Prayer
News and Information
October 19, 2020
A daily prayer
during this COVID-19 crisis
During these difficult days, the United
Methodist Foundation of New England is sharing a daily prayer based on the
Revised Common Lectionary for the week.
You are welcome to use these in worship or in
your own devotions.
Today’s prayer
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Lord, you have been our refuge *
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the earth were born, *
from age to age you are God.
3 You turn us back to the dust and say, *
"Go back, O child of earth."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past *
and like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep us away like a dream; *
we fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green and flourishes; *
in the evening it is dried up and withered.
13 Return, O Lord; how long will you tarry? *
be gracious to your servants.
14 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
and the years in which we suffered adversity.
16 Show your servants your works *
and your splendor to their children.
17 May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; *
prosper the work of our hands;
prosper our handiwork.
Dear Lord, help me to spread thy
fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Thy spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so
utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine.
Shine through me, and be so in me that
every soul I come in contact with
may feel Thy presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me
but only Thee O Lord!
Stay with me, and then I shall begin to
shine as Thou shinest; so to shine as
to be a light to others.
The light O Lord will be all from Thee;
none of it will be mine;
It will be Thou, shining on others
through me.
Let me thus praise Thee in the way Thou
dost love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach Thee without preaching,
not by words but by my example, by
the catching force, the sympathetic
influence of what I do, the evident
fullness of the love my heart bears to Thee.
1 Lord, you have been our refuge *
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the earth were born, *
from age to age you are God.
3 You turn us back to the dust and say, *
"Go back, O child of earth."
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past *
and like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep us away like a dream; *
we fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green and flourishes; *
in the evening it is dried up and withered.
13 Return, O Lord; how long will you tarry? *
be gracious to your servants.
14 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
and the years in which we suffered adversity.
16 Show your servants your works *
and your splendor to their children.
17 May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; *
prosper the work of our hands;
prosper our handiwork.
Dear Lord, help me to spread thy
fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Thy spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so
utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine.
Shine through me, and be so in me that
every soul I come in contact with
may feel Thy presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me
but only Thee O Lord!
Stay with me, and then I shall begin to
shine as Thou shinest; so to shine as
to be a light to others.
The light O Lord will be all from Thee;
none of it will be mine;
It will be Thou, shining on others
through me.
Let me thus praise Thee in the way Thou
dost love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach Thee without preaching,
not by words but by my example, by
the catching force, the sympathetic
influence of what I do, the evident
fullness of the love my heart bears to Thee.
By John Henry Cardinal Newman, selected by
Pam DiMartino, Chief Financial Officer, the United Methodist Foundation of New
England.