April 6, 2024

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 Saturday in the season of Easter, April 6, 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)

O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

4 One generation shall extol your works to another

    and shall declare your mighty acts.

5 They will recount the glorious splendor of your majesty,

    and on your wondrous works I will meditate.

6 They will proclaim the might of your awesome deeds,

    and I will declare your greatness.

7 They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness

    and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,

    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

9 The Lord is good to all,

    and his compassion is over all that he has made. (Ps. 145:4-9)

O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Naught be all else to me, save that thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light. 

Great God of heaven, my victory won, may I reach heavens joys, O bright heaven’s sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O Ruler of all. [UMH 451]

O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

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 prophet Isaiah, as we prepare ourselves to hear from God through keeping silence:

1 O Lord, you are my God;

    I will exalt you; I will praise your name,

for you have done wonderful things,

    plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

2 For you have made the city a heap,

    the fortified city a ruin;

the palace of foreigners is a city no more;

    it will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;

    cities of ruthless nations will fear you.

4 For you have been a refuge to the poor,

    a refuge to the needy in their distress,

    a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat.

When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm,

5     the noise of foreigners like heat in a dry place,

you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds;

    the song of the ruthless was stilled. (Isaiah 25:1-5)

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.

O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of 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.