Morning Prayer: Monday 26 September 2016

September 26, 2016

Monday after Pentecost 19
Morning Prayer – Week D

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: Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;*
make your way straight before me. (Ps. 5.8)

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 5)

1 In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;*
early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.
2 Through the greatness of your mercy I will go into your house;*
I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.
3 All who take refuge in you will be glad;*
they will sing out their joy for ever.
4 You will shelter them,*
so that those who love your name may exult in you.

Glory to the Father…

or a suitable hymn

Psalm 111

1 Hallelujah!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,*
in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.
2 Great are the deeds of the Lord!*
they are studied by all who delight in them.
3 His work is full of majesty and splendour,*
and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 He makes his marvellous works to be remembered;*
the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He gives food to those who fear him;*
he is ever mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shown his people the power of his works*
in giving them the lands of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice;*
all his commandments are sure.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever,*
because they are done in truth and equity.
9 He sent redemption to his people;
he commanded his covenant for ever;*
holy and awesome is his name.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;*
those who act accordingly have a good understanding;
his praise endures for ever.

Generous and bountiful God, give us grace always to thank you and share your gifts with others, that the world may be filled with the joy of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Psalm 112

1 Hallelujah!
Happy are they who fear the Lord*
and have great delight in his commandments!
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land;*
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in their house,*
and their righteousness will last for ever.
4 Light shines in the darkness for the upright;*
the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.
5 It is good for them to be generous in lending*
and to manage their affairs with justice.
6 For they will never be shaken;*
the righteous will be kept in everlasting remembrance.
7 They will not be afraid of any evil rumours;*
their heart is right;
they put their trust in the Lord.
8 Their heart is established and will not shrink,*
until they see their desire upon their enemies.
9 They have given freely to the poor,*
and their righteousness stands fast for ever;
they will hold up their head with honour.
10 The wicked will see it and be angry;
they will gnash their teeth and pine away;*
the desires of the wicked will perish.

God of light, teach us to love each other as you love us, that we may bring peace and joy to the world, and rejoice in the kingdom of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Conclusion (from Isaiah 66)

1 Rejoice with Jerusalem and exult in her,*
all you who love her.
2 Share her joy with all your heart,*
all you who mourn over her.
3 Then you may suck and be fed from her breasts,*
delighting in her plentiful milk.
4 For thus says the Lord, I will send peace flowing over her like a river,*
and the wealth of nations like a stream in flood;
5 you shall be carried in her arms,*
and rocked upon her knees.
6 As a mother comforts her child,*
so will I myself comfort you, and you shall find strength in Jerusalem.
7 This you shall see and be glad at heart;*
your limbs shall be as the fresh grass in spring.*
8 Then I myself will gather all nations;*
and they shall come and behold my glory.

Glory to the Father…

Antiphon: Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;
make your way straight before me.

READING(S)

Hosea 2:14-23
Therefore, I will now persuade her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
From there I will give her her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
On that day, says the Lord, you will call me, ‘My husband’, and no longer will you call me, ‘My Baal’. For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more. I will make for you a covenant on that day with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.And I will take you for my wife for ever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord.
On that day I will answer, says the Lord,
I will answer the heavens
and they shall answer the earth;
and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel;
and I will sow him for myself in the land.
And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah,
and I will say to Lo-ammi, ‘You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’

Acts 20:17-38

From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. When they came to him, he said to them:

‘You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house, as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus. And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace.

‘And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again. Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” ’

When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed. There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship.

Silence

Response (Ps. 33.18)

The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him.
The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him.
On those who wait upon his love
On those who fear him.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear him.

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)

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

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 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
O Lord, may your grace at all times go before us, and follow on behind: and so continually direct us to good works; through 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.