Opening Sentence
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
Morning Prayer
O God:
Give me strength to live another day;
Let me not turn coward before its difficulties or prove recreant to its duties;
Let me not lose faith in other people;
Keep me sweet and sound of heart, in spite of ingratitude, treachery, or meanness;
Preserve me from minding little stings or giving them;
Help me to keep my heart clean, and to live so honestly and fearlessly that no outward failure can dishearten me or take away the joy of conscious integrity;
Open wide the eyes of my soul that I may see good in all things;
Grant me this day some new vision of thy truth;
Inspire me with the spirit of joy and gladness;
and make me the cup of strength to suffering souls;
in the name of the strong Deliverer, our only Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
The Old Testament Lesson
The Old Testament Lesson for today is taken from Deuteronomy 8:11-20
Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. Do not say to yourself, "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today. If you do forget the LORD your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
The Epistle Lesson
The Epistle Lesson for today is taken from James 1:16-27
Do not be deceived, my beloved. Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-- they will be blessed in their doing. If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
The Holy Gospel Lesson
The Holy Gospel is written in Luke 11:1-13
He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial." And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
Morning Psalms
Psalm 78:1-39 Attendite, popule
1 Hear my teaching, O my people; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
3 That which we have heard and known, and what our forefathers have told us, we will not hide from their children.
4 We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the LORD, and the wonderful works he has done.
5 He gave his decrees to Jacob and established a law for Israel, which he commanded them to teach their children;
6 That the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn; that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
7 So that they might put their trust in God, and not forget the deeds of God, but keep his commandments;
8 And not be like their forefathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, turned back in the day of battle;
10 They did not keep the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 They forgot what he had done, and the wonders he had shown them.
12 He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split open the sea and let them pass through; he made the waters stand up like walls.
14 He led them with a cloud by day, and all the night through with a glow of fire.
15 He split the hard rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as from the great deep.
16 He brought streams out of the cliff, and the waters gushed out like rivers.
17 But they went on sinning against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
18 They tested God in their hearts, demanding food for their craving.
19 They railed against God and said, "Can God set a table in the wilderness?
20 True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed; but is he able to give bread or to provide meat for his people?"
21 When the LORD heard this, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, and his anger mounted against Israel;
22 For they had no faith in God, nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
23 So he commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them grain from heaven.
25 So mortals ate the bread of angels; he provided for them food enough.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens and led out the south wind by his might.
27 He rained down flesh upon them like dust and wingéd birds like the sand of the sea.
28 He let it fall in the midst of their camp and round about their dwellings.
29 So they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
30 But they did not stop their craving, though the food was still in their mouths.
31 So God's anger mounted against them; he slew their strongest men and laid low the youth of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they went on sinning and had no faith in his wonderful works.
33 So he brought their days to an end like a breath and their years in sudden terror.
34 Whenever he slew them, they would seek him, and repent, and diligently search for God.
35 They would remember that God was their rock, and the Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouths and lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him, and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins and did not destroy them; many times he held back his anger and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that goes forth and does not return.
Evening Psalms
Psalm 78:40-72 Quoties exacerbaverunt
40 How often the people disobeyed him in the wilderness and offended him in the desert!
41 Again and again they tempted God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power in the day when he ransomed them from the enemy;
43 How he wrought his signs in Egypt and his omens in the field of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which ate them up, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar, the fruit of their toil to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.
48 He delivered their cattle to hailstones and their livestock to hot thunderbolts.
49 He poured out upon them his blazing anger: fury, indignation, and distress, a troop of destroying angels.
50 He gave full rein to his anger; he did not spare their souls from death; but delivered their lives to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.
52 He led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them to safety, and they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them to his holy land, the mountain his right hand had won.
55 He drove out the Canaanites before them and apportioned an inheritance to them by lot; he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 But they tested the Most High God, and defied him, and did not keep his commandments.
57 They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers; they were undependable like a warped bow.
58 They grieved him with their hill-altars they provoked his displeasure with their idols.
59 When God heard this, he was angry and utterly rejected Israel.
60 He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, the tabernacle where he had lived among his people.
61 He delivered the ark into captivity, his glory into the adversary's hand.
62 He gave his people to the sword and was angered against his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; there were no wedding songs for their maidens.
64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the LORD woke as though from sleep, like a warrior refreshed with wine.
66 He struck his enemies on the backside and put them to perpetual shame.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven, like the earth which he founded for ever.
70 He chose David his servant, and took him away from the sheepfolds.
71 He brought him from following the ewes, to be a shepherd over Jacob his people and over Israel his inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.
The Nicene Creed
- We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
- We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
- We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ in his earthly life shared our toil and hallowed our labor: Be present with your people where they work; make those who carry on the industries and commerce of this land responsive to your will; and give to us all a pride in what we do, and a just return for our labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
A Prayer for Peace
O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
A Prayer for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen
Alleluia! Christ has risen.
Christ has risen indeed. Alleluia!
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.
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