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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 we fail to observe this God-given gift of sabbath time, we have embezzled our own lives. The cost, in turn, is devastating. We fritter away our time, stealing from ourselves the gifts of meaning, awakening, and deepening our relationship with the Divine and others. Heschel writes that the self that emerges from a day of sabbath is a changed one. Sabbath should be the one-seventh of our lives that shapes the remaining six-sevenths.

—J. Dana Trent, For Sabbath’s Sake: Embracing Your Need for Rest, Worship, and Community (Upper Room Books, 2017)

Today’s Question

How often do you permit yourself to really rest on the sabbath?
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Today’s Scripture

In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
—Exodus 20:11 (NIV)

Prayer for the Week

Holy God, help me find freedom in the gift of sabbath. Guide me to build regular sabbath time into my life. Amen.
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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

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

3 Comments

  • Julie Posted July 4, 2022 8:58 am

    Never. For instance, yesterday Megan and I ran errands. But it was very nice because I spent the better part of the day free from my responsibities to h. However, when I came home h was agitated about some things and so I was thrown in to the fray once again.
    This morning I discovered that h is out of his medicine and as it is a holiday, the pharmacy he uses is closed. So now I am scrambling to call his doctor’s emergency number in order to get a refill sent to Walmart. Please pray.
    Prayers for Ally and David, for David’s rehab to be swift and for his pain to be minimal and for God to walk with Ally as she continues to deal with financial and health issues. Prayers for April as she cares for her loved one. Prayers for Jill as she cares for Roger who is acting more like his old self. Prayers for Lou and Rick and Scott. Prayers for Robert and his church as they conduct ther strawberry shortcake fundraiser, may it be successful. Thank you Robert for your service to our country which allows us to celebrate this day of freedom and independence and democracy.

  • Ally Posted July 4, 2022 2:36 pm

    For years, our day of rest was not very restful. I was pianist at a little church about 20 miles from my home. Service there was at9:30. I rushed (when David and I got married, we rushed) to our church for the 11:00 service and sang in the choir. The pandemic changed all that. Sundays became so restful, it was hard to go back to church in person. Our church is now a place of worship and rest for us.
    Life has been hectic. David fell and fractured his hip a week ago Saturday and had surgery Sunday. He was in the hospital a few days and is now in rehab for therapy. He did well today, but he’s tired. Please pray for his recovery. I pray for you all and thank you so much for your prayers for us. I pray for a safe 4th and that we as Americans can live up to our ideals as laid down by the framers of our Constitution and our democracy. Love to all.

  • Jill Posted July 4, 2022 4:35 pm

    My “sabbath” is generally on Saturday during the school year. I do not do school work on that day. Maybe that is not proper, but I do give myself a day free of school work during the school year, except in extenuating circumstances. Church is my Sabbath, my place to refuel, re-center.
    A lovely morning for tennis – wasn’t too hot, even though it is now almost 90. The lack of humidity is the difference maker. Treated myself to an iced latte on the way home. Just got in from a shorter than usual bike ride. I was surprised the trail was fairly vacant.
    Dad and I are to golf in the morning, but looks like rain is coming in. May have to re-think.
    My city has made the national news with the young black man who was riddled with 60+ shots from police guns in a traffic stop gone bad. It all ended about a mile from my house, crazy to think. A curfew has been issued for this evening and all holiday festivities cancelled. It is a dark time around here. Well, really in a lot of places.
    Thanks for the update, Ally. We will continue to pray for both of you.

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