Daily Prayers for February 24
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Song “Amazing Grace”
You order your kingdom with justice, Lord : and judge the nations with loving-kindness.
Psalm 119:17 – 20
Deal bountifully with your servant : that I may live and keep your word.
Open my eyes, that I may see : the wonders of your law.
I am a stranger here on earth : do not hide your commandments from me.
My soul is consumed at all times : with longing for your judgments.
You order your kingdom with justice, Lord : and judge the nations with loving-kindness.
Genesis 41:1 – 13 Hebrews 11:23 – 31
You order your kingdom with justice, Lord : and judge the nations with loving-kindness.
Dag Hammarskjöld, former United Nations Secretary General, said, “In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Train us to be faithful, Lord, and teach us your ways so our lives may reflect you, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 23
Polycarp of Smyrna (70 – 155)
Polycarp was arrested by Roman officials after having served as Bishop of Smyrna for many decades. When the Roman proconsul ordered him to declare that “Caesar is Lord” and to curse Christ, the elderly Polycarp refused, saying, “Eighty-six years I have served him and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Polycarp was sentenced to death by fire, but the flames miraculously stood like a wall around him and he was not burned. The executioner then stabbed him in the heart, which issued such an abundance of blood that the fire was quenched.
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Song “I Will Trust in the Lord”
You who raised -Jesus from the dead : raise us also to life abundant.
Psalm 115:1 – 4
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory : because of your love and because of your faithfulness.
Why should the heathen say : “Where then is their God?”
Our God is in heaven : whatever he wills to do he does.
Their idols are silver and gold : the work of human hands.
You who raised -Jesus from the dead : raise us also to life abundant.
Genesis 40:1 – 23 Hebrews 11:13 – 22
You who raised -Jesus from the dead : raise us also to life abundant.
Søren Kierkegaard, a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher, said, “What the age needs is not a genius but a martyr.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, in our work for justice, let us not seek after martyrdom for its own sake, but neither let us turn away from your truth because we fear suffering. Give us grace to live faithfully whatever the cost. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 22
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Song “Solid Rock”
My heart is firmly fixed : O God, my heart is fixed.
Psalm 108:2 – 6
Wake up, my spirit; awake, lute and harp : I myself will waken the dawn.
I will confess you among the -peoples, O Lord : I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your loving-kindness is greater than the heavens : and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God : and your glory over all the earth.
So that those who are dear to you may be delivered : save with your right hand and answer me.
My heart is firmly fixed : O God, my heart is fixed.
Genesis 39:1 – 23 Hebrews 11:1 – 12
My heart is firmly fixed : O God, my heart is fixed.
Catherine de Hueck Doherty, founder of the Madonna House community, wrote, “The hunger for God can only be satisfied by a love that is face to face, person to person. It is only in the eyes of another that we can find the Icon of Christ. We must make the other person aware we love him. If we do, he will know that God loves him. He will never hunger again.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord God, extend our faith so that even when we fail to see the fruit of our planted seeds, we may have the assurance that every inch of soil overturned will lead to a harvest someday. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 21
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm X was assassinated while delivering a speech in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom. Malcolm X became a well-known advocate for civil rights after joining the Nation of Islam while in prison. A brilliant, self-educated leader, Malcolm experienced multiple conversions, eventually leaving the Nation of Islam after a pilgrimage to Mecca and committing to overcome racism through an international solidarity movement. Though he was not a Christian, Malcolm X spoke prophetically about the church’s complicity in Western culture’s sin of racism.
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Song “Walk in the Light”
Give us more light about each other : that we might understand enough to love.
Psalm 105:1 – 3; 106:47 – 48
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name : make known his deeds among the -peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him : and speak of all his marvelous works.
Glory in his holy name : let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations : that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting : and let all the -people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!
Give us more light about each other : that we might understand enough to love.
Genesis 37:25 – 36 Hebrews 10:26 – 39
Give us more light about each other : that we might understand enough to love.
