Morning Prayer: Wednesday 22 December 2021

Wednesday 22 December 2021

Wednesday after Fourth Sunday of Advent
Anticipation

Week 4 of Advent

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: Show your servants your works and your splendour to their children. Psalm 90.16

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 90)

1 Lord, you have been our refuge*
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 Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning;*
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.

4 Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us*
and the years in which we suffered adversity.

Glory to the Father...
or a suitable hymn

Psalm 44
1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
our forefathers have told us,*
the deeds you did in their days, in the days of old.

2 How with your hand you drove the peoples out
and planted our forefathers in the land;*
how you destroyed nations and made your people flourish.
3 For they did not take the land by their sword,
nor did their arm win the victory for them;*
but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your countenance,
because you favoured them.

4 You are my King and my God;*
you command victories for Jacob.

5 Through you we pushed back our adversaries;*
through your name we trampled on those who
rose up against us.

6 For I do not rely on my bow,*
and my sword does not give me the victory.

7 Surely, you gave us victory over our adversaries*
and put those who hate us to shame.

8 Every day we gloried in God,*
and we will praise your name for ever.

9 Nevertheless, you have rejected and humbled us*
and do not go forth with our armies.

10 You have made us fall back before our adversary,*
and our enemies have plundered us.

11 You have made us like sheep to be eaten*
and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You are selling your people for a trifle*
and are making no profit on the sale of them.

13 You have made us the scorn of our neighbours,*
a mockery and derision to those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations,*
a laughing-stock among the peoples.
15 My humiliation is daily before me,*
and shame has covered my face ;

16 Because of the taunts of the mockers and blasphemers,*
because of the enemy and avenger.

17 All this has come upon us;
yet we have not forgotten you,*
nor have we betrayed your covenant.

18 Our heart never turned back,*
nor did our footsteps stray from your path;

19 Though you thrust us down into a place of misery,*
and covered us over with deep darkness.

20 If we have forgotten the name of our God,*
or stretched out our hands to some strange god,

21 Will not God find it out?*
for he knows the secrets of the heart.

22 Indeed, for your sake we are killed all the day long;*
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Awake, O Lord! why are you sleeping?*
Arise! do not reject us for ever.

24 Why have you hidden your face*
and forgotten our affliction and oppression?

25 We sink down into the dust;*
our body cleaves to the ground.

26 Rise up, and help us,*
and save us, for the sake of your steadfast love.

Glory to the Father...

God of hosts, be present with those who suffer for no fault of their own: the broken victims of war, oppression, indifference, and neglect. May we see in their sufferings the wounds of Christ, and share with them in his gift of new life. We ask this in his name.

Conclusion

Isaiah 2.2-5

1 In days to come, the mountain where the Lord dwells*
will be lifted high above all the mountains
and raised above the hills.
2 All the nations will flock to it;*
countless peoples will come to it.
3 And they will say, Come let us go to the mountain of the Lord,*
to the temple of the God of Jacob,
4. who will teach us his ways,*
and we will walk in his paths;
5. who will sit in judgement over the nations;*
be arbiter among many peoples.
6. They will beat their swords into ploughshares,*
and their spears into sickles;
7. nation shall not lift up sword against nation,*
nor ever again prepare for war.
8. O people of Jacob come,*
let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Glory to the Father...

Antiphon: Show your servants your works, and your splendour to their children.

READING(S)

2 Samuel 7.18-29

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God; you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. May this be instruction for the people, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all this greatness, so that your servant may know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Who is like your people, like Israel? Is there another nation on earth whose God went to redeem it as a people, and to make a name for himself, doing great and awesome things for them, by driving out before his people nations and their gods? And you established your people Israel for yourself to be your people for ever; and you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, as for the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it for ever; do as you have promised. Thus your name will be magnified for ever in the saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel”; and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, “I will build you a house”; therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant; now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue for ever before you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed for ever.’

Galatians 3.1-14

You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’ But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, ‘Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Silence

Response Psalm (Psalm 96.10)

Tell it out among the nations: 'The Lord is King!'
Tell it out among the nations: 'The Lord is King!'
He will judge the peoples with equity.
The Lord is King.'
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Tell it out among the nations: 'The Lord is King!'

BENEDICTUS

Benedictus antiphon: A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel: God with us (Matthew 1.23)

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: A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel: God with us (Matthew 1.23)

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

Stir up your power, Lord, and come:
and strengthen us by the might of your love;
that, although we are hindered by our sins,
your abundant grace and mercy may quickly come and save us;
for you live and reign with the Father,
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.