Invitation — Psalm 139:14
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
Quiet
Bible Song — Psalm 81:8-16
"Hear me, my people, and I will warn you —
if you would only listen to me, Israel!
You shall have no foreign god among you;
you shall not worship any god other than me.
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of Egypt.
Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
"But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
to follow their own devices.
"If my people would only listen to me,
if Israel would only follow my ways,
how quickly I would subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes!
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their punishment would last forever.
But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
Bible Reading — 1 Samuel 1:21-28
When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always."
"Do what seems best to you," her husband Elkanah told her. "Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, "Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." And he worshiped the Lord there.
Quiet
Dwelling
Remind yourself you are in God's presence and read again ... notice how God might be speaking to you through his Word — dwell on a word or phrase that jumps out at you ... let your heart respond to God in prayer ... take refreshment in God's presence.
Free Prayer
- thanks for music, color, beauty, and all the senses to take in creation
- for the wonder, beauty, and complexity of creation
- for the care of creation
Prayer — HC 116
God who speaks and listens, if I waited to feel in the mood, I fear you wouldn't hear too much from me. I need prayer to keep me freshly aware that I depend on you for everything and that everything I have is a gift from you. And so here I am, with open hands and grateful heart. Amen.
Blessing — Matthew 5:4
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."