Praying at Home Today: Thursday 12 November 2020
Praying at home today: that we may gain wisdom of heart
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
So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.Dinumerare? Dexteram tuam sic notam fac,
et eruditos corde in sapientia.Enseigne-nous à bien compter nos jours,
afin que notre cœur parvienne à la sagesse!
Psalm 89 (90):12
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
Reconciling various images of God: wrathful and loving
I don’t know about you but I’ve been finding all the recent references to God’s wrath just a bit overwhelming.
On top of the pandemic, worsening economies around the world, resulting in job losses and insecurity for millions of people, we have shenanigans in the USA as a toppled President refuses to leave office.
It all seems just a bit much to cope with, especially in the lead-up to winter, with people losing hope about seeing their families at Christmas.
And as we pray at home today, we read (in the Old Testament reading) about a people being destroyed, their bones cast about their idols, their towns laid waste and the high places ruined – “then you shall know that I am God”.
There’s a temptation to look at the God we read about in the Old Testament (the Hebrew Scriptures) as being somehow different from the one revealed by Jesus in the New Testament (the Greek Scriptures), as though they are two gods.
And yet, when we turn to our New Testament reading, we read of more wrath. Of course, the last book in the Bible is also apocalyptic.
If we consider the Bible as a whole, rather than simply thinking about bits of it in isolation, we can see that its message is liberation, the calling into freedom of a specific people, and later, the entire human race, in and through Christ, who completes and brings to fruition the message of the prophets.
Over the next few days, we will uncover more of this never-ending story.
Meanwhile, as the Psalmist reminds us,
Teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
If you have time, have a look at The Wrath of a Loving God (preview) by Brother John of Taizé, especially the introduction, which gives a very helpful overview of this fascinating topic.
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Prayer Suggestions
On this day when the Church celebrates Machar (Bishop, c. 600),
we pray at home today, bringing before God the needs of the world.
- for all who help to bring faith to life, through scholarship and understanding
- for those who lead our churches
- for the people of Aberdeen
- for the insistent call and respect for human rights
- for Mozambique, Poland and the Middle East
- for the United States at this critical time.
(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
for the victims of scams and fraud.)
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
O Lord,
forgive the transgressions of your people:
and by your goodness release us from the snare of sin,
in which, by our frailty, we have been caught;
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 Bookshop.org
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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