Daily Prayer for Thursday, June 4, 2020

I’m gonna sing so God can use me anywhere Lord, anytime!
                        —-African-American Spiritual

Preparation for worship
Sit in a relaxed position. Take a slow, deep breath (or 2 or 3 or as many as needed) until you feel your body, mind, and soul begin to relax and rest in the Spirit.  Take time to reflect as you move through this time of worship…

Opening Sentences                                                                       Psalm 104
The Spirit of God renews the earth.
Bless the name of the Lord!

Prayer                                                Based on a prayer of Jerome (c. 342-420)
Lord, the gift of your Word
is a light for our path.
Help us to study your way
and follow your teaching
until we know the true Light
who has come into the world
and will come again in glory:
Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Hymn of the Day
Psalm 81- Sing Joyfully to the Lord, by William Byrd, sung by VOCES8.  Listen as you pray. 

Reading of the Day                                                                         Psalm 81
Sing aloud to God our strength;
    shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
    the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
    at the full moon, on our festal day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
    an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph,
    when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
    your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you;
    I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
    I tested you at the waters of Meribah.       Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
    you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
    who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
    Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
    Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
    to follow their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me,
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
    and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
    and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
    and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Prayers for self and others
Please pray today for those who are being affected by COVID 19. Today please pray for medical researchers who are working to find better treatments, and those who are trying to formulate a vaccine for the virus.   As we hear of more friends who are directly affected, or who are working in high risk places, we will list them here.  Use this time to lift your joys, concerns, and hopes to God.

Benediction 
God has shown you what is good.
What does the Lord require of you?
To do justice, to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God.
Amen.