Prayer 06.10.2025

The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

THANKSGIVING FOR THE GIFT OF CREATION

Bless the Lord, all you creatures!

And forget not all of God’s benefits.

For all your creatures that breathe and move and have life,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God.

That we may love and honor the works of your hand,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God.

That all living things may be treasured with care,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God.

That all life may flourish,

We give you thanks and praise, Creator God. Amen

PSALM 8

O Lord our Lord, how majestic is

your name in all the earth!

you whose glory is chanted above the heavens out of the mouths

of infants and children; you have set up a fortress against your

enemies, to silence the foe and avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

what are mere mortals that you should be mindful of them,

human beings that you should care for them?

Yet you have made them little less than divine;

with glory and honor you crown them.

You have made them rule over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet:

all flocks and cattle, even the wild beasts of the field,

the birds of the air, the fish of the sea,

and whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

O | Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

LITANY FOR THE WILD ANIMALS

We see the vastness of the plants and animals that fill every corner of this earth

with life and vitality even in spaces where it is hard to imagine anything surviving.

We give thanks for the inevitability of life that God sustains among us.

We recognize how fragile life is in a natural world dominated by sickness and death.

We give thanks for the miracle of life that God sustains among us,

the life the wild animals around us exude is an illustration of the presence of God,

the light of life, among us.

We give thanks for the wild animals and the gift they are to us.

We are called to steward and preserve the life around us on God’s earth.

News from Tübingen

The English-German Colloquium in NT has an interim new leader from the Protestant Faculty of the University. Dr.  Daniel Schumann, assistant to Prof. Tilly, will take over Prof. Tilly's duties in the coming winter semester due to his research semester. Daniel is no stranger to the Colloquium nor to our Institute. He has presented multiple times in the Colloquium and he has helped to organize our recent international Symposiums, along with providing editorial support for the publications of the Symposium proceedings.

Here is Daniel’s brief self-introduction:

“I studied Protestant Theology (Dipl.) and Jewish Studies at the Universities of Jena and Leipzig (2002–2006; 2007-2011) and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2006-2007). In 2018, I completed my PhD in Theology (New Testament and Ancient Judaism) at the University of Münster under the supervision of Prof. Lutz Doering, with a dissertation on Vows in Ancient Judaism and Earliest Christianity (AJEC 111, Leiden: Brill, 2021). From 2018 to 2020, I held a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at the University of Oxford, where I was also affiliated as a Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and as a Research Associate of Keble College. I am currently a non-tenured lecturer for New Testament and Ancient Judaism at the Faculty of Protestant Theology, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, where I work at the chair of Prof. Michael Tilly and am preparing my Habilitation thesis Romans 7 in Context.

My teaching covers introductory courses in New Testament exegesis as well as occasional classes in Geʽez, Syriac, and Old Church Slavonic. Beyond Pauline studies, my research interests include rabbinic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the writings of Josephus. Together with Dr. Dennis Lindsay, Prof. Michael Tilly, Prof. Loren Stuckenbruck, and Dr. Tanja Forderer, I co-organized the 2024 symposium The “Great Commandment” in Early Christianity and its Jewish and Greco-Roman Environment; the proceedings are currently being prepared for publication in the WUNT I series with Mohr Siebeck.”

Prayer 22.09.2025

Psalm 113

Halleluja! Lobet, ihr Knechte des Herrn, lobet den Namen des Herren!

Gelobt sei der Name des Herrn von nun an bis in Ewigkeit!

Vom Aufgang der Sonne bis zu ihrem Niedergang sei gelobet der Name des Herrn!

Der Herr ist hoch über alle Völker; seine Herrlichkeit reicht, so weit der Himmel ist.

Wer ist wie der Herr, unser Gott, im Himmel und auf Erden?

Der Oben thront in der Höhe, der herniederschaut in die Tiefe;

Der den Geringen aufrichtet aus dem Staube und erhöht den Armen aus dem Schmutz;

Dass er ihn setze neben die Fürsten, neben die Fürsten seines Volkes;

Der die Unfruchtbare im Hause zu Ehren bringt, dass sie eine fröhliche Kindermutter wird. Halleluja!

