Praying at Home Today: Friday 21 August 2020
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A warm welcome to PrayingAtHome.com, where you can find 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.
Everything is optional!
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
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini,
qui fecit caelum et terram.Notre secours est dans le nom de l’Eternel,
qui a fait le ciel et la terre.
Psalm 123 (124):8
The Liturgy of the Word *
Here are today’s Bible readings.
You can read just one, or all three if you have time.
One link to all three readings
Separate links to each reading
Short Reflection
Jacob’s death and burial
As we saw yesterday, Jacob tells his sons that he is to be buried with his ancestors near Mamre in Canaan.
There are buried Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah and Leah, Jacob’s first wife. (Rachel, who had died giving birth to Benjamin, had been buried on the road to Ephrath, at Bethlehem.
So Jacob’s tasks are accomplished and his family restored; he dies, full of years.
Joseph grieves for his father
After so many years separated from his dad, for many of them not knowing if he would ever see him again, Joseph is overcome with grief.
This must surely reciprocate Jacob’s grief for him when he had disappeared all those years earlier.
Grief
Grief is natural: it’s the price we pray for loving someone.
It can be bewildering.
The five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance –
are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost.
They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling.
But they are not stops on some linear timeline in grief.
Five Stages of Grief
by Elisabeth Kubler Ross & David Kessler
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Prayer Suggestions
We remember those who have someone missing from their lives.
For those who are journeying with one who is dying.
We pray for those who are living with mental health issues.
We thank God for the gift of friendship and support.
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
Visit this place, O Lord, we pray,
and drive far from it the snares of the enemy;
may your holy angels dwell with us and guard us in peace,
and may your blessing be always upon us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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.
You can buy ‘The Complete Chronicles of Narnia’ at Amazon
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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