For the Gift of a New Day link
We give you thanks
for the rest of the past night
and for the gift of a new day
with its opportunities to please you.
Grant that we may pass its hours
in the complete freedom of your service,
that at evening we may again give you thanks;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer of Origen (ca. 185-254) link
Lord,
inspire us to read your Scriptures
and to meditate upon them day and night.
We beg you to give us real understanding of what we need,
that we in turn may put its precepts into practice.
Yet we know that understanding and good intentions are worthless,
unless rooted in your graceful love.
So we ask that the words of Scriptures
may also be not just signs on a page,
but channels of grace into our hearts.
Amen
Billy Graham’s Prayer for Our Nation link
Our Father and Our God, We praise You for Your goodness to our nation,
giving us blessings far beyond what we deserve.
Yet we know all is not right with America.
We deeply need a moral and spiritual renewal to help us meet the many problems we face.
Convict us of sin. Help us to turn to You in repentance and faith.
Set our feet on the path of Your righteousness and peace.
We pray today for our nation’s leaders.
Give them the wisdom to know what is right, and the courage to do it.
You have said, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”
May this be a new era for America, as we humble ourselves and acknowledge You alone as our Savior and Lord.
This we pray in Your holy name,
Amen.
Psalm 119 NIV
This Psalm is long. Here is a link to Bible Gateway.
Benediction link
May the God of peace who raised Christ from the dead
Strengthen your inner being for every good work.
And may the blessing of God Almighty Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Rest upon you and dwell within you
This day and evermore.
Amen.
Thank you for a wonderful service. In the beginning of the year I made a goal to memorize all of Psalm 119. I got to verse 32 before the world shut down and I brought my Mother out of her facility to live with me to care for her during Covid. I’m encouraged by Wade to pick it up again and continue on. Thank you!
It is interesting that the Prayer of Origen refers to reading the writings (which is what ‘scriptures’ means) – but at the time, the canon of Scriptures as we know them now did not exist. The Writings circulated often as onesies, collected by churches into local canons. Popular in his day was The Shepherd of Hermas, and the Didache – one of the earliest Christian treatises – was in wide circulation too. He was a profound theologian, with Ambrose’s scriptorium at his disposal, enabling him to produce a prolific body of work that many of us today, aided by modern technology, would struggle to keep up with. And I concur with this early church scholar. Amen.
Leah,
Great for you! Let me know how you progress!
“Love believes all things”.
This is my ambition for my fellow Christians.
Dee for the benefit of viewers in the UK please can you state whether they should hold a Television Licence to view Wade’s “vimeos”?