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 Wednesday in the season of Easter, April 10, 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)

Your name and your renown are the soul’s desire. (Isaiah 26:8)

5 For I know that the Lord is great;

    our Lord is above all gods.

6 Whatever the Lord pleases he does,

    in heaven and on earth,

    in the seas and all deeps.

7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;

    he makes lightnings for the rain

    and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever,

    your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.

14 For the Lord will vindicate his people

    and have compassion on his servants. (Ps. 135:5-7, 13-14)

Your name and your renown are the soul’s desire. (Isaiah 26:8)

Savior, like s shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care; in thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use thy folds prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! Thou hast bought us, thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! Thou hast bought us, thine we are.

We are thine, thou dost befriend us, be the guardian of our way; keep thy flock, from sin defend us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus. Hear, O hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus! Hear, O hear us when we pray. [UMH 381]

Your name and your renown are the soul’s desire. (Isaiah 26:8)

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:

2 Open the gates,

    so that the righteous nation that maintains faithfulness

    may enter in.

3 Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace,

    in peace because they trust in you.

4 Trust in the Lord forever,

    for in the Lord God

    you have an everlasting rock.

5 For he has brought low

    the inhabitants of the height;

    the lofty city he lays low.

He lays it low to the ground,

    casts it to the dust.

6 The foot tramples it,

    the feet of the poor,

    the steps of the needy.

7 The way of the righteous is level;

    straight is the path of the righteous that you clear.

8 In the path of your judgments,

    O Lord, we have placed hope;

your name and your renown

    are the soul’s desire. (Isaiah 26:2-8)

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.

Your name and your renown are the soul’s desire. (Isaiah 26:8)

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 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.