Morning Prayer: Monday 15 February 2016

February 15, 2016

Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730
Morning Prayer – Returning to God

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: O God, you are my God;*
eagerly I seek you. (Ps. 63.1)

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 Psalm from Psalm 63)

1 My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,*
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
2 For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;*
my lips shall give you praise.
3 For you have been my helper,*
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
4 My soul clings to you;*
your right hand holds me fast.

Glory to the Father…

or a suitable hymn

Psalm 32

1 Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven,*
and whose sin is put away!
2 Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt,*
and in whose spirit there is no guile!
3 While I held my tongue, my bones withered away,*
because of my groaning all day long.
4 For your hand was heavy upon me day and night;*
my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you,*
and did not conceal my guilt.
6 I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’*
Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.
7 Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble;* when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.
8 You are my hiding-place;
you preserve me from trouble;*
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
9 ‘I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go;*
I will guide you with my eye.
10 Do not be like horse or mule, which have no understanding;*
who must be fitted with bit and bridle,
or else they will not stay near you.’
11 Great are the tribulations of the wicked;*
but mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord.
12 Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord;*
shout for joy, all who are true of heart.

Watch over us, loving God, and when we fall into sin teach us to acknowledge our guilt. May we forgive and be forgiven, for the sake of the one who was wounded for our transgressions, Jesus Christ your Son our Saviour.

Conclusion (from Ezekiel 36)

1 I will gather you from every country,*
and bring you home to your own land.
2 I will pour clean water over you,*
and cleanse you from your idols.
3 A new heart I will give you,*
and put a new spirit within you.
4 I will take from your body the heart of stone.*
and give you a heart of flesh.
5 I will put my spirit within you.*
and make you walk in my ways and observe my decrees.
6 You will live in the land that I gave to your forebears;*
you will be my people and I will be your God.

Glory to the Father…

Antiphon: O God, you are my God;
eagerly I seek you.

READING(S)

Genesis 27:1-11

When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, ‘My son’; and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘See, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me. Then prepare for me savoury food, such as I like, and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.’

Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, ‘I heard your father say to your brother Esau, “Bring me game, and prepare for me savoury food to eat, that I may bless you before the Lord before I die.” Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. Go to the flock, and get me two choice kids, so that I may prepare from them savoury food for your father, such as he likes; and you shall take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.’ But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, ‘Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a man of smooth skin.

1 Corinthians 1:1-19

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’

Silence

Response (Ps. 6.4)

Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.

Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.
Save me for your mercy’s sake
And deliver me.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Turn, O Lord, and deliver me.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus Antiphon: We shall not live by bread alone,* but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matt. 4.4)

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)

Benedictus Antiphon: We shall not live by bread alone,* but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matt. 4.4)

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
Almighty God, whose Son fasted forty days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, yet did not sin: give us grace to discipline ourselves in submission to your Spirit, that, as you know our weakness, so we may know your power to save; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord,who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

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.