BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Join the Baylor community in common prayer for our nation and our university during this challenging election season. This simple guide is centered in scripture and offered for individuals and small groups to use as we unite in prayer. In addition, there will be in-person brief noon prayer services in Burleson Quadrangle on October 20th, 27th, and November 3rd.
PRAYERS FOR THESE DAYS
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
-Colossians 3:12
Greeting and Call to Prayer Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come. (Rev. 1:4).
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11: 28-30).
Praying with the Psalmist God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts...
Be still and know that I am God. (from Psalm 46)
(Pause and reflect)
New Testament Reading But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised... slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:8-17)
PRAYERS FOR THESE DAYS
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Prayers for Our Nation
-Colossians 3:12
Almighty God, Creator of us all... As the many challenges of these difficult days weigh heavy on our hearts, we turn to you remembering the frailty of each of us and all of us. We pray that the goodness and wisdom, the unity and charity flowing from your very being, might spread through our land, inspiring soul upon soul to civility, dignity, and compassion. Convict us and enable the discernment and moral vision that we need as a nation. We pray, O God, for paths of healing that will restore us and end this pandemic. (silent prayers) We pray, O God, for all who are vulnerable and suffering from COVID and from fires and storms, as well as financial hardship. (silent prayers) We pray, O God, for a peaceful election process. (silent or extemporaneous prayers)
Through Christ we pray.
Amen.
Prayers for the Baylor Community Lord of all creation and of this our university, grant that our life together will bear witness to your love and to the hope that is ours in your son, Jesus. In the coming days, here at Baylor may we all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Grant us courage and strength that we may not grow weary in doing good. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear that we might perceive Your image in one another and Your coherence flowing deeper than all the chaos. Send your Spirit among us that we may walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have received. May your light shine within and through us. (silent or extemporaneous prayers)
Through Christ we pray.
Amen.
Gospel Reading: The Beatitudes from Matthew 5 Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5: 3-12)
PRAYERS FOR THESE DAYS
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
-Colossians 3:12
A Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Benediction from 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.