Aidan of Lindisfarne, Bishop, 651
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 69.1-20
1 Save me, O God,*
for the waters have risen up to my neck.
2 I am sinking in deep mire,*
and there is no firm ground for my feet.
3 I have come into deep waters,*
and the torrent washes over me.
4 I have grown weary with my crying;
my throat is inflamed;*
my eyes have failed from looking for my God.
5 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs
of my head;
my lying foes who would destroy me are mighty.*
Must I then give back what I never stole?
6 O God, you know my foolishness,*
and my faults are not hidden from you.
7 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
Lord God of hosts;* let not those who seek you
be disgraced because of me,O God of Israel.
8 Surely, for your sake have I suffered reproach,*
and shame has covered my face.
9 I have become a stranger to my own kindred,*
an alien to my mother’s children.
10 Zeal for your house has eaten me up;*
the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.
11 I humbled myself with fasting,*
but that was turned to my reproach.
12 I put on sack-cloth also,*
and became a byword among them.
13 Those who sit at the gate murmur against me,*
and the drunkards make songs about me.
14 But as for me, this is my prayer to you,*
at the time you have set, O Lord:
15 ‘In your great mercy, O God,*
answer me with your unfailing help.
16 Save me from the mire; do not let me sink;*
let me be rescued from those who hate me
and out of the deep waters.
17 Let not the torrent of waters wash over me,
neither let the deep swallow me up;*
do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.
18 Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind;*
in your great compassion, turn to me.’
19 ‘Hide not your face from your servant;*
be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.
20 Draw near to me and redeem me;*
because of my enemies deliver me.
21 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonour;*
my adversaries are all in your sight.’
22 Reproach has broken my heart, and it cannot be healed;*
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I could find no one.
23 They gave me gall to eat,*
and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.
24 Let the table before them be a trap*
and their sacred feasts a snare.
25 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see,*
and give them continual trembling in their loins.
26 Pour out your indignation upon them,*
and let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
27 Let their camp be desolate,*
and let there be none to dwell in their tents.
28 For they persecute him whom you have stricken*
and add to the pain of those whom you have pierced.
29 Lay to their charge guilt upon guilt,*
and let them not receive your vindication.
30 Let them be wiped out of the book of the living*
and not be written among the righteous.
31 As for me, I am afflicted and in pain;*
your help, O God, will lift me up on high.
32 I will praise the name of God in song;*
I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
33 This will please the Lord more than an offering of oxen,*
more than bullocks with horns and hoofs.
34 The afflicted shall see and be glad;*
you who seek God, your heart shall live.
35 For the Lord listens to the needy,*
and his prisoners he does not despise.
36 Let the heavens and the earth praise him,*
the seas and all that moves in them;
37 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah;*
they shall live there and have it in possession.
38 The children of his servants will inherit it,*
and those who love his name will dwell therein.
Blessed are you, God of our hope; you restore the fallen and rebuild the broken walls. Teach us the song of thanksgiving, for you are the strength of your people; through 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)
Job 12:1; 14:1-22
Then Job answered:
‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
look away from them, and desist,
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.
‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
For then you would not number my steps,
you would not keep watch over my sin;
my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.
‘But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;
the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
You prevail for ever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance, and send them away.
Their children come to honour, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
and mourn only for themselves.’
Acts 12:18-25
When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.
Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. The people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!’ And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents. Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.
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 promised of old* to save us.
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 promised of old* to save us.
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 and merciful God, by whose grace alone your faithful people offer you service and praise: grant that we may hasten without stumbling towards the things that you promise; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever 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.
