Praying at Home Today: Thursday 14 January 2021
Praying at home today
the hound of heaven
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’s optional!
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 discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.Intellexisti cogitationes meas de longe;
semitam meam et funiculum meum investigasti:
et omnes vias meas praevidisti.Tu discernes de loin ma pensée.
Tu sais quand je marche et quand je me couche,
et toutes mes voies te sont familières.
Psalm 138(139):2b-3
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
The hound of heaven
As we begin to prepare for another Sunday, in which we will hear again the story of the calling of the boy Samuel, we can reflect on God’s call to us.
The hound of heaven
Our psalm speaks powerfully of God’s infinite love and knowledge, loving and knowing us individually, even before we speak.
Even before we take a step towards God, God is there to welcome us.
Francis Thompson’s poem ‘The Hound of Heaven‘ reflects similarly:
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Allen Taylor shows how the last few lines sum up the ill-advisedness of turning away from God:
‘Thou dravest love from thee
who dravest Me’
(You drove love away from yourself,
you who drove me away).
And yet, the penultimate lines give the context for this warning:
‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Deo gratias!
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Music for reflection *
Prayer Suggestions
On this day when the Church celebrates Hilary of Poitiers (Bishop c. 367), we pray at home today, bringing before God the needs of our world:
- for those in anguish and fear due to the pandemic
- for hope in these dark times
- for our nursing and medical staff
and all who bring light into our lives.
(In Holy Trinity, Stirling, we invite you to pray today
for The Revd Christoph Wutscher, our Rector.)
For all who have asked for our prayers.
a moment of silence
Pray for us all
Amen.
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
Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant that we, being born again,
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;
through the same 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
Verbum caro factum est.
Et habitavit in nobis. Alleluia!
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
The lectionary for weekdays is taken from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
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 usually 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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