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Discernment (Prime) | 8:00 a.m.

Prime (Traditional hour: morning/start of the day)

As we begin the day, we focus on our calling to live faithfully, for who knows what today holds?

 

Opening: We are called in the morning to turn our hearts to you.

Prayer:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting, O God, that you will make all things right if I surrender to your will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next. Amen.

Praise:

Rejoice, people of God!
Celebrate the life within you,
and Christ’s presence in your midst!

Our eyes shall be opened!
The presence will have new meaning,
and the future will be bright with hope.

Rejoice, people of God!
Bow your heads before the One
who is our wisdom and our strength.

We place ourselves before our God,
that we may be touched and cleansed
by the power of God’s Spirit.

Scripture:

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. (Luke 12:27)

Meditation:

The final fruitfulness of work is actually found by choosing and living its exact opposite — the cessation of work — or the Sabbath rest. Unless approximately one-seventh of life is also ceasing from work, putting spaces, paragraphs, and parentheses around my efforts, work always becomes compulsive, addictive, driven, unconscious, and actually counter-productive for the self and for those around us. We also need not to work. (Richard Rohr)

Affirmation:

We believe in God, who loves us and wants us to love each other.
This is our God.

We believe in Jesus, who cared for children and held them in his arms. He wanted a world where everyone could live together in peace.
This is Jesus Christ.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, who keeps working with us until everything is good and true.
This is the Holy Spirit.

We can be the church, which reminds people of God because we love each other. This we believe. Amen.

Prayers:

As we begin our day,
Give us your peace.
As we pause this morning,
Give us your peace.
As we do the work you have given us to do,
Give us your peace.
For all places of need in this world,
Give us your peace.
In trusting you, O God, to care for your children,
Give us your peace.
As we seek wholeness,
Give us your peace.

[Here, the people may add particular intercessions or thanksgivings.]

As we reflect on your presence, Let us be peace for others.

Lord’s Prayer

Prayer:

Holy One, we are too often blinded by trivial matters. Lord, may our attention be diverted now from these things, and may we become as little children, trusting and seeking with love to cross bridges that we have not crossed in the past. Amen.

Going Out: We are called in the morning to turn our hearts to you.