Daily Prayer – December 6
(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 6
Opening Sentences:
Make us ready … that with uprightness of heart and holy joy
we may eagerly await the kingdom of your Son, Jesus Christ,
who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.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. (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:
Most holy One, we confess our sins to you with a heavy heart.
We know that we do not live our lives you would have us live them.
We ignore your urging to respond to the needs of others.
Even when our eyes are opened we find our will is not up to the task.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us on the path to eternal life. Amen.
We are assured of God’s righteousness. In confessing our sins with a humble heart, God is merciful, just and kind.
From Psalm 25:1-8:
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you;
let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
Let none who look to you be put to shame;
let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.
Show me your ways, O Lord,and teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
in you have I trusted all the day long.
Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting.
Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;
remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
Gracious and upright is the Lord; therefore he teaches sinners in his way.
He guides the humble in doing right and teaches his way to the lowly.
[Silent Prayer; or Music may be listened to; or a Hymn is sung.]
Prayers of the People:
Defend us, deliver us, and in thy compassion protect us, O Lord, by thy grace. Lord, have mercy. [Silent Prayer]
For the aged and infirm, for the widowed and orphans, and for the sick and the suffering, we pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. [Silent Prayer]
For the peace of the world, for the welfare of all Churches, and for the unity of all peoples, we pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. [Silent Prayer]
For the peace from above, for the loving-kindness of God, and for the salvation of our souls, we pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy.
[Silent Prayer]
In your mercy Lord, hear our prayers.
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:
Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that your Spirit is with us always: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting.++ Amen.
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Sources
ff From Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, Consultation on Common Texts.
++Adapted from the prayer of A Prayer of St. Chrysostom Image:
Image: Complete Joy, Lauren Wright Pittman — http://www.lewpstudio.com – copyright by Lauren Wright Pittman as found in Art in the Christian Tradition image library, http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu. CC By 3.0
Music Selection from The Hymnal Project