Daily Prayer – December 10
(Download PDF For Today’s Daily Prayer Guide)
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. (Parentheses) are references and not to be read. FOR INDIVIDUAL PRAYER: I suggest you read the prayer sheet aloud, but reading silently is fine too. Don’t pay any attention to the Bold Italic Type. 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 December 10
Opening Sentences:
God of hope, you call us from the exile of our sin with the good news of restoration; you build a highway through the wilderness. ff
Watch, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all, “Keep awake.” (Mark 13:35, 36)
Praying Together:
Lord, open our lips.
Our mouth shall proclaim your praise. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Confession:*
Were I to imagine the punishments all my sins deserve, I would fall into despair, O Lord, my Saviour: I have disobeyed your high commands, wasting my life in extravagance. Wherefore I beseech You: cleanse me with the showers of forgiveness and strengthen me with fasting and supplications, for You alone are compassionate. Reject me not, All-Bountiful One whose goodness exceeds every measure. Amen.
Based on Psalm 80
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before your blessed children.
Stir up your might and come to save us! Restore us, O God, let your face shine that we may be saved!
[Silent Prayer; or Music may be listened to; or a Hymn is sung.]
Prayers of the People:
Help us, dear Lord, to prepare for your coming with the urgency and care that we would were we defending our homes against an enemy.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
Defend us, deliver us, and in your compassion protect us, O Lord, by your grace. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
Let us not fear the darkness, O God, because our hope is in the light of your presence in the world.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
We give you thanks and praise, Holy Creator, for sending your Son into the world that the world might be saved through him.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
Protect, Almighty God, those who travel on land, sea or air that they may be kept from harm through your loving grace.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
We pray, Heavenly Lord, that you bring your guidance and wisdom to the leaders of this nation and other nations of the world that they may be led to understanding and cooperation instead of hatred and war.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. [Silent Prayer]
Hear us, 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: (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus the Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do this. Now go in peace to love and to serve the Lord.
Amen.
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Sources
ff From Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, Consultation on Common Texts.
Image: Road to Emmaus, Bose Monastery, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu
*(Byzantine Liturgy, in Lenten Messages fr. the Old Testament, p. 27)
Music Selection from The Hymnal Project