Thomas Aquinas, a thirteenth-century Dominican and doctor of the church, said, “Every truth without exception — and whoever may utter it — is from the Holy Spirit.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, we pray you will keep us humble enough to learn from those whom we least expect to be our teachers. Help us to listen for your truth, even in the words of our enemies. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 20
Frederick Douglass (1818 – 1895)
Frederick Douglass was born a slave in Maryland. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he was raised by his grandparents. A resourceful youth, he learned how to read and write by giving away food in exchange for reading lessons from neighborhood kids. Before long he was able to teach other slaves to read the Bible through weekly Sunday schools. In 1838, at the age of twenty, Douglass escaped from slavery by impersonating a sailor and went on to become one of the most famous abolitionists and leaders in US history. He was a firm believer in the equality of all -people, whether black, female, Native American, or recent immigrant. He was fond of saying, “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Song “Woke Up This Mornin’ ”
Lift us by awe at the things we see : to set our minds on none but thee.
Psalm 104:25 – 31
O Lord, how manifold are your works! : in wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
Yonder is the great and wide sea with its living things too many to number : creatures both small and great.
There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan : which you have made for the sport of it.
All of them look to you : to give them their food in due season.
You give it to them; they gather it : you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
You hide your face, and they are terrified : you take away their breath, and they die and return to their dust.
You send forth your Spirit, and they are created : and so you renew the face of the earth.
Lift us by awe at the things we see : to set our minds on none but thee.
Genesis 37:12 – 24 Hebrews 10:11 – 25
Lift us by awe at the things we see : to set our minds on none but thee.
Frederick Douglass wrote in his autobiography, “Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference — so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
-Jesus, even in our waking, grant us dreams by which to guide our lives. Make us to dream of justice for the oppressed, reunions for those torn from loved ones, hospitality for immigrants, and the healing of all wounds. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 19
On February 19, 1942, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese warplanes the previous December, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order calling for the displacement of one hundred and twenty thousand Japanese Americans to internment camps.
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Song “O Lord, Hear My Prayer”
Free us, O Lord, from fear : so we can live in peace.
Psalm 95:8 – 11
Harden not your hearts, as your forebears did in the wilderness : at Meribah, and on that day at Massah, when they tempted me.
They put me to the test : though they had seen my works.
Forty years long I detested that generation and said : “This -people are wayward in their hearts; they do not know my ways.”
So I swore in my wrath : “They shall not enter into my rest.”
Free us, O Lord, from fear : so we can live in peace.
Genesis 37:1 – 11 Hebrews 10:1 – 10
Free us, O Lord, from fear : so we can live in peace.
Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, said, “Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, keep us from fearfully persecuting the innocent among us. When we are tempted to use the cultural differences of our neighbors as excuses for injustice, convict us of our error. Keep us from turning difference into discrimination. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 18
Hagar the Egyptian
When Abraham’s wife, Sarah, was unable to have a child, she gave him her Egyptian slave, Hagar, as a wife. Sarah was following ancient surrogate customs, which allowed a wife to give her maid to her husband and then claim the child as her own. But after Hagar conceived a son by Abraham, Sarah turned bitter and resentful and began to treat her harshly. Hagar’s response was to run away into the wilderness, but an angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar and urged her to return and submit to her mistress. The Lord directed Hagar to call the child Ishmael (meaning “God hears”) and, as with Abraham, promised her descendants so numerous they could not be counted. Hagar called God El-roi — “the God who sees” — and was struck with awe that she had seen him.
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee : let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Song “Were You There?”
Hear the cry of your children, Lord : come quickly and set us free.
Psalm 94:21 – 23
They conspire against the life of the just : and condemn the innocent to death.
But the Lord has become my stronghold : and my God the rock of my trust.
He will turn their wickedness back upon them and destroy them in their own malice : the Lord our God will destroy them.
