MORNING PRAYER Tuesday, 26 August 2014 Preparation O Lord, open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise. One or more of the following is said or sung: a prayer of thanksgiving (page 109), a suitable hymn, or A Song of God’s Righteousness Bless the Lord, O my soul, • and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, • and forget not all his benefits; Who forgives all your sins • and heals all your infirmities; Who redeems your life from the Pit • and crowns you with faithful love and compassion; Who satisfies you with good things, • so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s. The Lord executes righteousness • and judgement for all who are oppressed. He made his ways known to Moses • and his works to the children of Israel. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, • and his kingdom has dominion over all. Bless the Lord, you angels of his, • you mighty ones who do his bidding and hearken to the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, • you ministers of his who do his will. Bless the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion; • bless the Lord, O my soul. Psalm 103.1-7, 19-22 Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and shall be for ever. Amen. This opening prayer may be said The night has passed, and the day lies open before us; let us pray with one heart and mind. Silence is kept. As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and for ever. Amen. The Word of God Psalmody The appointed psalmody is said. Psalm 73 In the Lord God have I made my refuge. Truly, God is loving to Israel, • to those who are pure in heart. Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone; • my steps had well-nigh slipped. For I was envious of the proud; • I saw the wicked in such prosperity; For they suffer no pains • and their bodies are sleek and sound; They come to no misfortune like other folk; • nor are they plagued as others are; Therefore pride is their necklace • and violence wraps them like a cloak. Their iniquity comes from within; • the conceits of their hearts overflow. R They scoff, and speak only of evil; • they talk of oppression from on high. They set their mouth against the heavens, • and their tongue ranges round the earth; And so the people turn to them • and find in them no fault. They say, ‘How should God know? • Is there knowledge in the Most High?’ Behold, these are the wicked; • ever at ease, they increase their wealth. Is it in vain that I cleansed my heart • and washed my hands in innocence? All day long have I been stricken • and chastened every morning. If I had said, ‘I will speak as they do,’ • I should have betrayed the generation of your children. R Then thought I to understand this, • but it was too hard for me, Until I entered the sanctuary of God • and understood the end of the wicked: How you set them in slippery places; • you cast them down to destruction. How suddenly do they come to destruction, • perish and come to a fearful end! As with a dream when one awakes, • so, Lord, when you arise you will despise their image. When my heart became embittered • and I was pierced to the quick, I was but foolish and ignorant; • I was like a brute beast in your presence. R Yet I am always with you; • you hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with your counsel • and afterwards receive me with glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? • And there is nothing upon earth that I desire in comparison with you. Though my flesh and my heart fail me, • God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever. Truly, those who forsake you will perish; • you will put to silence the faithless who betray you. But it is good for me to draw near to God; • in the Lord God have I made my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. In the Lord God have I made my refuge. Holy God, may we find wisdom in your presence and set our hope not on uncertain riches but on the love that holds us to the end; in Jesus Christ our Lord. Each psalm or group of psalms may end with Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and shall be for ever. Amen. If there are two Scripture readings, the first may be read here, or both may be read after the canticle. 1 Samuel 26 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, ‘David is in hiding on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon.’ So Saul rose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, with three thousand chosen men of Israel, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon beside the road. But David remained in the wilderness. When he learned that Saul had come after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies, and learned that Saul had indeed arrived. Then David set out and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was encamped around him. Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, ‘Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?’ Abishai said, ‘I will go down with you.’ So David and Abishai went to the army by night; there Saul lay sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the army lay around him. Abishai said to David, ‘God has given your enemy into your hand today; now therefore let me pin him to the ground with one stroke of the spear; I will not strike him twice.’ But David said to Abishai, ‘Do not destroy him; for who can raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?’ David said, ‘As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him down; or his day will come to die; or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed; but now take the spear that is at his head, and the water-jar, and let us go.’ So David took the spear that was at Saul’s head and the water-jar, and they went away. No one saw it, or knew it, nor did anyone awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other side, and stood on top of a hill far away, with a great distance between them. David called to the army and to Abner son of Ner, saying, ‘Abner! Will you not answer?’ Then Abner replied, ‘Who are you that calls to the king?’ David said to Abner, ‘Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord’s anointed. See now, where is the king’s spear, or the water-jar that was at his head?’ Saul recognized David’s voice, and said, ‘Is that your voice, my son David?’ David said, ‘It is my voice, my lord, O king.’ And he added, ‘Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What guilt is on my hands? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering; but if it is mortals, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out today from my share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, “Go, serve other gods.” Now, therefore, do not let my blood fall to the ground, away from the presence of the Lord; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.’ Then Saul said, ‘I have done wrong; come back, my son David, for I will never harm you again, because my life was precious in your sight today; I have been a fool, and have made a great mistake.’ David replied, ‘Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and get it. The Lord rewards everyone for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the Lord gave you into my hand today, but I would not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed. As your life was precious today in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he rescue me from all tribulation.’ Then Saul said to David, ‘Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.’ So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. Canticle A Song of Peace, or another suitable canticle, for example, number 26 (page 577), may be said Refrain: Spirit of God, teach us your ways, that we may walk in the paths of peace. Come, let us go up to the mountain of God, • to the house of the God of Jacob; That God may teach us his ways, • and that we may walk in his paths. For the law shall go out from Zion, • and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. God shall judge between the nations, • and shall mediate for many peoples. They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, • and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, • neither shall they learn war any more. O people of Jacob, come: • let us walk in the light of the Lord. Isaiah 2.3-5 Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and shall be for ever. Amen. Spirit of God, teach us your ways, that we may walk in the paths of peace. Scripture Reading One or more readings appointed for the day are read. The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence. Acts 4.1-12 While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand. The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is “the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.” There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’ A suitable song or chant, or a responsory in this or another form, may follow Open my eyes, O Lord that I may see the wonders of your law. Open my eyes, O Lord that I may see the wonders of your law. Lead me in the path of your commandments that I may see the wonders of your law. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Open my eyes, O Lord that I may see the wonders of your law. from Psalm 119 Gospel Canticle The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) is normally said, or The Song of Christs Glory (page 619) may be said Refrain: In your tender compassion, O God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us. Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, • who has come to his people and set them free. He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, • born of the house of his servant David. Through his holy prophets God promised of old • to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us, To show mercy to our ancestors, • and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham: • to set us free from the hands of our enemies, Free to worship him without fear, • holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life. And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, • for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, To give his people knowledge of salvation • by the forgiveness of all their sins. In the tender compassion of our God • the dawn from on high shall break upon us, To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, • and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1.68-79 Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and shall be for ever. Amen. Refrain: In your tender compassion, O God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us. Prayers Intercessions are offered ¶ for the day and its tasks ¶ for the world and its needs ¶ for the Church and her life The cycle on pages 364–365 and the prayer on page 377 may be used. These responses may be used Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer (or) Lord, hear us. Lord, graciously hear us. Silence may be kept. The Collect of the day is said Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please you; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. The Lord’s Prayer is said As our Saviour taught us, so we pray Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen. (or) Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. 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. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. The Conclusion The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life. Amen. Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 05:44:37 +0000