Morning Prayer: Thursday 9 April 2020

Thursday 9 April 2020

Maundy Thursday
The Suffering Christ


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 thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name for evermore. (Psalm 86.12)

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 86)

1 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord,*
nor anything like your works.
2 All nations you have made will come and worship you, O Lord,*
and glorify your name.
3 For you are great; you do wondrous things;*
and you alone are God.
4 Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;*
knit my heart to you that I may fear your name.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 80
1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock;*
shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.

2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,*
stir up your strength and come to help us.

3 Restore us, O God of hosts;*
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

4 O Lord God of hosts,*
how long will you be angered
despite the prayers of your people?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;*
you have given them bowls of tears to drink.

6 You have made us the derision of our neighbours,*
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

7 Restore us, O God of hosts;*
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt;*
you cast out the nations and planted it.

9 You prepared the ground for it;*
it took root and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered by its shadow*
and the towering cedar trees by its boughs.

11 You stretched out its tendrils to the Sea*
and its branches to the River.

12 Why have you broken down its wall,*
so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes?

13 The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it,*
and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it.

14 Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven;
behold and tend this vine;*
preserve what your right hand has planted.

15 They burn it with fire like rubbish;*
at the rebuke of your countenance let them perish.

16 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand,*
the son of man you have made so strong for yourself.

17 And so will we never turn away from you;*
give us life, that we may call upon your name.

18 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;*
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

Glory to the Father...

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ, our good shepherd; you have led us to the kingdom of your Father’s love. Forgive our careless indifference to your loving care for all your creatures, and remake us in the likeness of your new and risen life. We ask this in your name.
81

1 Sing with joy to God our strength*
and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

2 Raise a song and sound the timbrel,*
the merry harp, and the lyre.

3 Blow the ram’s-horn at the new moon,*
and at the full moon, the day of our feast.

4 For this is a statute for Israel,*
a law of the God of Jacob.

5 He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph,*
when he came out of the land of Egypt.

6 I heard an unfamiliar voice saying,*
“I eased his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were set free from bearing the load.”

7 You called on me in trouble, and I saved you;*
I answered you from the secret place of thunder
and tested you at the waters of Meribah.

8 Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you:*
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

9 There shall be no strange god among you;*
you shall not worship a foreign god.

10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said,*
“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

11 And yet my people did not hear my voice,*
and Israel would not obey me.

12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts,*
to follow their own devices.

13 Oh, that my people would listen to me!*
that Israel would walk in my ways!

14 I should soon subdue their enemies*
and turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,*
and their punishment would last for ever.

16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat*
and satisfy him with honey from the rock.


Father, forgive our foolish ways, and feed us always with that living bread which is given for the life of the world, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Conclusion

Lamentations 3

Remember my affliction and bitterness*
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually thinks of it*
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind*
and therefore I have hope –
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases*
his mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning*
great is his faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion.’ says my soul:*
‘therefore I will hope in him.’

Glory to the Father...

I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name for evermore.

READING(S)

Lamentations 2.10-18

The elders of daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the young girls of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers" bosom. What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can heal you? Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen oracles for you that are false and misleading. All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at daughter Jerusalem; "Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?" All your enemies open their mouths against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: "We have devoured her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; at last we have seen it!" The Lord has done what he purposed, he has carried out his threat; as he ordained long ago, he has demolished without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you, and exalted the might of your foes. Cry aloud to the Lord! O wall of daughter Zion! Let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite!

2 Corinthians 10.14-17;11.27-32

For we were not overstepping our limits when we reached you; we were the first to come all the way to you with the good news of Christ. We do not boast beyond limits, that is, in the labours of others; but our hope is that, as your faith increases, our sphere of action among you may be greatly enlarged, so that we may proclaim the good news in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in someone else"s sphere of action. "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he for ever!) knows that I do not lie. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas set a guard on the city of Damascus in order to seize me,

Silence

Response Psalm (119.123)

My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.
My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.
And for your righteous promise.
For your salvation.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
My eyes have failed from watching for your salvation.

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 God,
who, in your tender love for the human race,
sent your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ,
to take our nature upon him,
and to suffer death upon the cross,
giving us the example of his great humility:
mercifully grant,
that we may both follow the example of his passion,
and also, be made partakers of his resurrection;
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.