Hear the cry of your children, Lord : come quickly and set us free.
Genesis 35:1 – 20 Hebrews 9:15 – 28
Hear the cry of your children, Lord : come quickly and set us free.
A reading from the book of Genesis: “Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, ‘I cannot watch the boy die.’ And as she sat there, she began to sob. God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What is this matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.’ ”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Thank you, Lord, that you never abandon us to our hopelessness. There is always room at your table for those who feel forgotten, or who have been cast out. Train us in such hospitality. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 17
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Song “What Wondrous Love”
Heaven and earth are full of your glory : Hosannah in the highest!
Psalm 89:1 – 5
Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing : from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever : you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one : I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
‘I will establish your line for ever : and preserve your throne for all generations.’ ”
The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O Lord : and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory : Hosannah in the highest!
Genesis 32:22 – 33:17 Hebrews 9:1 – 14
Heaven and earth are full of your glory : Hosannah in the highest!
In the second century, Tertullian wrote, “Nature is schoolmistress, the soul the pupil; and whatever one has taught or the other has learned has come from God — the Teacher of the teacher.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Despite the fact we are all made in your image, God, we can see ourselves as brothers and sisters only by the light of your redeeming grace. Give us eyes to see that we are made from the same dirt, and help us work to reconcile ourselves to one another and to the ground beneath us. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 16
On February 16, 2005, the Kyoto Protocol went into effect as an international attempt to reduce greenhouse gases and global warming. The protocol places more responsibility on developed countries because they are responsible for the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions.
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Song “Sing, O Sky (Gaao Re)”
Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer : hearken, O God of Jacob.
Psalm 84:2 – 6
The sparrow has found her a house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young : by the side of your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
Happy are they who dwell in your house! : they will always be praising you.
Happy are the -people whose strength is in you! : whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way.
Those who go through the desolate valley will find it a place of springs : for the early rains have covered it with pools of water.
They will climb from height to height : and the God of gods will reveal himself in Zion.
Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer : hearken, O God of Jacob.
Genesis 32:3 – 21 Hebrews 8:1 – 13
Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer : hearken, O God of Jacob.
British evangelical John Stott has written, “Simplicity is the first cousin of contentment. Its motto is, ‘We brought nothing into this world, and we can certainly carry nothing out.’ It recognizes that we are pilgrims. It concentrates us on what we need, and measures this by what we use. It rejoices in the good things of creation, but hates waste and greed and clutter. It knows how easily the seed of the Word is smothered by the ‘cares and riches of this life.’ It wants to be free of distractions, in order to love and serve God and others.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, the morning is clothed with splendor from the beauty of dewdrops to the slow rising of the sun. And yet, as each day descends to night, we trust that the morning beauty will come again. Likewise, we pray to trust that you will decorate our lives with the essentials we need for today. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
Daily Prayers for February 15
O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet you
as the day rises to meet the sun.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Come, let us sing to the Lord : let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Song “Come, Thou Fount”
Shepherd us, Lord, with a faithful heart : and guide us in the way of truth.
Psalm 78:69 – 72
He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven : like the earth which he founded for ever.
He chose David his servant : and took him away from the sheepfolds.
He brought him from following the ewes : to be a shepherd over Jacob his -people and over Israel his inheritance.
So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart : and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.
Shepherd us, Lord, with a faithful heart : and guide us in the way of truth.
Genesis 31:25 – 50 Hebrews 7:1 – 28
Shepherd us, Lord, with a faithful heart : and guide us in the way of truth.
Basil of Caesarea, a fourth-century monk and bishop, wrote, “I cannot persuade myself that without love to others, and without, as far as rests with me, peaceableness towards all, I can be called a worthy servant of -Jesus Christ.”
Prayers for Others
Our Father
Lord, reconcile us to you anew each morning so that we might know what a fearful and wonderful thing it is to be reconciled to one another. Amen.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you;
may he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm;
may he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
