Above:  Items Donated to the Decatur Emergency Assistance Ministry, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Decatur, Georgia, June 11, 2017

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Text (1892) by Lucy Larcom (1826-1893)

Hymn Source = Worship and Song (Revised Edition) (1921), U.S. Congregationalist

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Dear Lord, each selfish thought we think

Puts us afar from Thee;

Into our own dark depths we sink,

Where heaven can never be.

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Teach us to know Thee as Thou art;

To give as Thou hast given!

O show us how the loving heart

May make this world a heaven!

Above:  Dawn

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Lucy Larcom (1826-1893)

Hymn Source = Common Praise:  Hymns with Tunes for Christian Worship (Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, New York, 1913)

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O Spirit, whose name is the Saviour,

Come, enter this spirit of mine,

And make it forever Thy dwelling,

A home wherein all things are Thine!

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A Son of the Father Eternal,

Once with us, a Friend and a Guest,

Abide in Thine own human mansion,

Its joy and its Hope and its Rest.

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Leave in me no darkness unlightened,

Unwarmed by Thy truth’s holy fire;

No thought which Thou canst not inhabit,

No purpose Thou doest not inspire.

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Shut in unto silence, my midnight

Is dawn, if Thy presence I see;

When I open my doors to Thy coming,

Lo! all things are radiant with Thee.

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Oh, what is sweet as to love Thee

And live with Thee always in sight?

Lord, enter this house of my being,

And fill every room with Thy light!

Above:  Lucy Larcom

Image Source = hymntime.com

Lucy Larcom (1826-1893), a U.S. Congregationalist who became an Episcopalian, taught subjects including literature, history, botany, logic, and moral philosophy.

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I Thank Thee, Lord, for Precious Things:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/i-thank-thee-lord-for-precious-things/

Draw Thou My Soul, O Christ:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/draw-thou-my-soul-o-christ/

O God, Thy World is Sweet with Prayer:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/o-god-thy-world-is-sweet-with-prayer/

Dear Lord, Each Selfish Thought We Think:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2017/07/03/dear-lord-each-selfish-thought-we-think/

O Spirit, Whose Name is the Saviour:

https://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2017/07/03/o-spirit-whose-name-is-the-saviour/

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Above:  Palm Trees in the Morning

Image in the Public Domain

Text (1892) by Lucy Larcom (1826-1893)

Hymn Source = The Church School Hymnal for Youth (1928), Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

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1.  O God, Thy world is sweet with prayer;

The breath of Christ is in the air;

We rise on Thy free Spirit’s wings,

And every thought within us sings.

2.  Thou art our Morning and our Sun,

Our work is glad, in Thee begun,

Our foot-worn path is fresh with dew,

For Thou createst all things new.

3.  O God, within us and above,

Close to us in the Christ we love,

Through him, our only Guide and way,

May heavenly life be ours today.

Above:  Good Shepherd

Image in the Public Domain

Text by Lucy Larcom (1826-1893)

Hymn Source = Hymns of the Spirit (1937), American Unitarian Association and Universalist Church of America

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1.  I thank thee, Lord, for precious things

Which thou into my life hast brought;

More gratefully my spirit sings

Its thanks for all I yet have not.

2.  How fair thy word to me has been!

How dear the friends who breathe its air!

But who can guess what waits within

Thine opening realms, thy worlds more fair?

3.  At friendly shores, at peaceful isles

I tough, but may not long delay;

Where thy flushed East with mystery smiles

I steer into th’unrisen day.

4.  For veils of hope before thee drawn,

For mists that hint th’immortal coast

Hid in thy farthest, faintest dawn,–

My God, for these I thank thee most.

5.  Joy, joy! to see, from every shore

Whereon my step makes pressure fond,

Thy sunrise reddening still before,–

More light, more love, more life beyond!

Above:  Episcopal Church of the Common Ground, Atlanta, Georgia, February 22, 2012

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/114749828757741527421/ChurchOfTheCommonGroundMorningPrayer#5711981715117232258)

Hymn Source = The Pilgrim Hymnal (1904), National Council of Congregational Churches in the United States

Words (1892) by Lucy Larcom (1826-1893), a Massachusetts-born poet

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Before Morning Prayer, February 22, 2012

Image Source = Bill Monk, Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

(https://picasaweb.google.com/114749828757741527421/ChurchOfTheCommonGroundMorningPrayer#5711981555708393522)

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1.  Draw thou my soul, O Christ,

Closer to thine;

Breathe into every wish

Thy will divine;

Raised my low self above,

Won by thy deathless love,

Ever, O Christ, through mine

Let thy life shine.

2.  Lead forth my soul, O Christ,

One with thine own,

Joyful to follow thee

Through paths unknown;

In thee my strength renew;

Give me thy work to do;

Through me thy truth be shown,

Thy love made known.

3.  Not for myself alone

May my prayer be;

Lift thou thy world, O Christ,

Closer to thee;

Cleanse it from guilt and wrong;

Teach it salvation’s song,

Till earth, as heaven, fulfill

God’s holy will.