Please see the previous post for an introduction to this prayer series.

Suggested Spiritual Practice: Visual Lectio Divina

You can find a description and example of this practice here.

Music Links:

• All will be well (contemporary song)
• The 23^rd Psalm (Bobby McFerrin) 

Call to Worship:

Christ, you long to gather me under your wings.
I long to rest near the Divine heartbeat.
In this sacred time of prayer,
May your longing and my longing meet.
Like a sheltered chick,
Like a weaned child,
I rest in you and am renewed.

Scripture readings:

• Monday: Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
• Tuesday: Luke 13:31-35
• Wednesday: Philippians 3:17-4:1
• Thursday: Genesis 15:1-18 
• Friday: Luke 9:28-36 
• Saturday: Psalm 27 

Time for silent, written, and/or spoken reflections

Further Reflections

• Monday: “Whom Shall We Fear?” (This reading focuses on this week’s Gospel reading, but includes themes of seeking safety found in Psalm 91.)
• Tuesday: Julian of Norwich and mother Jesus  by Jennifer Williamson
• Wednesday: “Becoming Fully Human” by Barbara Brown Taylor
• Thursday: “Deep and Terrifying Darkness” by Michael Coffey
• Friday: “Fully Human, Fully Divine, Fully Trans” by Mary Ann Saunders
• Saturday: “To Behold” by Kathleen Smythe

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

Holy God, we offer now our prayers for all that is broken to be made whole through your power and grace.
God, grant your mercy.

We pray for those of us who suffer violence: for the abused, the threatened, those who live in communities saturated with guns, in countries at war.
God, grant your peace.

We pray for those of us who are poor: for people who do not have enough money to feed themselves and their families, who cannot afford safe housing or adequate medical care, who watch the bills pile up in desperation.
God, grant your abundance.

We pray for those of us who are unhealthy in body, mind, or spirit: for the injured, for the sick, for those struggling with mental illness, for those in a state of spiritual turmoil.
God, grant your healing.

We pray for those of us who are oppressed: those who are treated as “less than” because of the color of our skin, our gender identity, our sexual orientation, our accent, or anything else that marks us as “other;” for those unfairly imprisoned, those denied a voice, those struggling to change systems.
God, grant your justice.

We pray for your creation: for the health of our rivers and oceans and lakes and streams, for the growth of the forests, for the purity of the air and the survival of species and the wisdom and will for people to participate with you in this healing.
God, grant your life.

We pray for others we hold in our hearts: Offer your own prayers of intercession.
God, grant your mercy.

 And we give you thanks for the ways we see you at work in our lives and in the world: Offer your own prayers of thanksgiving.
God, hear our prayers. Amen.

Closing Quote

“If there is anywhere on earth a lover of God who is always kept safe, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown to me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in that same precious love.”
― Julian of Norwich

Benediction

May we rest in and live out the good news: “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)