Morning Prayer: Prayer
The Call to Prayer
Those who trust in you, YHWH, are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but endures forever.
Psalm 125:1
The Request for Presence
Your love, YHWH, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Psalm 36:5
The Greeting
When I called, you answered me—you made me bold and strong of heart.
Psalm 138:3
The Hymn
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear;
what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged: take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness: take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy-laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge: take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer;
in his arms he’ll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there.
Joseph Scriven
PCC Hymn #746 What a friend we have in Jesus
The Refrain
Jesus often withdrew to some place where he could be alone and pray.
Luke 5:16
A Reading
I have a little altar in my heart—
a corner set aside, a shrine apart;
And oh, a dozen times or more a day
I find me stealing quietly away
To kneel before my little altar there
And offer up a thought or two in prayer—
A little “Thank you, God” when things go right;
A prayer for light to guide me through the night;
A plea for strength to help me right the wrong;
Or sometimes, maybe, just a bit of song.
I have a little altar in my heart—
A corner set aside, a shrine apart,
A quiet place where I find sweet release
From daily care—and strength and joy and peace.
Helen Lowrie Marshall
The Refrain
Jesus often withdrew to some place where he could be alone and pray.
Luke 5:16
The Psalm
To you, YHWH, I lift up my soul.
My God, I trust in you; don’t let me be ashamed, don’t let my enemies triumph over me.
No—none who hope in you will be ashamed, but shame will come to the wantonly treacherous.
Show me your ways, YHWH! Teach me your paths!
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. I wait all the day long for you.
Remember your mercies, YHWH, you love—your ancient unwavering love!
Pardon the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; remember me because of your love, because of your goodness, YHWH!
And how good and upright you are, YHWH! You instruct sinners in the path,
You guide the humble in what is right, and teach them your way.
All of your paths, YHWH, are full of love and faithfulness for those who keep your Covenant and Testimonies.
For the sake of your Name, YHWH, pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who are those who revere you? They are the ones you teach which way you want them to go.
Their lives will be spent in prosperity, and their children will possess the land.
YHWH becomes friends with those who show reverence, and reveals the Covenant to them.
My eyes are always on you, YHWH, for you will pluck my feet out of the snare.
Turn to me, be gracious to me, for I am lonely and anguished.
How heavy are the troubles of my heart! Free me from my distress!
Look at my affliction and my trouble, and mend all my brokenness.
See how my enemies keep multiplying, how they hate me so violently!
O guard my life, rescue me! Don’t let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness protect me, for you are my only hope.
Ransom Israel, O God, from all trouble.
Psalm 25
The Refrain
Jesus often withdrew to some place where he could be alone and pray.
Luke 5:16
The Gloria
All glory to Almighty God
for love so deep, so high, so broad!
The Trinity whom we adore
forever and forever more.
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, thank you for prayer. Thank you that we can bring everything to you in prayer. Help us to actually do that. Help us to live our lives in a deep relationship with you, taking time during the day or night to stop and pray, and also praying as we go about our lives. We pray for your presence in our prayers, both when we lift up our requests to you and also when we are silent. Give us the grace to hear your word for us each time we pray. This we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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.
Amen.
R. Pynson (c. 1514)
- Inspired by Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours, Pocket Edition
- Bright Horizons by Helen Lowrie Marshall