Daily Prayer for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

“With Your wonted loving-kindness hear your people as they pray…”        
                                        —-Henry Thomas Smart, 1867

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                                                                 John 6: 68-69
Jesus has the words of eternal life;
he is the Holy One of God.

Prayer                                                          John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892
O Spirit of that early day,
So pure and strong and true,
Be with us in the narrow way
Our faithful fathers knew.
Give strength the evil to forsake,
The cross of Truth to bear,
And love and reverent fear to make
Our daily lives a prayer!

Hymn of the Day
“Create In Me,” sung by the Acappella Company.  Pray and listen.  

Reading of the Day                                                                1 John 2: 7-17
    7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says, “I am in the light,” while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. 10 Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.
12 I am writing to you, little children,
    because your sins are forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people,
    because you have conquered the evil one.
14 I write to you, children,
    because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
    because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young people,
    because you are strong
    and the word of God abides in you,
        and you have overcome the evil one.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; 16 for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.

Prayers for self and others
Please pray today for those who are being affected by COVID 19 and by its side effects in our world. Please pray for Mark Sabala, working with Covid patients as a nurse, Marcy Szeliga, working as a case investigator and contact tracer, for Jeanette and her family who’ve been heavily impacted, for Sylvia Washer, and for all who have been recently diagnosed with- or are recovering from- the virus.  Pray for weary health care workers here in Houston, that they may be able to see that they will be able to rest soon.  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
Now to the One who is able
to keep you from falling,
and to make you stand without shame
in the presence of God’s glory with rejoicing,
to the only God our Savior,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, power, and authority,
before all time and now and forever.
Amen.