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New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

Used by permission from the Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. This prayer appears in “A Liturgy for Morning Prayer” in Upper Room Worshipbook.

 

Today's Reflection

When speaking of service, it’s important to note that I’m not saying we’re beloved because we serve God. We cannot do anything to merit God’s love. Instead, we are beloved first because God declares us so, whether we think we deserve it or not. Then, as we own our belovedness and live into it, we reflect God’s love for the whole world as we serve others. When we live out of our belovedness, we won’t be able to help it—we will feel compelled to serve.

—Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019)

Today's Question

How has living out of your belovedness compelled you to share God’s love with the world?
Join the conversation.

Today's Scripture

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
—Matthew 5:16 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

God of love, who invites me to this journey with your Beloved Son, open my heart to accept your invitation. Hear my concerns about this journey. Help me to learn the way of the beloved. Let me know I am beloved. In the name of Jesus, who reveals the way to your heart. Amen.
[adapted from Kristen E. Vincent, “Prayer Bead Experience,” We Are Beloved]
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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Maundy Thursday

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Today's Reflection

We all are called to serve God faithfully in some way because we are God’s beloved. We find our call to live out our belovedness by being still. In the stillness, we experience true connection with God and begin to recognize who God created us to be. We get in touch with our specific gifts and talents and passions. We draw on our belovedness, and from that place, we serve.

—Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019)

Today's Question

Which spiritual practices help you connect with God? Join the conversation.

Today's Scripture

“Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations;
I am exalted in the earth.”
—Psalm 46:10 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

God of love, who invites me to this journey with your Beloved Son, open my heart to accept your invitation. Hear my concerns about this journey. Help me to learn the way of the beloved. Let me know I am beloved. In the name of Jesus, who reveals the way to your heart. Amen.
[adapted from Kristen E. Vincent, “Prayer Bead Experience,” We Are Beloved]
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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Wednesday of Holy Week

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Today's Reflection

We are each on a journey toward healing to one degree or another. Though I’ve made incredible progress in my journey of healing from childhood trauma, I am not fully healed from that event and have just begun journeys of healing from other events in my life. And there will be things that happen in the future for which I will need healing. That’s why I return to stillness again and again. I know that I will be able to fulfill my calling only by sitting with God, allowing God to redeem my pain, and being reminded that I am beloved. From there I can practice living as one who is beloved.

—Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019)

Today's Question

How have you experienced God’s presence in your journey toward healing? Join the conversation.

Today's Scripture

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
—1 Peter 2:24 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

God of love, who invites me to this journey with your Beloved Son, open my heart to accept your invitation. Hear my concerns about this journey. Help me to learn the way of the beloved. Let me know I am beloved. In the name of Jesus, who reveals the way to your heart. Amen.
[adapted from Kristen E. Vincent, “Prayer Bead Experience,” We Are Beloved]
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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Tuesday of Holy Week

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Today's Reflection

For us to care about ourselves, others, and the rest of creation, we must recognize and claim our belovedness. But as we’re learning through this study, owning our belovedness is a process. In the end, it’s really a process of healing from pain and trauma, healing from the lies and messages we’ve received and internalized, healing our relationship with our bodies, healing our relationship with others, and, perhaps most importantly, healing our understanding of God.

—Kristen E. Vincent, We Are Beloved: A Lenten Journey with Protestant Prayer Beads (Upper Room Books, 2019)

Today's Question

What has been the process of owning your belovedness? Join the conversation.

Today's Scripture

[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
—1 Corinthians 13:7 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

God of love, who invites me to this journey with your Beloved Son, open my heart to accept your invitation. Hear my concerns about this journey. Help me to learn the way of the beloved. Let me know I am beloved. In the name of Jesus, who reveals the way to your heart. Amen.
[adapted from Kristen E. Vincent, "Prayer Bead Experience," We Are Beloved]
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

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Stay connected with The Upper Room. Find us on Facebook and Instagram for daily opportunities for prayer and reflection.

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Monday of Holy Week

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Today's Reflection

Don’t keep the prayer at the forefront of your conscious thinking so that it fosters anxiety. Let it drop into the subconscious mind and work at that greater depth. Then all you do will find support in an undertone of prayer, but you will experience no anxiety. Dismissing your prayer from the conscious mind serves as an act of faith. Having committed it to God, you leave it and believe that the best thing possible will come about.

—E. Stanley Jones, How to Pray, with commentary by Tom Albin (E. Stanley Jones Foundation and Upper Room Books, 2015)

Today's Question

When have you released the outcome of your prayers to God? Join the conversation.

Today's Scripture

[Jesus said,] "When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
—Matthew 6:7-8 (NIV)

Prayer for the Week

Gracious Christ, teach me to pray. . . . Give me the mind to pray, the love to pray, the will to pray. Let prayer be the aroma of every act, the atmosphere of every thought, my native air. In your name. Amen. [Prayer by E. Stanley Jones]
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Something More

The Upper Room has a long history of supporting The United Methodist Church General Conference in prayer. We are seeking volunteers to serve in our prayer ministry at General Conference in Charlotte, NC, April 23-May 3, 2024. Apply to be a Prayer Room Volunteer by March 24. Learn more here!

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Liturgy of the Palms

Liturgy of the Passion

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Today's Reflection

Prayer opens the channels from our emptiness to God’s fullness, from defeat to victory. Therefore, pray or be a prey—a prey to your impulses, to the last event, to your surroundings. The person who prays overcomes everything, for the most redemptive fact of the universe prevails—the will of God. To find that will and live by it is to find yourself.

—E. Stanley Jones, How to Pray, with commentary by Tom Albin (E. Stanley Jones Foundation and Upper Room Books, 2015)

Today's Question

What practical actions can you take to develop a more prayerful mind? Join the conversation.

Today's Scripture

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
—James 5:16 (NIV)

Prayer for the Week

Gracious Christ, teach me to pray. . . . Give me the mind to pray, the love to pray, the will to pray. Let prayer be the aroma of every act, the atmosphere of every thought, my native air. In your name. Amen. [Prayer by E. Stanley Jones]
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Something More

The Upper Room has a long history of supporting The United Methodist Church General Conference in prayer. We are seeking volunteers to serve in our prayer ministry at General Conference in Charlotte, NC, April 23-May 3, 2024. Apply to be a prayer room volunteer by March 24. Learn more here!

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Liturgy of the Palms

Liturgy of the Passion

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

2 Comments | Join the Conversation.