Praying at Home Today: Saturday 31 October 2020
Praying at home today: for integrity for civil and religious leaders
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
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you are like whitewashed tombs.Vae vobis scribae et pharisaei hypocritae,
quia similes estis sepulchris dealbatis.Malheur à vous, spécialistes de la loi et pharisiens hypocrites,
parce que vous ressemblez à des tombeaux blanchis.
Matthew 23:27a
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
Both Malachi and Jesus (in Matthew’s Gospel) warn of the hypocrisy of leaders, both speech and action.
Corrupt religious leaders
The corrupted priests who dishonour their calling are called upon to implore mercy from God and to live up to that calling, the natural outcome otherwise is that they are cursed.
They are required to listen to God’s word, the word that they preach, and take it to heart, that they may continue to share in the covenant of life and well-being, walking in integrity and uprightness.
Civil leaders
Civil leaders are also warned. This curse is laid on them too: those who cheat the poor, those who bear false witness, those who lie about their opponents to advance their own power.
One of our well-loved hymns speaks powerfully of the temporal nature of human power.
So be it, Lord, thy throne shall never,
like earth’s proud empires, pass away.
Thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever
till all thy creatures own thy sway.
Choose life
In our world today, we are standing at a junction, with so many corrupt leaders destroying their peoples with irresponsible lack of leadership, be it in our response to the environment to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic or in social justice (and the three are not unlinked).
Sometimes we may despair of all this.
And yet we are called today to choose life:
I call heaven and earth
to witness against you today
that I have set before you
life and death,
blessings and curses.Choose life
so that you and your descendants may live.
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Prayer Suggestions
We pray at home today, bringing before God the needs of the world
- for civil and religious leaders
that they may act with integrity - for the people of the United States, at this election time
- for our young people, growing up in an ever-increasingly fragile world
- for our old folk, worried for the future
- for those who work diligently, caring for the environment
We pray for all who have asked for our prayers.
a moment of silence
Pray for us all.
Music for reflection *
Have mercy on me, O God, in your loving-kindness
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
O Lord, in your mercy:
grant to your faithful people pardon and peace;
that they may be cleansed from all their sins,
and serve you with a quiet mind;
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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