Tag Archives: Creator

Midweek Devotion- Isaiah 45

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SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 45:8

BREATH PRAYERS:
IN: And he walks with me
OUT: And he talks with me

IN:
OUT: The joy of the Lord is your strength

IN:
OUT: God is near

You’re encouraged to use the following process as you read scripture.
We use this process together on Wednesdays at 8:00AM EST.
https://www.facebook.com/TrinityUMCSarasota/

STILLNESS: Spend 5-20 minutes in silence looking to God and listening for God.

ATTENTION: Read or listen to the Scripture. What word, phrase, or verse captures your attention? Underline it or copy it onto a piece of paper.

CONNECTION: What connections do you see to other scriptures? To your own experience or current situation? Or, to the character or promises of God?

ACTION: What is God inviting you to trust, say, or do? How will your life be different because of this scripture?

PRAY: Talk to God about what you just experienced or anything else on your heart.

Recorded 8/19/2020

Bind Us Together
CCLI Song # 1228
Bob Gillman © 1977
Thankyou Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
CCLI License # 686715

PUBLIC DOMAIN SONG:
In the Garden
Text and Music: C. Austin Miles

_______________________________________
Midweek Devotion- Isaiah 45 © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Breath Prayers Based on Luke 21

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summer in the scriptures luke (1)

Breath Prayers based on Luke 21:29-33
The Lesson of the Fig Tree

Silently pray the phrase after IN on your breath in. Then silently pray the phrase after OUT on your breath out. Take your time. Breathe deeply. Choose one, a few, or all of them as is most helpful to you. ⁠

IN: Creator,
OUT: help me see

IN: Creator,
OUT: open my eyes to your signs

IN: Creator, speak to me
OUT: through your creation

IN: You will fulfill
OUT: Your promises

IN: Heaven and earth will pass away
OUT: But your words will not

IN: The kingdom of God is near
OUT: breathe out in silence

IN: You are near
OUT: breathe out in silence

_______________

For the next few months, I’m reading a chapter from the Gospels each day. This is part of the Summer in the Scriptures reading plan sponsored by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Click Here for the reading plan.

You’re most welcome to read along and to join the Facebook discussion group, Summer in the Scriptures. You don’t need to be a Methodist or attend a Methodist church. All are welcome and all means all.

As part of the Facebook group, I’ve been supplying prayers based on the day’s reading. Feel free to post your prayers and observations based on the readings here or there as well.

May the grace of the Gospels, the challenge, and the call, inspire us to great faith and great good works in Jesus’ name. – Lisa <

Breath Prayers based on Luke 21 © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution.
Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Midweek Devotion- Psalm 147

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Scripture: Psalm 147:1-11, NRSV

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Text: Robert Robinson, 1735-1790
Music: Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second
Public Domain
1. Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Breath Prayer:
IN- Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
OUT- Bind my wandering heart to Thee

You’re encouraged to use the following process as you read scripture. We use this process together on Wednesdays at 8:00AM EST.
https://www.facebook.com/TrinityUMCSarasota 

STILLNESS: Spend 5-20 minutes in silence looking to God and listening for God.

ATTENTION: Read or listen to the Scripture. What word, phrase, or verse captures your attention? Underline it or copy it onto a piece of paper.

CONNECTION: What connections do you see to other scriptures? To your own experience or current situation? Or, to the character or promises of God?

ACTION: What is God inviting you to trust, say, or do? How will your life be different because of this scripture?

PRAY: Talk to God about what you just experienced or anything else on your heart.

Recorded 6/24/2020

Bind Us Together
CCLI Song # 1228
Bob Gillman © 1977 Thankyou Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
CCLI License # 686715

Midweek Devotion- Psalm 147 © 2020 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

A Prayer and Poem for Earth Day

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USA_10096-7-8_HDR_Antelope_Canyon_Luca_Galuzzi_2007

Antelope Canyon by Luca Galuzzi. Photo via Wikipedia Commons

Happy 50th anniversary of Earth Day!- Lisa <><

Glorious One
Maker of galaxies
Maker of mountains
Maker of me

Thank you for your grace
Thank you for reaching out
For speaking through the majesty of your creation
For speaking into the smallness of my soul

Help me listen and act
Help me honor and protect your world
Help me join their sacred witness and song
Now and always
Amen

Bless Christ Through Whom All Things Are Made
a hymn text based on Colossians 1:15-18
Meter 88.88 (LM)
For a PDF of the hymn as it appears in the Worship and Song pew edition, click the link Bless Christ, Through Whom All Things are Made

Bless Christ through whom all things are made.
Join seen and unseen in their praise
of One who both creates, sustains
who goes before, in justice reigns.

Who makes the lion and the lamb
the farthest star, the smallest hand
dominions, rulers, and their pow’rs
the steadfast mount, the fleeting hours?

Who made the ore for blood-soaked nails?
Who made the thorns and whipping tails?
Who made the sun that would not shine
and made the tree on which Christ died?

Who makes the waters of our birth?
Who makes the dust where we return?
Who makes the way for us to die
and rise to everlasting life?

Bless Christ through whom all things are made.
Join seen and unseen in their praise
of One who both creates, sustains
who goes before, in justice reigns.

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Prayer for Earth Day © 2012 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Bless Christ Through Whom All Things Are Made © 2000, 2009 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use these works in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form.

Earth Day: God Who Brings the Cleansing Rain (Psalm 148)

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Song_of_the_Silent_Snow_by_Martina Carnesciali

Song of the Silent Snow by Martina Carnesciali

Psalm 148:7-8 NRSV
Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!

One winter, while we were living in North Carolina, it snowed. I sat for a long time in silence at our bedroom window watching the soft flakes float to the ground. It was fascinating to me. I grew up in Florida and had only seen snow a couple of times in my life. The perfect peace of that experience birthed the snow verse of this hymn. As I began to think about other natural experiences, the other verses came to be.

Today, we’ll be experiencing severe thunderstorms where I live. I’m thankful. We desperately need rain. It’s also the week of the 50th anniversary of earth day. It’s also a time of unprecedented change due to coronavirus. As I look at this text 20 years after writing it, I’m struck by how it continues to speak to my world.

How does this text connect to your experience? – Lisa <><

God Who Brings the Cleansing Rain
by Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
Meter 77.77
Suggested tune: THE CALL (United Methodist Hymnal #164)

God who brings the cleansing rain
saturate our thirsty bones
with the milk of mercy sweet
with the blood that brings us home

God who rules the fiery sun
kindle now our brittle hearts
set ablaze our tender lives
forge our ways till sin departs

God who rides the winds of change
anchor us against its wrath
set our face toward holy ends
fix our walk upon your path

God who sends the silent snows
quiet us against your breast
cover us with hope-filled wings
whisper soft your word of rest

God who steps into our time
Take away this needless fear
Turn our lives to songs of praise
Play us for your world to hear

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God Who Brings the Cleansing Rain © 2010 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia
You are welcome to use this work in a worship setting with proper attribution. Please leave a comment for information and permission to publish this work in any form. Lisa is especially interested in collaborating with someone to set this text to music.