Morning Prayer: Thursday 27 February 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Thursday after Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
Week C
Week of Proper 7
O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.
Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: Be joyful in God, all you lands;* sing the glory of the divine name! (Psalm. 66.1)
Opening
Come, let us sing
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before the presence of the Lord with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to God with psalms.
3 For you, O Lord, are a great God, *
and a great sovereign above all gods.
4 In your hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are yours also.
5 The sea is yours, for you made it, *
and your hands have moulded the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand. *
Oh, that today we would hearken to your voice!
8 “Harden not your hearts, *
as your forebears did in the wilderness.
9 They put me to the test, *
though they had seen my works.
10 So I swore in my wrath, *
‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”
Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from Psalms 66 and 92)
1. All the earth bows down before you,*
sings to you, sings out your name.
2. Bless our God, you peoples;*
make the voice of God’s praise to be heard.
3. It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord,*
and to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
4. to tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning*
and of your faithfulness in the night season.
Glory ...
or a suitable hymn
hear my voice when I cry to you.
2. Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, *
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
3. Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord, *
and guard the door of my lips.
4. Let not my heart incline to any evil thing. *
Let me not be occupied in wickedness with evildoers, nor eat of their choice foods.
5. Let the righteous smite me in friendly rebuke; let not the oil of the unrighteous anoint my head; *
for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.
6. Let their rulers be overthrown in stony places, *
that they may know my words are true.
7. As when a farmer turns over the earth in furrows, *
let their bones be scattered at the mouth of the grave.
8. But my eyes are turned to you, Lord God; *
in you I take refuge; do not strip me of my life.
9. Protect me from the snare which they have laid for me *
and from the traps of the evildoers.
10. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, *
while I myself escape.
Glory ...
Psalm 142
1. I cry to the Lord with my voice; *
to you I make loud supplication.
2. I pour out my complaint before you *
and tell you all my trouble.
3. When my spirit languishes within me, you know my path; *
in the way wherein I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
4. I look to my side and find no one who knows me; *
I have no place to flee to, and no one cares for me.
5. I cry out to you, O Lord; *
I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
6. Listen to my cry for help, *for I have been brought very low;
save me from those who pursue me, * for they are too strong for me.
7. Bring me out of prison, * that I may give thanks to your name;
when you have dealt bountifully with me, * the righteous will gather around me.
Conclusion
Isaiah 12
1. Behold God is my salvation;*
I will trust and not be afraid;
2. the Lord God is my strength and my song;
the Lord God has become my salvation.
3. With joy you will draw water*
from the wells of salvation.
4. Give thanks to the Lord, call upon God’s name;*
make known the Lord’s deeds among the nations.
5. Sing to the Lord who has done gloriously;*
let this be known in all the earth.
6. Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Sion,*
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel
Glory ...
Be joyful in God, all you lands;*sing the glory of the divine name!
READING(S)
Ruth 2.14-23
So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over after she herself had been satisfied. Her mother-in-law said to her, ‘Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.’ So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, ‘The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.’ Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘Blessed be he by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!’ Naomi also said to her, ‘The man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.’ Then Ruth the Moabite said, ‘He even said to me, “Stay close by my servants, until they have finished all my harvest.” ’ Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, ‘It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, otherwise you might be bothered in another field.’ So she stayed close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests; and she lived with her mother-in-law.
2 Corinthians 3.1-18
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Now if the ministry of death, chiselled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Silence
Response (Psalm 63.4)
I will bless you Lord as long as I live.
I will bless you Lord as long as I live.
And lift up my hands in your name.
As long as I live.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
I will bless you Lord as long as I live.
SONG OF ZECHARIAH
Song of Zechariah Antiphon: You will guide us with your counsel, O God: * and, after, receive us with glory. Christ is the chosen of God: * * who brings healing to the nations.
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.
Song of Zechariah Antiphon: You will guide us with your counsel, O God: * and, after, receive us with glory. Christ is the chosen of God: * * who brings healing to the nations.
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
Hear the prayers of your people, O Lord:that we, who are weighed down by our sins,
may be delivered for the glory of your Name;
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.
