Rest is good. We’re taking a break from producing content over the summer. Enjoy this previously produced pattern and meditation.
With all the noise in the world, do you hear the voice of God? Your calendar tells you what to do, but do you remember who you are? Being comes before doing. This is a call to put first things first. Return to the Lord with this daily pattern of prayer and devotion. Set aside this time as a sanctuary. Find a space free of distraction and follow this pattern.
Invocation
Making the sign of the cross, I say,
I speak your name it identifies me. I am your child, of your family. So I begin my day with your name on me, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
I invite my Lord,
Jesus, you called me to love others as you have loved me. I have seen your love. You gave and gave, even to death. Inspire me toward this supernatural love that comes only from you. Amen.
Confession
Forgive my sins, O Lord – forgive me the sins of my present and the sins of my past, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body; the sins which I have done to please myself, and the sins which I have done to please others. Forgive me my wasted and idle sins, forgive me my serious and deliberate sins, forgive me those sins which I know and those sins which I know not, the sins which I have labored so to hide from others that I have hid them from my own memory. Forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all.
Word: John 15:12
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Meditation
Martin Luther once described the fundamental nature of sin to be this: “life curved in on self.” “What do I get in return?” “It’s a two way street. I’ll do for you if you do for me.” “What do I get out of this?” Our sinful tendency is to turn everything back to ourselves.
Christians are not immune. We say, “Love one another.” Then we’re silent when someone else needs our help. We say, “Love one another,” and then we’re hypocrites when we’re greedy and angry. We say “Love one another,” and then we only help others when it’s convenient, or if it makes us feel good.
Let’s fight “life curved in on self.” Bend the focus that is turned toward self and orient it outward. Jesus said to “love one another.”
Recalibrate your posture toward “another.” Right now name two people.
• Someone close. maybe they’re so close, you have forgotten to pay attention to them. Your love for them has grown familiar or even cold. Spouse, parent, sibling, friend. You need to reinvest in one-way love.
• Someone further. You know them, but have never really given much thought to what they need. God is calling you to love them today. Co worker, classmate. Neighbor. Especially in the era of social distancing, there’s someone further out who needs you.
Jesus gives you the strength to love “another.” He himself is not curved in on his own interests. His undying focus is you.
- For my immediate family (parents, spouse, siblings).
- For extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents)
- For close friends that are as family to me.
- For those who don’t have families, or whose families are broken.
- For forgiveness and reconciliation where there is division in my family.
- For provision where there is need in my family.
- For God to be the foundation, and the cross the center of my family.
- For a generation yet unborn, future members of our family.
Prayer
Father, you have given me a family. Thank you for my home. We are not perfect. Our relationships are often strained. Where there is stress, relieve. Where there is division, reconcile. Where there are wounds, heal. Where there is joy, cause it to overflow from our family to others. Plant your love in the middle of our family. Be our foundation. Your cross is our compass, in Jesus’ name, Amen.