Daily Prayer for Our Times

St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church, Beaverton, OR

Healing the World one Heart at a Time

Morning Prayer

Second Thursday of Advent

Theme for Thursday: Justice

We offer our worship to God today with thanksgiving for God's justice and mercy, and with our prayers for people pursuing justice and for all people through out the world who live without justice and mercy.

Sentence for the Week

A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Isaiah 40:3

Confession of Sin

Beloved in God, as we pause to reflect and enter God's presence, let us remember that the gate to error and destruction is wide.

Sometimes we have passed freely through it with our eyes wide open, other times we have wandered through with the crowd without realizing the end that awaits us, and at other times we passed through the gate as we journeyed in ignornace of where our path would take us.

And let us also remember that the gate to life is narrow, but Jesus invites us in and we can see the gate and path have been made wide by God's love and mercy.

As we enter into God's presence today, let us acknowledge, confess, and set down our burden of failure to be God's love in the world.

God of all mercy,
we confess that we have sinned against you,
opposing your will in our lives.
We have denied your goodness in each other,
in ourselves, and in the world you have created.
We repent of the evil that enslaves us,
the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.
Forgive, restore, and strengthen us through our Savior Jesus Christ,
that we may abide in your love and serve only your will. Amen.

God the Creator forgives us.
God the Christ heals and restores us,
God the Spirit empowers our hearts to love courageously.
Enfolded in Christ let us approach our God in peace. Amen.

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!

Canticle

Jubilate Psalm 100

Our King and Savior now draws near:
Come let us adore him.

Be joyful in God, all you lands;*

serve with gladness and come before God's presence with a song.

For we know that you are God;*

you yourself have made us, and we are yours;
we are your people and the sheep of your pasture.

We shall enter your gates with thanksgiving, go into your courts with praise, *

give thanks to you and call upon your Name.

For you are good; your mercy is everlasting; *

and your faithfulness endures from age to age.

Our King and Savior now draws near:
Come let us adore him.

The Psalm Appointed

Psalm 37:1-18 Part I Noli æmulari

Do not fret yourself because of evildoers;*

do not be jealous of those who do wrong.

For they shall soon wither like the grass,*

and like the green grass fade away.

Put your trust in God and do good;*

dwell in the land and feed on its riches.

Take delight in God,*

who shall give you your heart's desire.

Commit your way to God and put your trust in God,*

who will bring it to pass.

God will make your righteousness as clear as the light*

and your just dealing as the noonday.

Be still before God;*

for God wait patiently.

Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers,*

the one who succeeds in evil schemes.

Refrain from anger, leave rage alone;*

do not fret yourself, it leads only to evil.

For evildoers shall be cut off,*

but those who wait upon God shall possess the land.

In a little while the wicked shall be no more;*

you shall search out their place, but they will not be there.

But the lowly shall possess the land;*

they will delight in abundance of peace.

The wicked plot against the righteous*

and gnash at them with their teeth.

God laughs at the wicked,*

seeing that their day will come.

The wicked draw their sword and bend their bow to strike down the poor and needy,*

to slaughter those who are upright in their ways.

Their sword shall go through their own heart,*

and their bow shall be broken.

The little that the righteous has*

is better than great riches of the wicked.

For the power of the wicked shall be broken,*

but God upholds the righteous.

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 Isaiah 7:1-9

In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem, but could not mount an attack against it. When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, and say to him, Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, Let us go up against Judah and cut off Jerusalem and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it; therefore thus says the Lord God:

It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.

For the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

(Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered, no longer a people.)

The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you do not stand firm in faith,
you shall not stand at all.

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

God is My Salvation Isaiah 12:2-6

Behold God is my salvation:*

I will trust in God and not be afraid,

For God is my strength and my song:*

and has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation:*

and in that day all of you will say,

Give thanks and call upon the name of God:*

make known among the nations what God has done.

Sing praises for God has triumphed gloriously:*

let this be known in all the earth.

Shout and sing for joy you people of God:*

for great in your midst is the Holy One.

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 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.

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 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 A

V. Show us your mercy, O God;

R. And grant us your salvation.

V. Clothe your ministers with righteousness;

R. Let your people sing with joy.

V. Give peace, O God, in all the world;

R. For only in you can we live in safety.

V. O God, keep this nation under your care;

R. And guide us in the way of justice and truth.

V. Let your way be known upon earth;

R. Your saving health among all nations.

V. Let not the needy, O God, be forgotten;

R. Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

V. Create in us clean hearts, O God;

R. And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.

Collect for the Week

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for the Diocese

Collect for Justice

Almighty God our one and only eternal judge, as we remember your son Jesus, murdered though he had committed no crime, we pray for justice in our world so that it would become your world. Ignite Jesus' courage within our hearts so that we would no longer remain passive observers to the injustices in our society but active agents of your justice and mercy. Help us stand with those who are are unjustly oppressed, and help us boldly work to ensure that all people have equal opportunity to pursue your vision of who you intended them to be in Jesus Christ our Lord, our true judge and our redeemer. Amen.

Prayers for People Engaged in Justice Ministries

We pray for the Supreme Court and the judiciaries throughout our nation that they have the courage to be agents of justice and mercy...
And we pray for people within our congregation who work in our judicial system...

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 act justly, be merciful, and walk humbly with your God.

We will in the name of God.

To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. Amen. Jude 1-2

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.

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