Morning Prayer

Ordinary Time
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

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

Venite
The Antiphon:

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

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.

The Lessons

Psalm 40

⁽¹⁾ I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. ⁽²⁾ He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. ⁽³⁾ He has put a new song in my mouth -- Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. ⁽⁴⁾ Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

⁽⁵⁾ Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. ⁽⁶⁾ Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. ⁽⁷⁾ Then I said, 'Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. ⁽⁸⁾ I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.'

⁽⁹⁾ I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O LORD, You Yourself know. ⁽¹⁰⁾ I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly. ⁽¹¹⁾ Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. ⁽¹²⁾ For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me.

⁽¹³⁾ Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me! ⁽¹⁴⁾ Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor Who wish me evil. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Let them be confounded because of their shame, Who say to me, 'Aha, aha!' ⁽¹⁶⁾ Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, 'The LORD be magnified!'

⁽¹⁷⁾ But I am poor and needy; Yet the LORD thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my 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.

Psalm 54

⁽¹⁾ Save me, O God, by Your name, And vindicate me by Your strength. ⁽²⁾ Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth. ⁽³⁾ For strangers have risen up against me, And oppressors have sought after my life; They have not set God before them. Selah ⁽⁴⁾ Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life.

⁽⁵⁾ He will repay my enemies for their evil. Cut them off in Your truth. ⁽⁶⁾ I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good. ⁽⁷⁾ For He has delivered me out of all trouble; And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.

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.

1 Kings Chapter 18

⁽²⁰⁾ So Ahab sent for all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together on Mount Carmel. ⁽²¹⁾ And Elijah came to all the people, and said, 'How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.' But the people answered him not a word. ⁽²²⁾ Then Elijah said to the people, 'I alone am left a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. ⁽²³⁾ Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it.

⁽²⁴⁾ Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.' So all the people answered and said, 'It is well spoken.' ⁽²⁵⁾ Now Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, 'Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.' ⁽²⁶⁾ So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, 'O Baal, hear us!' But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made. ⁽²⁷⁾ And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, 'Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.'

⁽²⁸⁾ So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. ⁽²⁹⁾ And when midday was past, they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention. ⁽³⁰⁾ Then Elijah said to all the people, 'Come near to me.' So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. ⁽³¹⁾ And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, 'Israel shall be your name.'

⁽³²⁾ Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. ⁽³³⁾ And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, 'Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.' ⁽³⁴⁾ Then he said, 'Do it a second time,' and they did it a second time; and he said, 'Do it a third time,' and they did it a third time. ⁽³⁵⁾ So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.

⁽³⁶⁾ And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, 'LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. ⁽³⁷⁾ Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.' ⁽³⁸⁾ Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. ⁽³⁹⁾ Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, 'The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!'

⁽⁴⁰⁾ And Elijah said to them, 'Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!' So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Philippians Chapter 3

⁽¹⁾ Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. ⁽²⁾ Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! ⁽³⁾ For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, ⁽⁴⁾ though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:

⁽⁵⁾ circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; ⁽⁶⁾ concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. ⁽⁷⁾ But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. ⁽⁸⁾ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

⁽⁹⁾ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ⁽¹⁰⁾ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ⁽¹¹⁾ if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. ⁽¹²⁾ Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

⁽¹³⁾ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ⁽¹⁴⁾ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. ⁽¹⁶⁾ Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Matthew Chapter 3

⁽¹⁾ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ⁽²⁾ and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!' ⁽³⁾ For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.' ' ⁽⁴⁾ And John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

⁽⁵⁾ Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him ⁽⁶⁾ and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁽⁷⁾ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, 'Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁽⁸⁾ Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,

⁽⁹⁾ and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ⁽¹⁰⁾ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ⁽¹¹⁾ I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ⁽¹²⁾ His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

The Second Song of Isaiah      Isaiah 55:6 to 11

Seek the Lord while he wills to be found;
call upon him when he draws near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the evil ones their thoughts;
And let them turn to the Lord, and he will have compassion,
and to our God, for he will richly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as rain and snow fall from the heavens
and return not again, but water the earth,
Bringing forth life and giving growth,
seed for sowing and bread for eating,
So is my word that goes forth from my mouth;
it will not return to me empty;
But it will accomplish that which I have purposed,
and prosper in that for which I sent it.
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:  Proper 18 The Sunday closest to September 7
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Romans 15:13