"Drawing from a deeper well with a broader bucket"

TOOLS FOR SPIRITUAL HEALTH:

FEAR INVENTORY

RESENTMENT INVENTORY

HARMS INVENTORY

52-week Bible Reading Plan

ADULT BIBLE STUDY

Lord’s Prayer

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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us,

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.

Amen.

mp3 prayer

sermon (on Lord's Prayer)

sermon (on fasting)

Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time;Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;That I may be reasonably happy in this lifeand supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen.

mp3 prayer

sermon (on serenity)

Woven Prayer of Examen

God, I am grateful for today. *As I review my day, what should I take notice of? *Please shed your light and show me what I really need. *Where was I resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid? Do I owe an apology? *Have I kept something to myself which should be discussed with another person at once? *Was I kind and loving towards all or was I thinking of myself most of the time? *Forgive me for my harms and show me what corrective measures I should be taking. *This I do, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

mp3 prayer

sermon (on Prayer of Examen)

Woven’s Examen

MEDITATIVE PRAYERS

I believe help my unbelief

(Mark 9:24)

Thy will not mine be done

(Luke 22:42)

My God my God why have you forsaken me

(Matt 27:46)

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner

(Luke 18:13)

(“The Jesus Prayer” - a “breath prayer”)

mp3 prayer

sermon (on meditation)

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, let me sow pardon;

where there is doubt, let me sow faith;

where there is despair, let me sow hope;

where there is darkness, let me sow light;

where there is sadness, let me sow joy.

O, Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

mp3 prayer

sermon (on praying for your spouse)

A PRAYER FOR MY SPOUSE

God, please show me how to keep

my spouse’s happiness utmost in my mind today;

As I try, by your grace, to make this relationship right.

Please protect my spouse from all of my wrongs.

Help me to seek to console than to be consoled,

to comfort than to be comforted,

to understand than to be understood,

and to love than to be loved.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Amen.

mp3 prayer

sermon (on praying for your spouse)

AA Third Step Prayer

God I offer myself to Thee,

to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt.

Relieve me of the bondage of self that I may better do Thy will.

Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness

to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy love & Thy way of life.

May I do Thy will always.

mp3 prayer

sermon (on surrender)

sermon (on repentance)

Saint Patrick’s Breastplate

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.

By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;

His baptism in the Jordan river;

His death on Cross for my salvation;

His bursting from the spicèd tomb;

His riding up the heavenly way;

His coming at the day of doom;

I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today

The power of God to hold and lead,

His eye to watch, His might to stay,

His ear to hearken to my need.

The wisdom of my God to teach,

His hand to guide, His shield to ward,

The word of God to give me speech,

His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,

The vice that gives temptation force,

The natural lusts that war within,

The hostile men that mar my course;

Or few or many, far or nigh,

In every place and in all hours,

Against their fierce hostility,

I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,

Against false words of heresy,

Against the knowledge that defiles,

Against the heart's idolatry,

Against the wizard's evil craft,

Against the death wound and the burning,

The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,

Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity;

By invocation of the same.

The Three in One, and One in Three,

Of Whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:

Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

mp3 prayer

sermon (on praying for your children)

THE SET ASIDE PRAYER

Dear God

please help me to set aside everything I think I know about [people. place or thing]

so I may have an open mind and a new experience.

Please help me to see the truth about [people. place or thing].

AMEN."

(This prayer comes from the “Big Book” of AA: Chapter to the Agnostic, pp.47 and 48)

“RENEW” by Melodie Beattie

Rest when you’re tired.

Take a drink of cold water when you’re thirsty.

Call a friend when you’re lonely

Ask God to help when you feel overwhelmed.

Many of us have learned

how to deprive and neglect ourselves.

Many of us have learned to push ourselves hard

When the problem is that we’re already pushed too hard.

Many of us are afraid the work won’t get done if we rest when we’re tired.

The work will get done; it will be done better than work

That emerges from tiredness of soul and spirit.

Nurtured, nourished people, who love themselves and care for themselves

Are the delight of the Universe. They are well-timed, efficient, and Divinely led.

FIRESIDE PRAYER

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,

Forgive our foolish ways;

Reclothe us in our rightful mind;

In purer lives Your service find,

In deeper reverence praise.

Drop your still dews of quietness,

Till all our strivings cease;

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

And let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Your peace.

Breathe through the heat of our desire

Your coolness and Your balm;

Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;

Speak through earthquake, wind and fire,

O still small voice of calm!

In simple trust like theirs who heard,

Beside the Syrian sea,

The gracious calling of the Lord,

Let us, like them, without a word,

Rise up and follow Thee.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Holy Spirit, my sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo.*

Forgive what my lips tremble to name,* what my heart can no longer bear,*

and what has become for me a consuming fire of judgment.*

Set me free from a past that I cannot change;*

open to me a future in which I can be changed;*

and grant me grace to grow more and more in the Father’s likeness and image;*

through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen.*

(from The Covenant Book of Worship, p.349-350)

PRAYERS OF REPENTANCE

Most holy and merciful Father:

We confess to you and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth,

that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word and deed;

by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.*

We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind and strength.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. Have mercy on us, Lord.*

We have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us.

We have not been true to the mind of Christ.

We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have Mercy on us, Lord.*

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness:

the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives.

We confess to you, Lord.*

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways,

and our exploitation of other people,

We confess to you, Lord.*

Our anger at our own frustration,

and our envy of those more fortunate than us,

we confess to you, Lord.*

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts,

our dishonesty in daily life and work,

We confess to you, Lord.*

Our negligence in prayer and worship,

and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,

We confess to you, Lord.*

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:

for our blindness to human need and suffering,

and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,

Accept our repentance, Lord.*

For all false judgments,

uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors,

and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.*

Restore us, good Lord,

and let your anger depart from us.

Favorably hear us for your mercy is great.*

Accomplish in us

and in all your church the work of your salvation,

That we may show forth your glory in the world.*

By the cross and passion of your Son, our Lord,

bring us, with all your saints,

to the joy of his resurrection. Amen.*

SEARCHER OF HEARTS,

It is a good day to me when thou givest me
    a glimpse of myself;
Sin is my greatest evil,
  but thou art my greatest good;
I have cause to loathe myself,
  and not to seek self-honour,
  for no one desires to commend his own dunghill.
My country, family, church
  fare worse because of my sins,
  for sinners bring judgment in thinking sins are small,
  or that God is not angry with them.
Let me not take other good men as my example,
  and think I am good because I am like them,
For all good men are not so good as thou desirest,
  are not always consistent,
  do not always follow holiness,
  do not feel eternal good in sore affliction.
Show me how to know when a thing is evil
  which I think is right and good,
  how to know when what is lawful
  comes from an evil principle,
  such as desire for reputation or wealth by usury.
Give me grace to recall my needs,
  my lack of knowing thy will in Scripture,
    of wisdom to guide others,
    of daily repentance, want of which keeps thee at bay,
    of the spirit of prayer, having words without love,
    of zeal for thy glory, seeking my own ends,
    of joy in thee and thy will,
    of love to others.
And let me not lay my pipe
  too short of the fountain,
  never touching the eternal spring,
  never drawing down water from above.

• source: “The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions”