Morning Prayer

Easter
Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Hebrews 9:24

Confession of Sin
Most merciful God,
I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen

The Invitatory and Psalter

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 will be forever. Amen   Alleluia


From Easter to Pentecost, Christ the Passover  can be used in place of the Venite or Jubilate.

Christ the Passover  1 Corinthians 5:7 to 8; Romans 6:9 to 11; 1 Corinthians 15:20 to 22
Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us;
  therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil,
  but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;
  death no longer has dominion over him.
The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all;
  but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So also consider yourselves dead to sin,
  and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.

  the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by a man came death,
  by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die,
  so in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

Venite
The Antiphon:

ⓘ   A short, reflective sentence recited alongside a psalm to deepen our understanding of the readings.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

The Lessons

Psalm 50

⁽¹⁾ The Mighty One, God the LORD, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down. ⁽²⁾ Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth. ⁽³⁾ Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. ⁽⁴⁾ He shall call to the heavens from above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people:

⁽⁵⁾ Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.' ⁽⁶⁾ Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge. Selah ⁽⁷⁾ Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you; I am God, your God! ⁽⁸⁾ I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices Or your burnt offerings, Which are continually before Me.

⁽⁹⁾ I will not take a bull from your house, Nor goats out of your folds. ⁽¹⁰⁾ For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. ⁽¹¹⁾ I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. ⁽¹²⁾ If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness.

⁽¹³⁾ Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? ⁽¹⁴⁾ Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.' ⁽¹⁶⁾ But to the wicked God says: 'What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth,

⁽¹⁷⁾ Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you? ⁽¹⁸⁾ When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have been a partaker with adulterers. ⁽¹⁹⁾ You give your mouth to evil, And your tongue frames deceit. ⁽²⁰⁾ You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother's son.

⁽²¹⁾ These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes. ⁽²²⁾ Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces, And there be none to deliver: ⁽²³⁾ Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; And to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.'

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Wisdom Chapter 5

⁽⁹⁾ All those things are gone now; they have disappeared like a shadow, like something you hear and then forget. ⁽¹⁰⁾ A ship sails across the waves of the ocean, but when it is gone, it leaves no trace. You cannot tell it was ever there. ⁽¹¹⁾ A bird flies through the air, but leaves no sign that it has been there. It speeds along, riding through the thin air by the force of its wings, leaving behind no trace of its passing. ⁽¹²⁾ An arrow splits the air when it is shot at a target, but at once the air closes up behind it, and no one can tell where it passed.

⁽¹³⁾ It is the same with us'we were born, and then we ceased to be. We left no sign of virtue behind us; we were destroyed by our wickedness.' ⁽¹⁴⁾ What hope do wicked people have? Only the hope of straw blown about in the wind, the hope of ocean foam that disappears in the storm, the hope of smoke in the breeze. Their hope lasts no longer than our memory of a guest who stays one day and leaves the next. ⁽¹⁵⁾ But the righteous live on forever. The Lord will reward them; the Most High will protect them. ⁽¹⁶⁾ He will give them royal splendor and a magnificent crown. He will shield them with his powerful arm.

⁽¹⁷⁾ He will go out into battle determined to defeat his enemies, and use the creation itself as a weapon. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Righteousness will be his armor, genuine justice will be his helmet, ⁽¹⁹⁾ holiness will be his invincible shield. ⁽²⁰⁾ He will sharpen his stern anger into a sword, and the forces of nature will join him in battle against those who are foolish enough to oppose him.

⁽²¹⁾ Bolts of lightning will strike right on target, as if the Lord had made a bow out of the clouds and was shooting arrows. ⁽²²⁾ Hailstones will beat down on his enemies with terrible force. The oceans and rivers will come rushing over them in a devastating flood. ⁽²³⁾ Great windstorms will blow them away like straw. Lawlessness will be the ruin of the whole world. Evil actions will cause governments to fall.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Colossians Chapter 2

⁽⁸⁾ Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁽⁹⁾ For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ⁽¹⁰⁾ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. ⁽¹¹⁾ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

⁽¹²⁾ buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ⁽¹³⁾ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ⁽¹⁴⁾ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

⁽¹⁶⁾ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ⁽¹⁷⁾ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ⁽¹⁹⁾ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

⁽²⁰⁾ Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations -- ⁽²¹⁾ Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,' ⁽²²⁾ which all concern things which perish with the using -- according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ⁽²³⁾ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Luke Chapter 6

⁽³⁹⁾ And He spoke a parable to them: 'Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? ⁽⁴⁰⁾ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. ⁽⁴¹⁾ And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? ⁽⁴²⁾ Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother's eye.

⁽⁴³⁾ For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁽⁴⁴⁾ For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. ⁽⁴⁵⁾ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. ⁽⁴⁶⁾ But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?

⁽⁴⁷⁾ Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: ⁽⁴⁸⁾ He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. ⁽⁴⁹⁾ But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.'

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.


The Song of Moses    Exodus 15:1 to 6, 11 to 13, 17 to 18

I will sing to the Lord, for he is lofty and uplifted;
the horse and its rider has he hurled into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my refuge;
the Lord has become my Savior.
This is my God and I will praise him,
the God of my people and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a mighty warrior;
Yahweh is his Name.
The chariots of Pharoah and his army has he hurled into the sea;
the finest of those who bear armor have been drowned in the Red Sea.
The fathomless deep has overwhelmed them;
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in might;
your right hand, O Lord, has overthrown the enemy.
Who can be compared with you, O Lord, among the gods?
who is like you, glorious in holiness,
awesome in renown, and worker of wonders?
You stretched forth your right hand;
the earth swallowed them up.
With your constant love you led the people you redeemed;
with your might you brought them in safety to
your holy dwelling.
You will bring them in and plant them
on the mount of your possession,
The resting-place you have made for yourself, O Lord,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hand has established.
The Lord shall reign forever and forever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.


The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.
  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
  He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
  He descended to the dead.
  On the third day he rose again.
  He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
  He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
  the holy catholic Church,
  the communion of saints,
  the forgiveness of sins,
  the resurrection of the body,
  and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Prayers

The Lord's Prayer   Traditional
Suffrages A

Seasonal Collect:  Fourth Sunday of Easter
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Personal Prayers and Reflection

This is a time to pause, consider and listen. Pray for yourself and others. When you lack the words


Closing Prayers   Thanksgiving

Conclude with the following
Let Us Bless the Lord, Thanks be to God

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. 2 Corinthians 13:14