Martin Luther
What does someone who lived 600 years ago , even 60 or 70 years ago have to say to us during these days of unsettledness related to the COVID-19 pandemic?
I was introduced a few days ago to a little Lutheran daily devotional book called “Portals of Prayer.” While I enjoy the daily meditations that contemporary authors have written, I went to the back of the book and found there some prayers, including some prayers that Martin Luther prayed morning and evening. I don’t know what time you are accessing this video but I thought we’d begin and end our prayers today with Luther’s prayers. Sandwiched in between are some lovely prayers by one of Martin Luther’s namesakes, Martin Luther King Jr – that leader in the 1960’s of the civil rights movement in United States - and with the attention that’s been called to all of us, even in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic to value all human life whatever the colour of a person’s skin or cultural background, these prayers seemed appropriate for us to today as well. Let’s learn from those who have gone before us and open our hearts to God today as they did so many years ago. Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I thank You, my heavenly Father,
through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son,
that You have kept me this night
from all harm and danger;
and I pray that You would keep me
this day also from sin and every evil,
that all my doings and life may please You.
For into Your hands I commend myself,
my body and soul, and all things.
Let Your holy angel be with me,
hat the evil foe may have
no power over me.
Amen
Most gracious and all wise God,
before whose face the generations
rise and fall; Thou in whom
we live, and move, and have
our being. We thank thee [for]
all of thy good and gracious gifts,
for life and for health; for food
and for raiment; for the beauties of nature
and human nature.
We come before thee painfully aware
of our inadequacies and shortcomings.
We realize that we stand surrounded
with the mountains of love
and we deliberately dwell
in the valley of hate.
We stand amid the forces of truth
and deliberately lie.
We are forever offered the high road
and yet we choose to travel the low road.
For these sins O God forgive.
Break the spell of
that which blinds our minds.
Purify our hearts that
we may see thee.
O God in these turbulent days
when fear and doubt are mounting
high give us broad visions,
penetrating eyes, and power of
endurance. Help us to work with
renewed vigor for a warless world,
for a better distribution of wealth
and for a brother/sisterhood that
transcends race or color.
In the name and spirit of Jesus we pray.
Amen.
God, we thank you
for the inspiration of Jesus.
Grant that we will love you
with all our hearts, souls,
and minds, and love our neighbors
as we love ourselves,
even our enemy neighbors.
And we ask you, God,
in these days of emotional tension,
when the problems of the world are
gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail,
to be with us in our going out
and our coming in, in our rising up
and in our lying down,
in our moments of joy
and in our moments of sorrow,
until the day when there shall be
no sunset and no dawn.
Amen.
We thank you for your church,
founded upon your Word,
that challenges us to do more than
sing and pray, but go out and work
as though the very answer
to our prayers depended on us and
not upon you. Help us to realize
that humanity was created
to shine like the stars and live on
through all eternity. Keep us,
we pray, in perfect peace.
Help us to walk together, pray together,
sing together, and live together
until that day when all God's children –
Black, White, Red, Brown and Yellow –
will rejoice in one common
band of humanity
in the reign of our Lord and
of our God, we pray. Amen.
In the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I thank You, my heavenly Father,
through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son,
that you have graciously
kept me this day;
and I pray that You
would forgive me all my sins
where I have done wrong,
and graciously keep me this night.
For into Your hands I commend
myself, my body and soul,
and all things.
Let Your holy angel be with me,
that the evil foe
may have no power over me.
Amen
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