X

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

One new understanding I’ve come to is this: We don’t have to conjure up love; love fills the core of our beings. The radical love at the heart of Christianity flows through every part of our lives. It nourishes our inner lives as we help nourish the world. It allows our outward acts of service to be authentic expressions of our inner lives. This is the spiritual path into which Jesus invites us, to lives in which love inhabits every part of our experience—our intentions, thoughts, feelings, and actions.

—Andrew Dreitcer, Living Compassion: Loving Like Jesus (Upper Room Books, 2017)

Today’s Question

Can you let love flow through you today?  Share your thoughts.

Today’s Scripture

“We love because God first loved us.”
—1 John 4:19 (CEB)

Prayer for the Week

Lord, make me an instrument of your compassion.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room or share it in the comment section.

Something More

Reverend Junius B. Dotson was preaching at a funeral when suddenly he realized he wasn’t going to make it through the service. The next thing he knew, he was in an ambulance on the way to the ER, where he was diagnosed with extreme exhaustion. Read more about his Soul Reset.

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

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

Sponsored by The Upper Room. Copyright © 2019 | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

10 Comments

  • robert moeller Posted September 19, 2019 6:31 am

    Hopefully, I try to do this every day. Love makes the world go around.

    Thankful that my stitches are out and the treatment is going well. It will be a little while before round two starts and two more teeth come out. Learned early this morning that my benchwork parts arrived at 8:40 PM last night.
    A catalog for German gingerbread, “Lebkuchen”, came in the mail. It’s a treat at Christmas time. Breakfast this morning with black currant preserves on the English muffin. Oh Happy Day! Thank You, Lord!

  • robert moeller Posted September 19, 2019 6:45 am

    Thanks for yesterday’s posts Julie, Carol, and Bj. Have held babies, my children and grandchildren in the dark, sung to them, and yes it is a special time and long lasting memory.

    Hope very much that there is a way, God will provide one, for you, Julie, to be in a more safe place. Teaching Megan how to post here is a great idea.

    Prayers of healing, safety, comfort, reassurance, peace, love, mercy, and grace. Thank You, God for providing for us. Help us always to turn to You in praise and thanks.

    Have to look up that place name. I live in the Mount Washington Valley of NH
    in a town named Conway.

  • led Posted September 19, 2019 7:06 am

    Robert did you see my question concerning Bob Mulhound ?

  • Bj Posted September 19, 2019 7:33 am

    Good morning, UR family. My prayer is always, Lord able me to love others as You love me. I say, Lord, “teach me how to treat my neighbors, teach me how to love my family and friends, fill me with Your Holy Spirit, “work on me , work in me.” These are always included in my morning prayers. I love this UR family and really, really appreciate the communications we have. I am not the sociable type of person in person. That anti social! Since October, 2013, it was all about my mother. She has always been my best and only friend. This is why I say I love the daily reflections and posts. Prayers to all of you today and always. Robert, it seems like you are in the rural area. One thing for sure, you have always enjoyed life. Julie, you and megan are a pair. I feel that that your cat is jealous. Of course Jill and Robert use to have their cat spoiled. Roger was very understandable. I must say, a move before this move, Robert made sure his cat was well fed. Maybe that one passed away about 1 and half year ago. May all of you have a blessed day.

  • Julie Posted September 19, 2019 8:19 am

    I try to live as though love flows freely from me to the world. I try to love all of creation and as I have stated I believe my calling is to care for and do for others.
    Prayers for Robert and his present oral situation being stable. I have ordered that German treat to be delivered this Christmas season. I make homemade preserves. I have made strawberry and blackberry.
    Prayers for BJ and her mother. Our kittens are very jealous but not of Megan and my relationship. They are jealous of one another, if we pet one we must also pet the other. They also want to be the center of attentiona and Chai especially will obstruct Megan’s view of TV, phone or computer.
    Prayers for April, Betsy, Lou and Mary.
    Prayers for physical healing for Andrea, Connie, Erich and Marcy.
    Prayers for emotional healing for Connie, Jill, Larry and Lou.
    Prayers, blessings, warm hugs, and thank you dear ones

    • Bj Posted September 19, 2019 9:24 am

      Hi, Julie! That’s what i mean about the jealousy. A pet want all the attention. They wanna be in the midst. Just a little attention will do. My oldest daughter had 2 full blooded toy poodles that she bought when they were babies. Well, she got her master degree in 2000 and moved about 3 hours away. She had no kids. But anyawa9, what ever a child had, you name it, the puppies had it. Including coverings. They got groomed every other week, back then for $74 a piece. They even had the swing set. But, in 2017,they slipped out of their kennels and someone took them to the pound because after 4 days they couldn’t locate her. She didn’t want them back. Yep, she had insurance on them. They even had a hospital bill.

  • Mary Ng Shwu Ling Posted September 19, 2019 9:02 am

    Thanks Julie!

    Yes, I can let love flow through me every day with God’s help.

    Today, I pray for a missionary and someone who is seeking God’s direction. Sometimes, I will take time to listen to the sick and pray with them. God has given me many opportunities to love others every day.

    Thank you God!

    Blessings!

    • Bj Posted September 19, 2019 9:26 am

      Hi, Mary! May God continue use you.

      • Bj Posted September 19, 2019 9:27 am

        May God continue to use you. Error!

  • Jill Posted September 20, 2019 3:35 am

    Yes – hopefully love will flow through me today. To my students, in patient listening, intentional eye contact. I have a conference with a parent and student at the end of my day today…much patience will be required, as well as the ability to stand my ground. There will be a passive/aggressiveness on the other side of the desk from me – and I must carefully guard my words and actions.
    Grateful for time spent with a fellow sojourner on the path of grief Wednesday evening over dinner. I re-connected with a former student athlete of mine from almost 30 years ago at my church two years back. Her brother is the pastor. Her father passed of cancer this summer. She has four beautiful girls under the age of 10, and her husband works at the church and oversees the counseling where I was going for the past year. She has been having a difficult time, seeing her mom’s grief, her little girls’ grief and questions and, of course, her own grief. We had such a good talk, some tears and are considering attending a grief group in the New Year, depending on the holidays and how she is feeling. It is so interesting how the Lord works, in not only crossing paths with her again, but now walking this parallel path.
    Fall tennis begins this evening and I am looking forward to it. The match is quite a distance away and I am carpooling with another player. Dad is stopping by early for dinner.
    Prayers of blessing, hope and peace for the UR family.

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *