Morning Prayer: Leaning on God
The Call to Prayer
Happy are all who take refuge in God.
Psalm 2:12b
The Request for Presence
Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for in you I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.
Psalm 143:8
The Greeting
YHWH, our Sovereign, how majestic is your Name in all the earth!
Psalm 8:1
The Song
In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song.
This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease,
my comforter, my all in all, here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone, who took on flesh, fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save.
'Til on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin on Him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay, light of the world by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave He rose again.
And as He stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
for I am His and He is mine, bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the pow'r of Christ in me.
From life's first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny,
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand
'Til He returns or calls me home, here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.
Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
The Refrain
Trust YHWH with all your heart, and don’t rely on your own understanding;
acknowledge God in everything you do, and God will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
A Reading
When we read the lives of the saints, we are struck by a certain large leisure which went hand in hand with remarkable effectiveness. They were never hurried; they did comparatively few things, and these not necessarily striking or important; and they troubled very little about their influence. Yet they always seemed to hit the mark; their simplest actions had a distinction, an exquisiteness that suggested the artist. The reason is not so far to seek. Their sainthood lay in their habit of referring the smallest action to God. They lived in God; they acted from a pure motive of love towards God. They were free from self-regard as from slavery to the good opinion of others. God saw and God rewarded: what else did they need? They possessed God and possessed themselves in God. Hence the inalienable dignity of the meek, quiet figures that seem to produce such marvelous effects with such humble materials.
Creative Prayer
in Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime, pg. 135-6
The Refrain
Trust YHWH with all your heart, and don’t rely on your own understanding;
acknowledge God in everything you do, and God will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
The Psalm
Open your ears, YHWH, and answer me, for I am weak and helpless.
Save me from death, for I am loyal to you; protect your faithful one, for you are my God and I trust in you.
Have mercy on me, YHWH, for I pray to you all day long.
Make your faithful one glad, for I lift my soul to you, YHWH.
You are good and forgiving, YHWH, full of constant love for all who call on you.
Listen to my prayer, YHWH, hear my cries for help.
I call to you in times of trouble because you answer my prayer.
There is no other god like you, YHWH, not one who can do what you do.
When you act, all the nations will come and bow down before you, YHWH, and will pay honor to your Name.
How great you are, Worker of Marvels; you alone are God!
Teach me your way, YHWH, so that I might walk with you alone; make me single-hearted in reverence for your Name.
I will praise you with all my heart, YHWH; I will glorify your Name forever.
How great is your constant love for me! You have rescued me from the depths of Sheol.
O God, the arrogant are coming against me; ruthless people are trying to kill me—they don’t care that you are my Leader.
But you, YHWH, are a compassionate and merciful God, slow to anger, overflowing with love and fidelity.
Turn to me and have mercy on me; grant me strength, for I am faithful to you just as my parents were.
Give me a sign of your favor,
Then those who hate me will be frustrated when they see that you, YHWH, have given me comfort and help.
Psalm 86
The Refrain
Trust YHWH with all your heart, and don’t rely on your own understanding;
acknowledge God in everything you do, and God will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
The Gloria
All glory to Almighty God
For love so deep, so high, so broad
The Trinity whom we adore
Forever and forevermore.
15th c. Latin, translated by Benjamin Webb
PCC Hymn #205 O love, how deep, how broad, how high
The Lord’s Prayer
The Prayer Appointed for the Day
Gracious God, I pray that your grace may always precede and follow me, that I may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Phyllis Tickle
The Concluding Prayer of the Church
God be in my head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.
R. Pynson (1514)
Inspired by Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours, Pocket Edition
Scripture translations from the NRSV or The Inclusive Bible