Morning Prayer: Wednesday 23 March 2016

March 23, 2016

Wednesday of Holy Week
Morning Prayer – The Suffering Christ

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: I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart,*
and glorify your name for evermore. (Ps. 86.12)

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 86)

1 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord,*
nor anything like your works.
2 All nations you have made will come and worship you, O Lord,*
and glorify your name.
3 For you are great; you do wondrous things;*
and you alone are God.
4 Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;*
knit my heart to you that I may fear your name.

Glory to the Father…

or a suitable hymn

Psalm 40

1 I waited patiently upon the Lord;*
he stooped to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay;*
he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;*
many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the Lord.
4 Happy are they who trust in the Lord!*
they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.
5 Great things are they that you have done, O Lord my God!
how great your wonders and your plans for us!*
there is none who can be compared with you.
6 Oh, that I could make them known and tell them!*
but they are more than I can count.
7 In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure*
(you have given me ears to hear you);
8 Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required,*
and so I said, ‘Behold, I come.
9 In the roll of the book it is written concerning me:*
“I love to do your will, O my God;
your law is deep in my heart.”’
10 I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation;*
behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O Lord, you know.
11 Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart;
I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance;*
I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the
great congregation.
12 You are the Lord;
do not withhold your compassion from me;*
let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever,
13 For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see;*
they are more in number than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails me.
14 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;*
O Lord, make haste to help me.
15 Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed
who seek after my life to destroy it;*
let them draw back and be disgraced
who take pleasure in my misfortune.
16 Let those who say ‘Aha!’ and gloat over me be confounded,*
because they are ashamed.
17 Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad;*
let those who love your salvation continually say,
‘Great is the Lord!’
18 Though I am poor and afflicted,*
the Lord will have regard for me.
19 You are my helper and my deliverer;*
do not tarry, O my God.

God our saviour, hear our prayer for all who suffer at the hands of others, and especially for those who suffer for the sake of justice. Raise and comfort them, and lead us all in the paths of loving service. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Conclusion (from Isaiah 42)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold*
my chosen, in whom
my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him*
he will bring forth justice to the nations:
He will not cry nor lift up his voice*
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break*
a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice*
he will not fail nor be discouraged,
till he has established justice in the earth*
and the coastlands wait for his law.

Glory to the Father…

Antiphon: I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name for evermore.

READING(S)

Lamentations 2:1-9

How the Lord in his anger
has humiliated daughter Zion!
He has thrown down from heaven to earth
the splendour of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
on the day of his anger.

The Lord has destroyed without mercy
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
the strongholds of daughter Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonour
the kingdom and its rulers.

He has cut down in fierce anger
all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn his right hand from them
in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
consuming all around.

He has bent his bow like an enemy,
with his right hand set like a foe;
he has killed all in whom we took pride
in the tent of daughter Zion;
he has poured out his fury like fire.

The Lord has become like an enemy;
he has destroyed Israel.
He has destroyed all its palaces,
laid in ruins its strongholds,
and multiplied in daughter Judah
mourning and lamentation.

He has broken down his booth like a garden,
he has destroyed his tabernacle;
the Lord has abolished in Zion
festival and sabbath,
and in his fierce indignation has spurned
king and priest.

The Lord has scorned his altar,
disowned his sanctuary;
he has delivered into the hand of the enemy
the walls of her palaces;
a clamour was raised in the house of the Lord
as on a day of festival.

The Lord determined to lay in ruins
the wall of daughter Zion;
he stretched the line;
he did not withhold his hand from destroying;
he caused rampart and wall to lament;
they languish together.

Her gates have sunk into the ground;
he has ruined and broken her bars;
her king and princes are among the nations;
guidance is no more,
and her prophets obtain
no vision from the Lord.

2 Corinthians 1:23 – 2:11

But I call on God as witness against me: it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth. I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith. So I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice; for I am confident about all of you, that my joy would be the joy of all of you. For I wrote to you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

But if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but to some extent—not to exaggerate it—to all of you. This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person; so now instead you should forgive and console him, so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. I wrote for this reason: to test you and to know whether you are obedient in everything.Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Silence

Response (Ps. 119.123)

My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.
My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.
And for your righteous promise.
For your salvation.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus Antiphon: Christ Jesus* humbled himself even to death. (Phil 2.8)

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: Christ Jesus* humbled himself even to death. (Phil 2.8)

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 Lord God, whose blessed Son, our Saviour, gave his back to the smiters, and did not hide his face from shame: give us grace to endure the sufferings of this present time, and confidence in the glory that shall be revealed; 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.