Praying at Home Today: Thursday 15 October 2020
Praying at home today: grounded in God’s loving-kindness
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!
We follow the Track 2 “related” Old Testament reading and psalm (or equivalent response).
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
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of God’s salvation from day to day.Cantate Domino, et benedicite nomini ejus;
annuntiate de die in diem salutare ejus.Chantez en l’honneur de l’Eternel, bénissez son nom,
annoncez de jour en jour son salut!
Psalm 95 (96):2
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
False premises
In those days there was no king in Israel;
all the people did what was right in their own eyes.
The concluding part of the book of Judges is thought-provoking.
It’s anarchy. People are without honest leaders; they are lawless, each doing what they think to be right.
They use the name of God with every intention of doing what is right but get it fundamentally wrong.
In philosophy, there is the concept of the false premise. You can argue from a particular position, with every subsequent step logically argued. The only problem is that as the first statement is wrong, you consequently end up in the wrong place.
Sincere and yet wrong
Micah (or Micayehu, ‘One who is like Yahweh’) – no relation to the prophet – returns 1,100 silver pieces to his mother, who consecrates it to the Lord to make an idol, something strictly forbidden in the law of Moses.
Micah then builds a shrine with all the trappings and installs one of his sons as his priest.
How did it go so wrong?
They have lost their way; they are no longer grounded in the law of Moses and the covenant made between God and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
In due course, they will ask for a king to rule them (1 Samuel 8).
John warns about a false leader
The Apostle John, in this very short letter, commends the community but warns them about someone who appears to have set himself up as its leader, deciding for himself who can and who cannot be members of the church.
So how can we know what to do?
John goes on to say
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil
but imitate what is good.
There is also a hint in the Psalm:
Worship the Lord in holy splendour;
tremble before him, all the earth.
As the Psalmist says elsewhere,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
all who do so, prove themselves wise.
So we need to be grounded in God’s loving-kindness, seeking to do what is good, and truthful and straight-forward, avoiding disingenuous talk and thought.
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of God’s salvation from day to day.
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Prayer Suggestions
On this day when we commemorate Theresa of Avila (Teacher of the Faith, 1582), we pray at home today, bringing before God the needs of the world:
- for all who make faith intelligible
and all who are seeking understanding of their faith - for all in ministry, that they may continually refresh their knowledge
- for artists and sculptors, writers and musicians
- for those who tend the sick and care for the weary.
(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we pray today
for the Revd Val Nellist
and we pray for the repose of the soul of Malcolm Allan,
who played the organ for our Friday Eucharist for 20 years.
May he rest in peace and rise in glory.)
We pray for all who have asked for our prayers.
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
Almighty and merciful God:
in your goodness keep from us all that is harmful;
that, being ready both in body and soul,
we may freely accomplish your will;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen.
Returning to the world
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.
In these strange times, we are called to trust
* 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
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 related 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.
English Bible texts are usually 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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