(Zusammen): Ehr sei dem Vater und dem Sohn und dem Heiligen Geist, wie es war im Anfang, jetzt und immerdar, und von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit. Amen

This day’s grace (Pat Bennett, from Living Letters of the Word)

We bless you for the graces of this day’s journey:

For eyes touched and vision re-coloured;

for ears unstopped and hearing re-tuned;

for tongues loosened and speech re-enchanted;

for minds freed and the world re-imagined;

for hearts opened and love re-kindled;

for dry bones breathed on and lives resurrected –

we bless you for this day’s grace.

Vater unser…

Prayer 08.09.2025

Herrnhuter Losungen 2025

Psalm 57,4
Gott sende seine Güte und Treue

Galater 5,22-23

Die Frucht des Geistes ist Liebe, Freude, Frieden, Geduld, Güte, Rechtschaffenheit, Treue, Sanftmut, Selbstbeherrschung.

Wäre ich so bereit und fände Gott soweit Raum in mir wie in unseren Herrn Jesus Christus, er würde mich ebenso mit seiner Flut erfüllen. Denn der Heilige Geist kann sich nicht enthalten, in all das zu fließen, wo er Raum findet, und soweit, wie er Raum findet. (Meister Eckhart)

Von Johannes Kepler

Groß ist unser Herr und groß seine Macht
und seiner Weisheit kein Ende!
Lobet ihn, Sonne, Mond und Planeten,
in welcher Sprache immer euer Loblied
dem Schöpfer erklingen mag.
Lobet ihn, ihr himmlischen Harmonien,
und auch ihr, die Zeugen und Bestätiger
seiner enthüllten Wahrheiten!
Und du, meine Seele,
singe die Ehre des Herrn dein Leben lang!
Von ihm und durch ihn und zu ihm
sind alle Dinge,
die sichtbaren und die unsichtbaren.
Ihm allein sei Ehre und Ruhm
von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit! Amen

Vater unser..

Witness for Peace Prayer 25.08.2025

„Witness for Peace“

(From The Pattern of Our Days; adapted from a service

held at Faslane Trident Submarine Base on 27 October 1986)

Prayer of Repentance:

Forgive us, Creator God, for we have seen into the abyss of the industries of death and not drawn back.

We pray for those of us who have the political power to make life or death decisions. Kyrie Eleison!

We pray for those of us who can see no choice but to work in the industries of death. Kyrie Eleison!

We pray for t hose of us who pay our taxes to support, or make our profits out of the industries of death. Kyrie Eleison!

We pray for those of us who have failed to speak loudly enough or take action boldy enough to challenge the industries of death. Kyrie Eleison!

We pray for those of us who have been too confused or helpless to know what to do. Kyrie Eleison!

We know that with you, Creator God, life is abundant, and that you can make all things new.

We rejoice in your hope!

Prayer of Commitment to Life:

In the midst of hunger and war we celebrate the promise of plenty and peace.

In the midst of oppression and tyranny we celebrate the promise of service and freedom.

In the midst of doubt and despair we celebrate the promise of faith and hope.

In the midst of fear and betrayal we celebrate the promise of joy and loyalty.

In the midst of hatred and death we celebrate the promise of love and life.

In the midst of sin and decay we celebrate the promise of salvation and renewal.

In the midst of death on every side we celebrate the promise of the Living Christ.

Words of Encouragement:

To do and to dare—not what you would, but what is right. Never to hesitate over what is in your power, but boldly to grasp what lies before you. Not in the flight of fancy, but only in the deed there is freedom. Away with timidity and reluctance! Out into the storm of event, sustained only by the commandment of God and your faith, and freedom will receive your spirit with exultation. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison)

Prayer for strength:

Lord we do not pray for easy lives, we pray to be stronger people.

We do not pray for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks.

We stand together for life in the midst of death.

Vater Unser…