Morning Prayer

Easter
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

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.

Christ has entered, not 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

The Lessons

Psalm 71

⁽¹⁾ In You, O LORD, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame. ⁽²⁾ Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; Incline Your ear to me, and save me. ⁽³⁾ Be my strong refuge, To which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, For You are my rock and my fortress. ⁽⁴⁾ Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

⁽⁵⁾ For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth. ⁽⁶⁾ By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother's womb. My praise shall be continually of You. ⁽⁷⁾ I have become as a wonder to many, But You are my strong refuge. ⁽⁸⁾ Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the day.

⁽⁹⁾ Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails. ⁽¹⁰⁾ For my enemies speak against me; And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together, ⁽¹¹⁾ Saying, 'God has forsaken him; Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.' ⁽¹²⁾ O God, do not be far from me; O my God, make haste to help me!

⁽¹³⁾ Let them be confounded and consumed Who are adversaries of my life; Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor Who seek my hurt. ⁽¹⁴⁾ But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more. ⁽¹⁵⁾ My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits. ⁽¹⁶⁾ I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

⁽¹⁷⁾ O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. ⁽¹⁹⁾ Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? ⁽²⁰⁾ You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, Shall revive me again, And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

⁽²¹⁾ You shall increase my greatness, And comfort me on every side. ⁽²²⁾ Also with the lute I will praise you -- And Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. ⁽²³⁾ My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, And my soul, which You have redeemed. ⁽²⁴⁾ My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long; For they are confounded, For they are brought to shame Who seek my hurt.

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.

Leviticus Chapter 19

⁽²⁶⁾ You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. ⁽²⁷⁾ You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. ⁽²⁸⁾ You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD. ⁽²⁹⁾ Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.

⁽³⁰⁾ You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the LORD. ⁽³¹⁾ Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. ⁽³²⁾ You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD. ⁽³³⁾ And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.

⁽³⁴⁾ The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. ⁽³⁵⁾ You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. ⁽³⁶⁾ You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁽³⁷⁾ Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them: I am the LORD.' '

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

2 Thessalonians Chapter 1

⁽¹⁾ Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ⁽²⁾ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁽³⁾ We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, ⁽⁴⁾ so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure,

⁽⁵⁾ which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; ⁽⁶⁾ since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, ⁽⁷⁾ and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, ⁽⁸⁾ in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁽⁹⁾ These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, ⁽¹⁰⁾ when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. ⁽¹¹⁾ Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, ⁽¹²⁾ that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Matthew Chapter 6

⁽²⁵⁾ Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ⁽²⁶⁾ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ⁽²⁷⁾ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ⁽²⁸⁾ So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

⁽²⁹⁾ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ⁽³⁰⁾ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ⁽³¹⁾ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ⁽³²⁾ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

⁽³³⁾ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ⁽³⁴⁾ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

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:  Fifth Sunday of Easter
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 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