Introduction 

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 fifth Tuesday of Lent, March 19, 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 a special note today. The Psalm and refrain come from number 121, which is also the official Psalm of Berry College. I grew up there, as we lived on campus for my dad’s job, and then went to school there. I met Dana there and we were married in Berry’s chapel. Payton and Mallory also both attended Berry and met there. At Berry College, the mountains are just off in the distance, often in view, and so it’s easy to say, I lift my eyes to the hills…my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

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)

I lift my eyes to the hills…my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—

    from where will my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;

    he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 He who keeps Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day

    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;

    he will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep

    your going out and your coming in

    from this time on and forevermore. (Ps. 121)

I lift my eyes to the hills…my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee! E’en though it be a cross that raises me, still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to thee; nearer my God, to thee.

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down, darkness be over me, my rest a stone; yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God to thee; nearer to thee.

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise, out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise; so by my woes to be nearer, my God, to thee; nearer to thee. [UMH 528]

I lift my eyes to the hills…my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

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 Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, as we prepare ourselves to hear from God through keeping silence:

“If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

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.

I lift my eyes to the hills…my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns 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.