Praying at Home Today: Friday 24 July 2020
A warm 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
God is mindful of his covenant for ever,
of the word that he commanded,
for a thousand generations.Memor fuit in saeculum testamenti sui;
verbi quod mandavit in mille generationes.L’Eternel se rappelle toujours son alliance,
se rappelle toujours son alliance,
son mot d’ordre pour 1000 générations.
Psalm 104 (105):8
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
God’s faithfulness
The Scriptures constantly remind us of God’s covenant, the promise to be with God’s people through every generation.
We hear that even when they turned away, and God was angry with them for their infidelity, yet God welcomed them back.
The people of Israel constantly tried to understand God within their own framework (a danger for all of us!), and part of their attempts to tame God was to build a house for God to dwell in.
But as Stephen, whom we hear in the New Testament reading, told his persecutors, you cannot build a house for God.
Yet in love, God does choose to make a home with us: in our hearts.
The shortest psalm
The shortest psalm is just two verses long and contains all we need to know.
Alleluia.
O praise the Lord all you nations,
acclaim the Lord all you peoples.Strong is God’s love for us,
God is faithful for ever.
Psalm 116 (117)
Mozart wrote a glorious setting of this psalm for solo soprano, chorus and orchestra as part of his Vesperae solennes de confessore, KV 339.
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Prayer Suggestions
We pray for our fragile world,
the earth and its peoples.
For those who most need to hear Good News.
We pray for churches and other places of worship
preparing to re-open for services,
and for those who are experiencing trepidation.
We pray for all those helping to prepare our places of worship.
As parts of the world are still experiencing high levels of of the coronavirus infection,
we pray for those most affected.
For African nations facing political conflict.
For journalists under attack for endeavouring to uncover the truth.
That we may not take anything for granted, but always be thankful for your gifts to us.
a moment of silence
Pray for us all.
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
Praise be to you, Lord God
for giving us your word,
your faithful covenant to be with your people
until the end of time.
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 are several books by Brother Roger of the Taizé Community from many booksellers
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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