The God Minute
The God Minute is a 10-minute daily prayer to help you draw close to God. Peaceful music, sacred scripture and a short reflection are woven together in a spiritual harmony to bring peace and focus to your day.
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The God Minute
Go in Joy
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SCRIPTURE
- Isaiah 55:12
“For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”
REFLECTION
- Peggy
MUSIC
- Song of Zecharaiah by Sisters of Life
NOTES
-
PRAYER OF LETTING GO
To You do I belong, O God,
into Your hands I surrender my life.
Pour out Your Spirit upon me
that I may love You perfectly,
and serve You faithfully
until my soul rests in You.
I shall know the fullness of joy when I see your face, O Lord. Isn't that lovely? It was the antiphon at evening prayer last night. And I thought it a beautiful way to not only end a day, but to begin one. Welcome to prayer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
unknownAmen.
SPEAKER_01O Lord, open my lips. And my mouth shall declare your praise.
SPEAKER_02The God of his shit. The God of his shirts.
SPEAKER_00The mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. The word of the Lord. Today's scripture is a Bible verse about hope, freedom, and God's promise to bring his people out of hard times with deep joy and peace. It also uses poetic language to show how all of creation shares in the happiness and the celebration of God's saved people, the mountains, the hills, the trees. Everyone, everything is involved in celebrating. It's a reminder that God can lead people out of personal darkness, guilt, or tough life seasons into a place of spiritual rest and victory. God promises that his people will leave their sorrows behind and move forward with glad hearts and calm minds. It means not letting your circumstances crush you. To choose joy is to choose hope. And what is to come. As I was reflecting on this scripture passage, I began to feel as though this is something that I have reflected on before. It's something that I have talked about before. This is a repeat. When I was teaching in a middle school classroom, I used to let the students in on a little teacher's secret. If I thought something was very important in the course of my lessons, you know, worth remembering, maybe something that would show up later on a test or a quiz, I'd either write it on the board or I would repeat it more than once. Keep coming back to the same idea. Maybe even two or three times in the course of my lesson or in the course of one week. I informed the students, I'm not doing this because I'm getting old and I don't remember what I already talked about. But I want this idea or this fact to stick in your mind. I did it to emphasize the importance of the concept or the heart of the lesson, the message I was trying to get across. You know, I wonder sometimes if that isn't a teaching tool that's also used by the inspired authors of the Bible. Have you noticed that there are some key themes that are repeated over and over and over throughout scripture? You know, things like God is faithful, love God, take care of each other, be not afraid, rejoice in the Lord. God will provide. Could it be that the common threads found in Scripture, the repeats, are messages that God intends to highlight for us in order that we might learn, remember, and be shaped by them? Consider the messages that you seem to hear, repeated again and again and again in Scripture. Listen carefully for the lesson that might be intended just for you. Learning it might help to bring the joy and peace that's found in today's scripture.
SPEAKER_01Along with our prayers and intercessions, we now lift our voice and praise God in his prayer. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. Let us pray. God of hope, when life feels heavy and the road before us uncertain, remind us that no darkness is beyond your light. Fill our hearts with the deep joy and quiet peace that comes from knowing you are with us, guiding us always toward new life and hope. We ask through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00Amen.
SPEAKER_01To you do I belong, O God. Into your hands I surrender my life. Pour out your spirit upon me, that I may love you perfectly and serve you faithfully until my soul rests in you. Here in the United States, we celebrate a national holiday today called Labor Day. And so let us ask God now as we close our prayer to bless the work of our hands, to bless those who are looking for work, and to help us see each day's labor as another opportunity to love and serve. And so from all of us here at the God Minute, brothers and sisters, have a blessed, a restful, and a very happy labor day. And may God's blessing be with you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you tomorrow.
