Morning Prayer: Friday 24 September 2021

Friday 24 September 2021

Friday after Pentecost 17
Creation Week 3. Authorised by the College of Bishops for Experimental Use

Week of Proper 25

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: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! From whom and through whom and to whom are all things. To God be the glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11.33,36)

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
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from Psalm 24.1-4)

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
For God has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in God’s holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 139
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me;*
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places*
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,*
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4 You press upon me behind and before*
and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;*
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

6 Where can I go then from your Spirit?*
where can I flee from your presence?

7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there;*
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning*
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9 Even there your hand will lead me*
and your right hand hold me fast.

10 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,*
and the light around me turn to night,’

11 Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day;*
darkness and light to you are both alike.

12 For you yourself created my inmost parts;*
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

13 I will thank you because I am marvellously made;*
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

14 My body was not hidden from you,*
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;*
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.

16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God!*
how great is the sum of them!

17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number
than the sand;*
to count them all, my life span would need to
be like yours.

18 Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God!*
You that thirst for blood, depart from me.

19 They speak despitefully against you;*
your enemies take your name in vain.

20 Do I not hate those, O Lord, who hate you?*
and do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

21 I hate them with a perfect hatred;*
they have become my own enemies.

22 Search me out, O God, and know my heart;*
try me and know my restless thoughts.

23 Look well whether there be any wickedness in me*
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.


Glory to the Father...

God of mystery and power, even our minds and hearts are the veils and signs of your presence. We come in silent wonder to learn the way of simplicity, the eternal road that leads to love for you and for your whole creation. We come as your Son Jesus Christ taught us, and in his name.

Conclusion

Isaiah 24.4-7

The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
under its inhabitants;
For they have transgressed laws, violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled, and few people are left.
The wine dries up, the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.

Glory to the Father...

Antiphon: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! From whom and through whom and to whom are all things. To God be the glory for ever. Amen.

READING(S)

2 Kings 9.17-37

In Jezreel, the sentinel standing on the tower spied the company of Jehu arriving, and said, ‘I see a company.’ Joram said, ‘Take a horseman; send him to meet them, and let him say, “Is it peace?” ’ So the horseman went to meet him; he said, ‘Thus says the king, “Is it peace?” ’ Jehu responded, ‘What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.’ The sentinel reported, saying, ‘The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.’ Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, ‘Thus says the king, “Is it peace?” ’ Jehu answered, ‘What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.’ Again the sentinel reported, ‘He reached them, but he is not coming back. It looks like the driving of Jehu son of Nimshi; for he drives like a maniac.’ Joram said, ‘Get ready.’ And they got his chariot ready. Then King Joram of Israel and King Ahaziah of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu; they met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. When Joram saw Jehu, he said, ‘Is it peace, Jehu?’ He answered, ‘What peace can there be, so long as the many whoredoms and sorceries of your mother Jezebel continue?’ Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, ‘Treason, Ahaziah!’ Jehu drew his bow with all his strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart; and he sank in his chariot. Jehu said to his aide Bidkar, ‘Lift him out, and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, when you and I rode side by side behind his father Ahab, how the Lord uttered this oracle against him: “For the blood of Naboth and for the blood of his children that I saw yesterday, says the Lord, I swear I will repay you on this very plot of ground.” Now therefore lift him out and throw him on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the Lord.’ When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him, saying, ‘Shoot him also!’ And they shot him in the chariot at the ascent to Gur, which is by Ibleam. Then he fled to Megiddo, and died there. His officers carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the city of David. In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign over Judah. When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out of the window. As Jehu entered the gate, she said, ‘Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?’ He looked up to the window and said, ‘Who is on my side? Who?’ Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. He said, ‘Throw her down.’ So they threw her down; some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, which trampled on her. Then he went in and ate and drank; he said, ‘See to that cursed woman and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.’ But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When they came back and told him, he said, ‘This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, “In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; the corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung on the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.” ’

1 Corinthians 7.1-9

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ‘It is well for a man not to touch a woman.’ But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. This I say by way of concession, not of command. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practising self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

Silence

Response Psalm (Romans 8.19-21)

Creation waits in hope for God’s children to be revealed.
Creation waits in hope for God’s children to be revealed.
That Creation may be set free from its bondage to decay
For God’s children to be revealed.
Glory to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word and Holy Spirit.
Creation waits in hope for God’s children to be revealed.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus antiphon: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Psalm 96.11-12

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: Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Psalm 96.11-12

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,
in whose wisdom all things have been established in order:
enlighten the people you have saved,
that they may consider
the greater wonder of your new creation,
brought forth in the fullness of time,
through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord,
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

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.