Daily Prayer, 2nd Thursday in Eastertide

 

 

OPENING SENTENCES

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8)

He who sanctifies                       

and those who are sanctified

have all one source,

and he is not ashamed to call us brothers. (Hebrews 2:11)

Lord our God, we come unto you as your children. O give us the Spirit of adoption, though whom we cry, Abba Father. And loving you, who has first loved us, grant us grace to dedicate ourselves anew to your blessed service, in body and in soul. Through him who is not ashamed to call us brothers, even Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. AMEN.

Praise the Lord.

The name of the Lord be praised.

THE GLORIA PATRI

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. AMEN.

THE PSALMS

Psalm 147:12-20

Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise your God, O Zion!

For he strengthens the bars of your gates;

he blesses your children within you.

He makes peace in your borders;

he fills you with the finest of the wheat.

He sends out his command to the earth;

his word runs swiftly.

He gives snow like wool;

he scatters frost like ashes.

He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;

who can stand before his cold?

He sends out his word, and melts them;

he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

He declares his word to Jacob,

his statutes and rules to Israel.

He has not dealt thus with any other nation;

they do not know his rules.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 68

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;

and those who hate him shall flee before him!

As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;

as wax melts before fire,

so the wicked shall perish before God!

But the righteous shall be glad;

they shall exult before God;

they shall be jubilant with joy!

Sing to God, sing praises to his name;

lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;

his name is the Lord;

exult before him!

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows

is God in his holy habitation.

God settles the solitary in a home;

he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,

but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

O God, when you went out before your people,

when you marched through the wilderness,                                                                                                                 Selah

the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,

before God, the One of Sinai,

before God, the God of Israel.

Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;

you restored your inheritance as it languished;

your flock found a dwelling in it;

in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

The Lord gives the word;

the women who announce the news are a great host:

“The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”

The women at home divide the spoil—

though you men lie among the sheepfolds—

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

its pinions with shimmering gold.

When the Almighty scatters kings there,

let snow fall on Zalmon.

O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;

O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!

Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

at the mount that God desired for his abode,

yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,

thousands upon thousands;

the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

You ascended on high,

leading a host of captives in your train

and receiving gifts among men,

even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

Blessed be the Lord,

who daily bears us up;

God is our salvation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Selah

Our God is a God of salvation,

and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

But God will strike the heads of his enemies,

the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

The Lord said,

“I will bring them back from Bashan,

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

that you may strike your feet in their blood,

that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”

Your procession is seen, O God,

the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—

the singers in front, the musicians last,

between them virgins playing tambourines:

“Bless God in the great congregation,

the Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”

There is Benjamin, the least of them,

in the lead, the princes of Judah in their throng,

the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

Summon your power, O God,

the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

Because of your temple at Jerusalem

kings shall bear gifts to you.

Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,

the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.

Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;

scatter the peoples who delight in war.

Nobles shall come from Egypt;

Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.

O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

sing praises to the Lord,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Selah

to him who rides in the heavens,the ancient heavens;

behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.

Ascribe power to God,

whose majesty is over Israel,

and whose power is in the skies.

Awesome is God from his sanctuary;

the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!

THE PSALM PRAYER

Most powerful God of Hosts, who maintains and keeps all those who trust in you: Send out your invincible army to destroy our enemies; make feeble the strength of the proud; turn our trouble into prosperity, and grant that in the midst of our assemblies the praise of your holy name may be celebrated in a way most agreeable to your holy Word, proclaimed by your Son our Lord, Jesus Christ. AMEN.

THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON

A reading from Daniel 2: 31-49

Daniel continued, saying to the King, “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

“This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold. Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.” Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

THE EPISTLE LESSON

A reading from 1 John 2:18-28

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

THE GOSPEL LESSON

A reading from Luke 3:1-14

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall become straight,

and the rough places shall become level ways,

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

THE MIDDAY PRAYERS

I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Christ is risen from the dead,
by death he has trampled down death,
and upon those in the tombs
he has bestowed life!

Holy God,
holy and mighty,
holy and immortal,
have mercy on us.

The Lord’s Prayer     

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. AMEN.

O Lord, hear our prayer;

And let our cry come to you.

Let us pray:

Thursday Prayers

God of Blazing light, through the power of the cross you shattered our darkness, scattering the fears that bind us and setting us free to live as your children. Give us courage and conviction that always we may joyfully deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow you in the new life of faithful service, led by the light that shines through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us; let your peace rule in our hearts, and may it be our strength and our song. We commit ourselves to your care and keeping this day; let your grace be mighty in us and sufficient for us. Keep us from sin; give us the rule over our own spirits; and prevent us from speaking unwisely with our lips. May we live together in peace and holy love, and be pleased to commend your blessing upon us, even life for evermore. Prepare us for all the events of the day; for its joys as well as for its trials, and grant that we may be seeking first your Kingdom, even as we trust in you for all other needful things. For Jesus’ sake AMEN.

Bestow upon us, O most merciful Father, what is needful for us, and give us grace not to abuse your favors. Give us, we beseech you, contented minds, and help us to regard with compassion the wants and sorrows of others, and pray for them as we do for ourselves. Especially we pray for:

• families suffering separation…
• people different from ourselves…
• those isolated by sickness or sorrow…
• the victims of violence or warfare…
• the Church in the Pacific region…

Almighty God, you are a very present help in time of trouble: Do not let the heart of your people fail when tribulations, trials, or temptations come, but rather sustain and comfort them until these present troubles are past.

Holy and mighty Lord, who turned back the angel of the plague from the dwellings of your people: We beseech you to hear our cry for those who are suffering and dying under this present pestilence. In your mercy give understanding and sound judgment to those called to make decisions of public policy; bless the means which are used to stay the spread of sickness; strengthen those who labor to heal and comfort the afflicted; support those who are in pain and distress; speedily restore those who have been brought low; and unto all who are beyond healing in this life, grant your heavenly consolation and your saving grace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

THE DISMISSAL

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

For his steadfast love endures forever!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,

and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. AMEN.