Morning Prayer: Thursday 6 February 2025
This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.
Paul Miki, Priest, and the Martyrs of Japan, 1597
Week D
Week of Proper 4
O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Glory be 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: Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;* make your way straight before me. (Psalm. 5.8)
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 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 ...
or a suitable hymn
from one generation to another.
2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or the land and the earth were born, *
from age to age you are God.
3. You turn us back to the dust and say, *
“Go back, O child of earth.”
4. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past *
and like a watch in the night.
5. You sweep us away like a dream; *
we fade away suddenly like the grass.
6. In the morning it is green and flourishes; *
in the evening it is dried up and withered.
7. For we consume away in your displeasure; *
we are afraid because of your wrathful indignation.
8. Our iniquities you have set before you, *
and our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9. When you are angry, all our days are gone; *
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10. The span of our life is seventy years, perhaps in strength even eighty; *
yet the sum of them is but labour and sorrow, for they pass away quickly and we are gone.
11. Who regards the power of your wrath? *
Who rightly fears your indignation?
12. So teach us to number our days *
that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
13. Return, O Lord; how long will you tarry? *
Be gracious to your servants.
14. Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15. Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
and the years in which we suffered adversity.
16. Show your servants your works *
and your splendour to their children.
17. May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; *
prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.
Glory ...
Conclusion
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 ...
Antiphon: Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;* make your way straight before me.
READING(S)
Isaiah 55.1-13
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy,
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Galatians 5.1-15
Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.
You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. But my friends, why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offence of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
Silence
Response (Psalm 33.18)
Behold, your eye, O Lord, is upon those who fear you,* on those who wait upon your love.
Behold, your eye, O Lord, is upon those who fear you,* on those who wait upon your love.
On those who wait upon your love.
On those who fear you.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Behold, your eye, O Lord, is upon those who fear you,* on those who wait upon your love.
SONG OF ZECHARIAH
Song of Zechariah Antiphon: You will guide us with your counsel, O God: * and, after, receive us with glory. *
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. *
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 God, through our human frailty,we cannot stand firm:
give us strength and protection,
that, with your help,
we may overcome all difficulties;
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.
