James Tissot – The Return of the Prodigal Son (Le retour de l’enfant prodigue) – Brooklyn Museum (Public Domain)

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

Suggested Spiritual Practice:

Colored pencil prayer: Offering and Receiving 

Music Links:

·         Wait for the Lord (Taize)
·         You will be found (from Dear Evan Hansen)

Call to Worship: (from Psalm 34)

I will bless you, God, at all times;
I will praise you with my voice
And with my life.
I seek,
And you reveal.
I cry out,
And you answer.
You hear me and save me.
You deliver me from my fears.
I will worship you with my whole heart
So that I might taste and see that you, O God, are good.

Scripture readings:

• Monday: Luke 1:26-38
• Tuesday: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
• Wednesday: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
• Thursday: Joshua 5:9-12
• Friday: Psalm 34:2-7
• Saturday: Psalm 32

Time for silent, written, and/or spoken reflections

 Further Reflections

• Monday: Reflections on the Annunciation by Joanna

• Tuesday: “Brennan Manning: The Prodigal Goes Home” by Greg Garrett
• Wednesday: “New Leaves are a Con Job” by Heather Carliri
• Thursday: “Food Justice Requires Land Justice“
• Friday: : “Saint Melangell and the Hare” by Chrisine Valters Paintner
• Saturday: “The Armor of Adoration” by Christena Cleveland

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

You are welcome to offer your own prayers, and conclude with the prayer below.

God, you are my hiding place, my refuge,
My home.
Thank you for kind words,
For comfortable spaces,
For familiar faces.
Thank you for the work of tending a place,
for the challenge of intimate relationships,
for the connections that shape us.
I pray for those seeking home—
For those without a safe place to live;
For those without relationships that nourish and sustain;
For those who feel distant from your loving presence,
For those struggling to find their place in the world.
Hear my prayer and grant your peace. Amen.

Closing Quote 

We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.

–from “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo

Benediction (from “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo)

Let us see God;
Let us see ourselves;
And let us take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of / All this,
Breathe out, knowing we are sustained in the peace of Christ.