Welcome to Mulberry Meditations! I’m so glad you’ve decided to join today in prayer. When we pray, we connect our heart to God’s heart, giving of our needs and praises while also receiving the grace, love, and provision of our great God. My name is Ted Goshorn, senior pastor of Mulberry Street United Methodist Church, and I’ll be guiding us through this time of prayer. 

Our prayers follow a contemplative liturgy, or pattern, in the long tradition of Christians who have utilized scripture readings, repeated refrains, and silence to commune through prayer. Together, we will hear scriptures from the daily lectionary, familiar hymn lyrics and music, and engage gradually in a time of silence, always preceded by scripture, that we may hear from God through God’s word. 

Now, I invite you to get comfortable, praying in whatever position feels natural, as we go through this time of prayer.

On this fourth Monday of Lent, March 11, 2024, we bring ourselves expectantly before our Lord in prayer, with praise and thanksgiving, opening ourselves to give and receive, from our heart to God’s heart. 

And so we pray:

God, come to my assistance. 

O Lord, make haste to help me. (Ps. 70:1)

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen. (Gloria Patri)

Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Ps. 80:3)

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

    you who lead Joseph like a flock!

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

     before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.

Stir up your might,

    and come to save us! (Ps. 80:1-2)

Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Ps. 80:3)

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. [UMH 349]

Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Ps. 80:3)

Hear us now, O God, as we offer our prayers for:

• Our families and all who call us friend
• Our church and all who claim your name 
• Our community, be it neighborhood, town, or city 
• Our nation and world, especially remembering those caught up in conflicts
• My needs and praises this day

O Lord, hear my prayer. 

A reading from the gospel of Mark, as we prepare ourselves to hear from God through keeping silence:

“25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from a flow of blood for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had, and she was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my cloak?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:25-34)

Silence 

And now we pray as Jesus taught us to pray by saying: 

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. 

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever; Amen.

Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved. (Ps. 80:3)

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him, who lives and reigns forever with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever; Amen.

And now, may the Lord bless you and keep you: may the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: may the LORD turn his face toward you, and give you peace. 

Amen.

Subscribe by signing up for daily emails to pray each day. To learn more about Mulberry Street UMC and to give to support our work, visit mulberrymethodist.org. New prayers post daily, both as audio podcasts and blog posts, so I hope you will return often. Visit tedgoshorn.org to see written prayers and to learn more. Prayer transforms our hearts, as we seek to be evermore like Jesus.