Morning Prayer: Monday 13 October 2014

October 13, 2014

Elizabeth Fry, 1845

Week C

O Lord, open our lips:

and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

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.

PSALMODY

Antiphon: Be joyful in God, all you lands;* sing the glory of his name! (Ps. 66.1)

Opening

VENITE

1 O come let us sing out to the Lord,*

let us shout in triumph to the rock of our salvation.

2 Let us come before his face with thanksgiving*

and cry out to him joyfully in psalms.

3 For the Lord is a great God,*

and a great king above all gods.

4 In his hands are the depths of the earth,*

and the peaks of the mountains are his also.

5 The sea is his and he made it;*

his hands moulded dry land.

6 Come let us worship and bow down,*

and kneel before the Lord our maker.

7 For he himself is our God;*

we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

8 Today if only you would hear his voice:*

‘Do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness;

9 when your fathers tested me;*

put me to proof though they had seen my works.

10 Of whom I swore in my wrath:*

“They shall not enter my rest.”’

Glory to the Father… (may be said by all)

or (from Psalms 66 and 92)

1 All the earth bows down before you,*

sings to you, sings out your name.

2 Bless our God, you peoples;*

make the voice of his praise to be heard.

3 It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord,*

and to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

4 to tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning*

and of your faithfulness in the night season.

Glory to the Father…

or a suitable hymn

Psalm 148

1 Hallelujah!

Praise the Lord from the heavens;*

praise him in the heights.

2 Praise him, all you angels of his;*

praise him, all his host.

3 Praise him, sun and moon;*

praise him, all you shining stars.

4 Praise him, heaven of heavens,*

and you waters above the heavens.

5 Let them praise the name of the Lord;*

for he commanded, and they were created.

6 He made them stand fast for ever and ever;*

he gave them a law which shall not pass away.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth,*

you sea-monsters and all deeps;

8 Fire and hail, snow and fog,*

tempestuous wind, doing his will;

9 Mountains and all hills,*

fruit trees and all cedars;

10 Wild beasts and all cattle,*

creeping things and wingèd birds;

11 Kings of the earth and all peoples,*

princes and all rulers of the world;

12 Young men and maidens,*

old and young together.

13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,*

for his name only is exalted,

his splendour is over earth and heaven.

14 He has raised up strength for his people

and praise for all his loyal servants,*

the children of Israel, a people who are near him.

Hallelujah!

Blessed are you, Lord our God, creator of heaven and earth; you open our eyes to see the wonders around us, and our hearts and mouths to praise you. Now give us strength for loving service, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Conclusion (from Isaiah 12)

1 Behold God is my salvation;*

I will trust and not be afraid;

2 the Lord God is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.

3 With joy you will draw water*

from the wells of salvation.

4 Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name;*

make known his deeds among the nations.

5 Sing to the Lord for he has done gloriously;*

let this be known in all the earth.

6 Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Sion,*

for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Glory to the Father…..

Antiphon: Be joyful in God, all you lands; Sing the glory of his name!

 

READING(S)

 

Micah 7:1-7

Woe is me! For I have become like one who,

after the summer fruit has been gathered,

after the vintage has been gleaned,

finds no cluster to eat;

there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.

The faithful have disappeared from the land,

and there is no one left who is upright;

they all lie in wait for blood,

and they hunt each other with nets.

Their hands are skilled to do evil;

the official and the judge ask for a bribe,

and the powerful dictate what they desire;

thus they pervert justice.

The best of them is like a brier,

the most upright of them a thorn hedge.

The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come;

now their confusion is at hand.

Put no trust in a friend,

have no confidence in a loved one;

guard the doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your embrace;

for the son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

your enemies are members of your own household.

But as for me, I will look to the Lord,

I will wait for the God of my salvation;

my God will hear me.

Acts 26:1-23

Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You have permission to speak for yourself.’ Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself:

‘I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defence today against all the accusations of the Jews, because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews; therefore I beg of you to listen to me patiently.

‘All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I have belonged to the strictest sect of our religion and lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, your Excellency, that I am accused by Jews! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

‘Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

‘With this in mind, I was travelling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.” I asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord answered, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they

may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

‘After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.’

Silence

Response (Ps. 63.4)

I will bless you Lord as long as I live.

I will bless you Lord as long as I live.

And lift up my hands in your name.

As long as I live.

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

I will bless you Lord as long as I live.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus Antiphon: God has set us free* to worship him.

1 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,*

for he has come to his people and set them free.

2 He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,*

born of the house of his servant David.

3 Through his holy prophets he promised of old*

that he would save us from our enemies,

from the hands of all that hate us.

4 He promised to show mercy to our forebears,*

and to remember his holy covenant.

5 This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:*

to set us free from the hands of our enemies,

6 free to worship him without fear,*

holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

7 You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,*

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,

8 to give his people knowledge of salvation*

by the forgiveness of all their sins.

9 In the tender compassion of our God*

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

10 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,*

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father… (may be said by all)

PRAYERS

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

 

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.

Do not bring us to to the time of trial,

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours,

now and for ever.

Amen.

Collect of the Day (may be omitted when the Eucharist follows)

Almighty God, in our baptism you adopted us for your own. Quicken, we pray, your Spirit within us, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

(A suitable hymn)

God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord:

Thanks be to God!

The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil;

and bring us to life eternal.

Amen.