As the sun rises on this snowy morning of the Second Sunday of Lent, many of us in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth are homebound due to the ice and snow. But because our common prayers are what bind us together as Episcopalians, we can easily be together in Christ even when we are physically far apart.
Bishop Rayford B. High, Jr., Canon Janet Waggoner, and the diocesan staff invite you to join us in Morning Prayer in your homes and in Prayers of the People online.
- Click here for Morning Prayer, including hymns, from Mission St. Clare.
- Click here for the Sunday morning service of Holy Eucharist in the nave of the Washington National Cathedral, at 9am Eastern (8am Central) and 11:15 am Eastern (10:15am Central).
- Click here for archived broadcasts if you don’t catch the live webcast at the National Cathedral
If you prefer to do Morning Prayer out of your Book of Common Prayer at home, the service begins on page 75. If you don’t have a Book of Common Prayer at home, it also is online here. In the menu on the left, select The Daily Office. Then a new menu will appear, and you can select Daily Morning Prayer: Rite Two.
The Scripture readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, the three-year cycle of Sunday scripture readings which the Episcopal Church and many other denominations use, are posted here.
When you get to the prayers, you might remember that what makes the Prayers of the People we say together at Eucharistic services unique is that we commit ourselves to pray for the church and for the whole world, in addition to raising our own personal requests and praises to God. In your own prayers this morning (at that place in the service on page 101 where your thanksgivings and intercessions are bidden), can you think of something that stirs your heart in each of these categories?
- The Universal Church, its members and its mission
- The nation and all in authority
- The welfare of the world
- The concerns of the local community
- Those who suffer and those in any trouble
- The departed
- Personal petitions and thanksgivings
At the end of the service, please hear in your heart this final blessing, which is the traditional blessing for the Second Sunday of Lent:
Keep this your family, Lord, with your never-failing mercy, that relying solely on the help of your heavenly grace, they may be upheld by your divine protection; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
All grace and peace to you in the coming week. May you sense the hand of our good and gracious God upon you wherever you go.