Praying at Home Today: Tuesday 28 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
You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it.Visitasti terram, et inebriasti eam;
multiplicasti locupletare eam.Tu prends soin de la terre et tu lui donnes l’abondance,
tu la combles de richesses.
Psalm 64 (65):9a
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 Old Testament reading has a most peculiar verse.
Genesis 30:39 tells us of Jacob’s deviousness in thwarting his father-in-law’s scheming.
Context
The context of this strange verse is this.
Laban had already had 14 years’ labour from his son-in-law in return for marrying his daughters Leah and Rachel. As he wanted still more, he asks Jacob what wages he wants in return for working for him.
Jacob asks for the “impure”-coloured goats and sheep (the striped, the spotted, and the black), as they were considered of less value.
However, Laban cheats Jacob, again, by removing all of those sheep and goats three days’ distance away, thus preventing Jacob from getting any animals that would be able to breed more.
Jacob’s response
It’s here that the verse comes in. Jacob knows that the animals mate when they come to drink, so he sets up peeled sticks with exposed bark. This somehow causes the animals to be born with stripes and spots etc.
Jacob also chooses the strongest ones, thus defeating Laban’s plan.
In fact, as we hear in the next chapter, Jacob has been promised by God that he will have large colour-varied flocks.
All very odd.
Incidentally, Laban is the Hebrew word for white, the colour exposed when Jacob peeled the sticks.
Water, water everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink
As I write this, where we are, in central Scotland, it’s been raining most of the day.
Again.
(Not that it always rains here; it just seems like it sometimes!)
Most of us prefer the sunshine to rain, and yet it is the rain that makes the grass green; that, combined with oxygen and sunlight, enables growth.
So let’s be thankful for the rain!
aw
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Prayer Suggestions
In an uncertain world,
where the rich and powerful cheat the poor,
we turn to the Lord.
We pray for the Jewish people, so often reviled for being who they are.
For the people of Islam.
For people of faith everywhere.
We pray for those who have no faith,
those who cannot believe.
We pray for the dispossessed, especially those in Palestine.
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
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel,
we turn to you in our need;
fill us with your blessing this day
and help us discern your presence amongst us.
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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