Morning Worship

Our spiritual lives are frequently left unattended. We call on God in moments of crisis, but we don’t develop our spiritual routines. It is these routines that will give us strength of faith for trying times. Those of us who do have healthy spiritual practices may find ourselves exhausted from the work of surviving the last year and a half. This summer we will explore different practices that have been used for centuries by Christians to develop our faith.

The first of these spiritual practices is morning prayer. It is first because it is the easiest for me. We all have patterns in our lives. There are times when we feel more aware of God. The practice of morning prayer helps to jump start the day with an awareness of the divine.

This does not have to be an elaborate. Each morning I begin by reading a Psalm. The psalm is often a guide to prayer. The psalm for today is number 143. This psalm calls on God to hear our prayers. It reminds us to call out to God because God is faithful in all circumstances to support our lives.

Then, I will take a moment to think of all the people and situations I am planning to lift up to God. It is good here to listen in stillness for a nudging from the Holy Spirit in case there is anyone you may have missed who needs your prayers.

This week we gave out laminated prayer cards to use in your morning prayers. The psalm from today is on the back. A short prayer with space for you to name people and needs is left. Use this as a guide for beginning a time of morning prayer.  If you already have a routine for morning prayer you may know someone who would enjoy having the card.

As we grow in our spiritual discipline, we grow closer to the God who loves us and who sent Jesus to teach us how to live as people in this world and we allow space for the Holy Spirit to continue to work on us for which we can say, thanks be to God Amen