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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

It can be tempting to think that when Jesus was present, he filled up a room with his words; perhaps you know of someone who does just that. We can get the idea that Jesus showed up, and immediately he began to teach and preach as is recorded in the Gospels, with the Sermon on the Mount or some of his many parables. However, if you consider the number of words we actually have from Jesus and the number of years he actively ministered, it is likely that he listened far more than he spoke.

—Ben Ingebretson, Plant Like Jesus: The Church Planter’s Devotional (Upper Room Books, 2020)

Today’s Question

How can you follow the example of Jesus and listen more? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.
—Romans 10:17 (NRSVUE)

Prayer for the Week

Teach me, Lord Jesus, to listen as you did. Help me to be slow to speak, slow to judge, and quick to hear. Open my ears so that I can sense both the cry for help around me and your Spirit more clearly, that I might follow you more completely. I pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
—Ben Ingebretson, Plant Like Jesus
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Something More

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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

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

2 Comments

  • robert moeller Posted April 10, 2024 5:45 am

    I listen a lot to my son, am glad we are making progress in resolving issues.Doing so helps move him forward. Thank You, Lord. I’m trying to listen more to You, Lord, instead of talking. It’s an uphill climb. Thankful for the resources that enable progress.

  • Rusty Posted April 10, 2024 9:45 am

    I have found Philippians 2:3-4 to be a helpful guide for me to avoid monopolizing conversations and to focus on, and listen to, what others are saying. St. Benedict’s teachings in his monastic Rule also emphasize the need for both silence on our part and humility when dealing with others. As today’s reading suggests, there is a tendency for us to “fill the room with words” and to assume Jesus did the same.

    As the question for today asks, though, how do we follow Jesus’s example? I say we pray about it, ask for others’ help in pointing it out to us when we forget to listen, and make a point to seek out and absorb scripture and other religious sources on the topics of listening, silence and humility. Internet key word searches always yield helpful sources to me.

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