Thursday after the Epiphany
Morning Prayer – Incarnation
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: Your justice Lord dawns like morning light;*
its dawning is as sure as the sunrise. (Hos. 6.3)
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 85)
1 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying,*
for he is speaking peace to his faithful people.
2 Truly his salvation is very near to those who fear him,*
that his glory may dwell in our land.
3 Mercy and truth have met together;*
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
4 Truth shall spring up from the earth,*
and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Glory to the Father…
or a suitable hymn
Psalm 99
1 The Lord is king; let the people tremble;*
he is enthroned upon the Cherubim; let the earth shake.
2 The Lord is great in Zion;*
he is high above all peoples.
3 Let them confess his name, which is great and awesome;*
he is the Holy One.
4 ‘O mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established equity;*
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.’
5 Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and fall down before his footstool;*
he is the Holy One.
6 Moses and Aaron among his priests,
and Samuel among those who call upon his name,*
they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud;*
they kept his testimonies and the decree that he gave them.
8 ‘O Lord our God, you answered them indeed;*
you were a God who forgave them,
yet punished them for their evil deeds.’
9 Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and worship him upon his holy hill;*
for the Lord our God is the Holy One.
Lord our God, ruler of the universe, you love what is right. Lead us in your righteousness, that we may live to praise you, through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 100
1 Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;*
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
2 Know this: The Lord himself is God;*
he himself has made us, and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
3 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise;*
give thanks to him and call upon his name.
4 For the Lord is good;
his mercy is everlasting;*
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.
God our Father, you have created us as your people, and you sustain us with your hand. Help us always to give you thanks, for you alone are worthy of thanksgiving and praise and honour, now and for ever.
Conclusion (from Isaiah 60)
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come,*
the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For behold darkness shall cover the earth,*
thick darkness the peoples;
3 but the Lord will arise upon you;*
God’s glory will be seen upon you.
4 Nations shall come to your light;*
kings to the brightness of your rising.
5 The sun shall be no more your light by day;*
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night;
6 but the Lord will be your everlasting light,*
your God will be your glory.
Glory to the Father…
Antiphon: Your justice Lord dawns like morning light,
its dawning is as sure as the sunrise.
READING(S)
Deuteronomy 8:1-3
This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Colossians 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Silence
Response (Ps. 119.130)
When your word goes forth it gives light.
When your word goes forth it gives light.
It gives understanding to the simple.
It gives light.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
When your word goes forth it gives light.
BENEDICTUS
Benedictus Antiphon: Glory to Christ* who is preached among the nations and believed on in the world. (from 1 Tim 3.16)
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: Glory to Christ* who is preached among the nations and believed on in the world. (from 1 Tim 3.16)
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
O God, who, by the guidance of a star, revealed your only-begotten Son to the nations: Grant that we, who know you now by faith, may at the last be led to see your glory face to face; 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.
