Daily Prayer – Dec 3
(Download PDF of Dec 03 Guided Daily Prayer)
Setting aside even a brief time each day to pray helps us create a stable spiritual center in our lives. This guided prayer is largely based on the Morning, Noon and Evening Prayer cycle found in the Book of Common Prayer.
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Online Text Version
INSTRUCTIONS: The underlined text are headings and do not need to be read. [Brackets] are instructions to be followed but not necessarily read. FOR INDIVIDUAL PRAYER:I suggest you read the prayer sheet aloud, but reading silently is fine too. FOR GROUP PRAYER: have one person act as leader. The leader reads the regular print and everyone reads the Bold Italic Type together.
Daily Prayer for – 1st Thursday of Advent
Opening Sentences:
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.ff
See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. (Malachi 3:1)
Praying Together:
This is my prayer; that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best,
So that in the day of Christ, you may be pure and blameless having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus for the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11) Amen.
Confession:
Almighty and most merciful Father, whose clemency I now presume to implore, after a long life of carelessness and wickedness, have mercy upon me.
I have committed many trespasses; I have neglected many duties. I have done what You have forbidden, and left undone what You have commanded.
Forgive, merciful Lord, my sins, negligence, and ignorance, and enable me, by the Holy Spirit, to amend my life according to your Holy Word,
For Jesus Christ’s sake and in his holy name I pray. Amen.**
Based on Luke 12:39-40:
But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
John came as a fore bearer, to prepare hearts and straighten paths
So that every heart would prepare him room; and heaven and nature would sing: Joy to the world the Lord is come!
[Silent Prayer; or Music may be listened to; or a Hymn is sung.]
Prayers of the People:
God of the sad and lonely, fill our lives with the willingness to count one joyful thing each day.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
God of compassion, help us each day see one blessing in the midst of all of the suffering in the world.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
God of heavy hearts, lift our spirits to sing the joy of your holy coming.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
God Almighty, we pray for your love to burst forth into the world, and for the world to be transformed in its wake.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
Hear our prayer O Lord as we pray together:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing prayer:
As we move into this day, heavenly Father, may nothing hinder us from following you into the new and glorious life that you have prepared for each and every one of us. Strengthen and guide us as we set our hearts to the path you have laid. With your help we can accomplish more than our wildest dreams. Help us to dream wildly, in Christ’s name we pray.
Amen.
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*Missionstclare.com
ff From Book of Common Prayer, p. 211, Collects for Advent. .
**from Doctor Johnson’s Prayers edited by Elton Trueblood, as quoted in a Guide to Prayer [Shawchuck & Job] p. 181.
Music Selection from The Hymnal Project
Special thanks to Rev. Wendy Depew Partelow, Vice President of the American Baptist Churches of New York State Board of Missions for her invaluable help in preparing the daily prayers and writing potions of the material.
Also thank you to www.missionstclare.com, a longstanding online project that helps people pray the daily offices of the Book of Common Prayer. It is a wonderful tool to help you deepen your prayer life. They also have a very convenient cell phone App!