The repetition of our days can darken our awareness of grace and keep us from prayer, or it can be the very thing that reminds us of grace and keeps us praying. This week, we let the ever-constant light of each repeating morning compel us to praise and pray for one another through the adapted words of John Baillie.
Father and Maker of all things, whose creative power made the first ray of light, and who looked on the world’s first morning and saw that it was good, we praise you for this light that now streams through our windows to waken us to the life of another day.
We praise you for the life that stirs within us;
We praise you for the bright and beautiful world around us;
We praise you for the earth and sea and sky, for the hurrying clouds and singing birds;
We praise you for the work that you have given us to do; for all have given us to fill our hours of leisure;
We praise you for our friends;
We praise you for music and books and good company (virtually or at 6-feet!) and all harmless and delightful pleasures.
O Lord, you yourself are everlasting Mercy; give us tender hearts today toward all those who in this morning light are less joyful than we are.
Those in whom the pulse of life grows weak;
Those who are unable to get out of bed (physically or emotionally) and enjoy the sunshine;
The blind, who are shut off from the light of day (and those shut off from the light of life);
The overworked, who have no joy of leisure;
The unemployed, who have no joy of labor;
The bereaved, whose hearts and homes are desolate;
Have mercy on them all.
O Light that never fades, as the light of day now streams through our windows and floods our rooms, so let us open to you the windows of our hearts, that all our lives may be filled with the radiance of your presence. Do not let any corner of our being be left in darkness, but illuminate every part of us by the light of your face. Do not leave anything within us that could darken the brightness of the day. Let the Spirit of Jesus, whose life was the light of all people, rule within our hearts until evening. Amen.