Morning Prayer
Wednesday of Ordinary Time, Proper 19
Theme for Wednesday: Governance
We offer our worship to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is our true ruler and we offer our prayers for all people who suffer from tyrants, political oppression, and streets of violence, and we pray for the courage to walk the way of love and bring your kingdom to this earth as it is in heaven.
Sentence for the Week
I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10
Confession of Sin Optional: Show confession...
The Invitatory and Psalter
O God, let our mouths proclaim your praise.
Let our hearts rejoice in your goodness.
Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor, power and might be to our God for ever and ever. Amen! Alleluia!
Canticle
Venite Psalm 95:1-7
God is present here in our midst:
Come let us adore him.
Come, let us sing to our God;*
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving*
and raise a loud shout to God with psalms.
For our God is a great God,*
and a great Ruler above all gods.
In your hand are the caverns of the earth,*
and the heights of the hills are yours also.
The sea is yours, for you made it,*
and your hands have molded the dry land.
Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee,*
and kneel before God our Maker.
For you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture, the sheep of your hand.*
Oh, that today we would hearken to your voice!
God is present here in our midst:
Come let us adore him.
The Psalm Appointed
Psalm 72 Deus, judicium
Give the King your justice, O God,*
and your righteousness to the King's Son,
That he may rule your people righteously*
and the poor with justice;
That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people,*
and the little hills bring righteousness.
He shall defend the needy among the people;*
he shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.
He shall live as long as the sun and moon endure,*
from one generation to another.
He shall come down like rain upon the mown field,*
like showers that water the earth.
In his time shall the righteous flourish;*
there shall be abundance of peace till the moon shall be no more.
He shall rule from sea to sea*
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
His foes shall bow down before him,*
and his enemies lick the dust.
The rulers of Tarshish and of the isles shall pay tribute,*
and the rulers of Arabia and Saba offer gifts.
All rulers shall bow down before him,*
and all the nations do him service.
For he shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress*
and the oppressed who has no helper.
He shall have pity on the lowly and poor;*
he shall preserve the lives of the needy.
He shall redeem their lives from oppression and violence,*
and dear shall their blood be in his sight.
Long may he live; and may there be given to him gold from Arabia;*
may prayer be made for him always, and may they bless him all the day long.
May there be abundance of grain on the earth, growing thick even on the hilltops;*
may its fruit flourish like Lebanon, and its grain like grass upon the earth.
May his name remain for ever and be established as long as the sun endures;*
may all the nations bless themselves in him and call him blest.
Blest are you, O God of Israel;*
you alone do wondrous deeds!
And blest is your glorious Name for ever!*
May all the earth be filled with your glory. Amen. Amen.
All Glory to the Loving One, Source of our being, Eternal Word, and Life-Giving Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The First Lesson
A Reading from Job 42:1-17
Job answered the Lord:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.” So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.
A time of silence may be kept.
Officiant For the word of God in scripture,
for the Word of God among us,
for the Word of God within us.
People Thanks be to God.
Canticle
A Song of Ezekiel Ezekiel 36:24-28
I will take you from among all nations;*
and gather you from all lands to bring you home.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you;*
and purify you from false gods and uncleanness.
A new heart I will give you*
and a new spirit put within you.
I will take the stone heart from your chest*
and give you a heart of flesh.
I will help you walk in my laws*
and cherish my commandments and do them.
You shall be my people,*
and I will be your God.
All Glory to the Loving One, Source of our being, Eternal Word, and Life-Giving Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The Second Lesson
A Reading from Acts 16:16-24
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
A time of silence may be kept.
Officiant For the word of God in scripture,
for the Word of God among us,
for the Word of God within us.
People Thanks be to God.
Canticle
The Priestly Call 1 Peter 2:4-10
Come to him, a living stone,
though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight.
Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood,
to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
To you then who believe, he is precious;
The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people,
in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
All Glory to the Loving One, Source of our being, Eternal Word, and Life-Giving Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The Prayers
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.
