray that we may respect and delight in God’s creation.
For those who are ill in hospital, or at home,
and for those who care for them.
We pray for those who are affected most by the pandemic,
our hospital staff and care workers.
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
Living God,
your ways are beyond our ways
and your understanding beyond our understanding;
continue, we pray,
to give us a glimpse of your Kingdom
where we will be made one.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Benedicamus Domino.
Deo gratias.
Thank you for joining us in praying at home.
Oremus pro invicem.
* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud
** There is a beautiful setting of this text by the English composer Francis Grier. It’s part of a stunning album by the Rodolfus Choir, some of the finest young singers in the British Isles.
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
Praying at Home Today: Acknowledgements
* Beginning with the week after Pentecost, the lectionary for weekdays is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Currently, we’re following the semi-continuous readings (Track 1).
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.
English Bible texts 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.
Latin Bible texts are from Biblia Sacra Vulgata, and are in the Public Domain.
French Bible texts are from Version Segond 21, copyright © 2007 Société Biblique de Genève by Société Biblique de Genève.
Images, unless otherwise stated, are from lockdown in Scotland, by Alistair Warwick.
Music engraved by The Art of Music.
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