Morning Prayer: Thursday 24 May 2018

Thursday 24 May 2018

Thursday after the Day of Pentecost
Week A

The Week of Pentecost

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: I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;* I will praise my God while I have my being. (Ps. 104.34)

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 104)

1 You spread out the heavens like a curtain;*
you lay the beams of your chambers in the waters above;
2 You make the clouds your chariot;*
you ride on the wings of the wind;
3 You make the winds your messengers*
and flames of fire your servants.
4 You have set the earth upon its foundations,*
so that it never shall move at any time.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 11
1 In the Lord have I taken refuge;*
how then can you say to me,
‘Fly like a bird to the hilltop;

2 For see how the wicked bend the bow
and fit their arrows to the string,*
to shoot from ambush at the true of heart.

3 When the foundations are being destroyed,*
what can the righteous do?’

4 The Lord is in his holy temple;*
the Lord’s throne is in heaven.

5 His eyes behold the inhabited world;*
his piercing eye weighs our worth.

6 The Lord weighs the righteous as well as the wicked,*
but those who delight in violence he abhors.

7 Upon the wicked he shall rain coals of fire and
burning sulphur;*
a scorching wind shall be their lot.

8 For the Lord is righteous;
he delights in righteous deeds;*
and the just shall see his face.

God our refuge, deliver us from violence and evil, and guide us in the paths of righteousness, that on the day of judgement we may rejoice to see you face to face; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Psalm 12
1 Help me, Lord, for there is no godly one left;*
the faithful have vanished from among us.

2 Everyone speaks falsely with his neighbour; *
with a smooth tongue they speak from a double heart.

3 Oh, that the Lord would cut off all smooth tongues,*
and close the lips that utter proud boasts!

4 Those who say, ‘With our tongue will we prevail; *
our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’

5 ‘Because the needy are oppressed,
and the poor cry out in misery,*
I will rise up,’ says the Lord,
‘and give them the help they long for.’

6 The words of the Lord are pure words,*
like silver refined from ore
and purified seven times in the fire.

7 O Lord, watch over us*
and save us from this generation for ever.

8 The wicked prowl on every side,*
and that which is worthless is highly prized by everyone.

Glory to the Father...

God of truth, protector of your people, come to the aid of all who are poor and oppressed. By the power of your life-giving word lead us in the ways of peace and integrity, and give us the help we long for in Jesus Christ our Saviour.



Conclusion

Isaiah 45

1 Thus says the Lord who created the heavens,*
who formed the earth and made it;
2 who did not create it a chaos,*
but formed it to be inhabited –
3 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;*
for I am God: there is no other.
4 From my mouth has gone forth in righteousness*
a word that shall not return:
5 “To me every knee shall bow,*
every tongue shall swear”.’
6 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel*
shall triumph and glory.

Glory to the Father...

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will praise my God while I have my being.


READING(S)

Proverbs 7.1-27

My child, keep my words
and store up my commandments with you;
keep my commandments and live,
keep my teachings as the apple of your eye;
bind them on your fingers,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister’,
and call insight your intimate friend,
that they may keep you from the loose woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words.


For at the window of my house
I looked out through my lattice,
and I saw among the simple ones,
I observed among the youths,
a young man without sense,
passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house
in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness.


Then a woman comes towards him,
decked out like a prostitute, wily of heart.
She is loud and wayward;
her feet do not stay at home;
now in the street, now in the squares,
and at every corner she lies in wait.
She seizes him and kisses him,
and with impudent face she says to him:
‘I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you!
I have decked my couch with coverings,
coloured spreads of Egyptian linen;
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey.
He took a bag of money with him;
he will not come home until full moon.’


With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with her smooth talk she compels him.
Right away he follows her,
and goes like an ox to the slaughter,
or bounds like a stag towards the trap
until an arrow pierces its entrails.
He is like a bird rushing into a snare,
not knowing that it will cost him his life.


And now, my children, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
Do not let your hearts turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths.
for many are those she has laid low,
and numerous are her victims.
Her house is the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.



1 Letter of John 5.13-21

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them.We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Silence

Response Psalm (Ps 92.4)

In all you have done, O Lord, you have made me glad.
In all you have done, O Lord, you have made me glad.
I will sing for joy because of the works of your hands.
You have made me glad.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
In all you have done, O Lord, you have made me glad.


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

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.
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.