Suffrages
Suffrage B
V. Save your people, O God, and bless your inheritance;
R. Govern and uphold them, now and always.
V. Day by day we bless you;
R. We praise your name for ever.
V. O God, keep us from all sin today;
R. Have mercy upon us, God, have mercy.
V. O God, show us your love and mercy;
R. For we put our trust in you.
V. In you, O God, is our hope;
R. And we shall never hope in vain.
Collect for the Week
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Collect for the Diocese
Collect for Governance
As we remember Jesus the Ruler of Rulers and Soveriegn of all who came as a servant leader we pray for the President, Congress, Senate and Supreme Court, and for all elected or appointed to positions of public trust that they serve justly and promote the dignity and freedom of every person. We remember people who live lives of terror because of political oppression and pray that people of goodwill will rise up and stand with the oppressed and pursue justice for all. Amen.
Prayers for People Engaged in Political Oppression Ministries
Parish Intercessions
And we pray for our own needs and the needs of others.
Collect for Our Time
God of all mercy, keep us from a mindless acceptance of things as they are, and a longing for peace without the courage to work for justice. Let us all know in the life-threatening pandemics of disease, poverty, racism, and violence there is an inner calm that comes from faith in you, and that from this central heart of peace, there may flow a creative and courageous compassion, a deep thirst for racial justice, and a relentless proclamation of your love, to heal and reconcile your world in you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dismissal
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Grace and peace to you from God who is, and who was, and who is to come and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Amen. Revelation 1:4-5a
To discover more about
St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church
Please visit
the
St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church website.
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Acknowledgements: With Gratitude
Pray for Peace, Work for Justice.
This Daily Office App was created in 2020 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ladue, MO, as a partial response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. Because of the pandemic we and many congregations began offering online variations of the Daily Office from the Book of Common Prayer. George Floyd's murder brought into sharp relief the racism and many other injustices in our world. We believe it is pointless to pray for peace unless we are actively working for justice in all spheres of our daily lives.
Within our congregation we have many people such as, medical personnel and teachers, who are putting their lives at risk to help create a better world. We also have numerous parishioners employed or engaged in not-for-profit agencies, research, and outreach all of which are striving to right the wrongs of our society and in the words of the Lord's Prayer, "helping God's Kingdom come on earth". To focus our need to engage in social action we have created this Daily Office with a two week cycle of social justice themes to help us:
- Pray and reflect on our part in the systemic evils that corupt our world.
- Pray intentionally for parishioners and the programs they work in to "Heal the World."
- Pray for courage and wisdom to discover and empower us to be the change we wish to see in the world.
The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer and its many companion books through out the Anglican Communion are wonderful treasure troves of prayers and resources for deepening our spiritual lives and inspiring action in the world. Such books are however are a frozen meal, they need thawing out, warming up, and seasoning with local spices. This is what this app seeks to do. It added the necessary flavors of St. Peter's, Ladue, so whether at home, in church, or travelling the world, we can continue to remember and pray for one another as we walk the way of love and make this a better world in which our children's children can love and grow into the image of God that God creates them to be.
If you would like to adapt this app for your own congregation or community setting and add your own spices and flavors please email us and we can create a specific parish option for you.
Specific Acknowledgements and Copyrights.
The service structure and the traditional psalms canticles and prayers are taken from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, 1979, available from The Church Hymnal Corporation, New York. Inclusive canticles and prayers have been adapted from a variety of sources including Enriching our Worship, 1998 also available from The Church Hymnal Corporation, New York.
Inclusive Psalms were taken from The Saint Helena Psalter, ©Copyright 2005 by The Order of St. Helena, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Specific prayers such as the Inclusive Lord’s Prayer has been taken from A New Zealand Prayerbook, ©Copyright 1989 the Church of the Province of New Zealand. This prayerbook has also provided inspiration for the inclusive Compline service and partial content to many of the collects.
In general, Biblical passages are taken from The New Revised Standard Version, ©Copyright 1989 by the 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.
We are also indebted to The Rev. Br. Richard Edward Helmer, BSG. the developer of the The Daily Office App who provided technical advice and resources as we developed this app.
We are also indebted to Sandie Willey and her gift of words and discerning eye as together we crafted many of the prayers as we worked to create this Daily Office for Our Times.
In the course of preparing this app we have visited many websites, read and prayed many prayers, and been inspired by many writers. To all the people who share their creativity with the world we say thank you for the beauty of your words and the times when a word becomes a sparkle of truth and a moment of transcendence.
With Gratitude
Rob Voyle,
Interim Rector, St. Peter's, 2020
Director of the Appreciative Way
©Copyright 2020-2026, Rob Voyle