Morning Prayer: Thursday 10 September 2020

Thursday 10 September 2020

Thursday after Pentecost 14
Week C

Week of Proper 23

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: Be joyful in God, all you lands; sing the glory of his name! (Psalm 66.1)

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)


Glory to the Father
or a suitable Hymn
(Or from 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 his 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 to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 74
1 O God, why have you utterly cast us off?*
why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?

2 Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago,*
the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance,
and Mount Zion where you dwell.

3 Turn your steps toward the endless ruins;*
the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.

4 Your adversaries roared in your holy place;*
they set up their banners as tokens of victory.

5 They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees;*
they broke down all your carved work with hatchets
and hammers.

6 They set fire to your holy place;*
they defiled the dwelling-place of your name
and razed it to the ground.

7 They said to themselves, "Let us destroy them altogether."*
They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.

8 There are no signs for us to see; there is no prophet left;*
there is not one among us who knows how long.

9 How long, O God, will the adversary scoff?*
will the enemy blaspheme your name for ever?

10 Why do you draw back your hand?*
why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?

11 Yet God is my king from ancient times,*
victorious in the midst of the earth.

12 You divided the sea by your might*
and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;

13 You crushed the heads of Leviathan*
and gave him to the people of the desert for food.

14 You split open spring and torrent;*
you dried up ever-flowing rivers.

15 Yours is the day, yours also the night;*
you established the moon and the sun.

16 You fixed all the boundaries of the earth;*
you made both summer and winter.

17 Remember, O Lord, how the enemy scoffed,*
how a foolish people despised your name.

18 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts;*
never forget the lives of your poor.

19 Look upon your covenant;*
the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.

20 Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed;*
let the poor and needy praise your name.

21 Arise, O God, maintain your cause;*
remember how fools revile you all day long.

22 Forget not the clamour of your adversaries,*
the unending tumult of those who rise up against you.

Glory to the Father...

O God, when violence threatens and destruction seems at hand, help us to remember that you maintain your cause and still rule your universe through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

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;*
he has become my salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water*
from the wells of salvation.
4 Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name;*
make known his deeds among the nations.
5 Sing to the Lord for he 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 to the Father...

Be joyful in God, all you lands; Sing the glory of his name!

READING(S)

Job 29.1;31.1-23

Job again took up his discourse and said: "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin? What would be my portion from God above, and my heritage from the Almighty on high? Does not calamity befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity? Does he not see my ways, and number all my steps? "If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit- let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!- if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands; then let me sow, and another eat; and let what grows for me be rooted out. "If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour"s door; then let my wife grind for another, and let other men kneel over her. For that would be a heinous crime; that would be a criminal offence; for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my harvest. "If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves, when they brought a complaint against me; what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? Did not he who made me in the womb make them? And did not one fashion us in the womb? "If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not eaten from it- for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother"s womb I guided the widow- if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a poor person without covering, whose loins have not blessed me, and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have raised my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had supporters at the gate; then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

Acts 15.1-11

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, "It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses." The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."

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.

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus antiphon:

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:

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

Almighty and eternal God,
make us grow in faith, hope and charity:
and that we may be worthy of your promises,
cause us to love what you command;
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.