Guided Daily Prayer (Series 2)

December 19, 2023
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Instructions: The underlined text are headings and do not need to be read. [Brackets] are instructions to be followed but not necessarily read. FOR INDIVIDUAL PRAYER: I suggest you read the prayer sheet aloud, but reading silently is fine too. FOR GROUP PRAYER: have one person act as leader. The leader reads the regular print and everyone reads the Bold Italic Type together.

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Third Tuesday of Advent ● Guided Daily Prayer

Opening Sentences:

I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6b)

God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP,1979)

Praying Together:
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms. Amen. (from Psalm 95)

Prayer of Confession:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses. Wash me through and through from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions only too well, and my sin is ever before me. Amen. (BCP,1979)

 

Words of Assurance:

Sisters and Brothers, great is God’s lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us. (from Psalm 103)

 

Scripture Reading Luke 3:1-6
¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁵Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; ⁶and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

[Silent Prayer / or Music may be listened to / or a Hymn is sung.]

Prayers of the People:

“With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord, saying “O Lord, hear our prayer.”

We pray for unity in our nation and in the world around us, let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.]

For all who live without shelter, provide safe refuge and warm care. Let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.] *

We pray for the equitable and sustainable use of our natural resources which you so carefully created for the common good of all your creatures, let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.]

We pray, Almighty God, for your glory to be manifest in this season of hope. Let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.]

For our individual and special prayers this day, we lift them up to the Lord. [Silent Prayer]

The Lord’s Prayer:

“Hear us, O Lord, as we pray together:”

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Closing Prayer:

Creator God, send us into your world with hearts ready to hear the cries of those who have no hope. Help us, dear Lord, to give them hope in you and your coming kingdom. Amen.