Morning Prayer

Epiphany
From the rising of the sun to its setting my Name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to my Name, and a pure offering: for my Name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 1:11

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 Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.

The Lessons

Psalm 101

⁽¹⁾ I will sing of mercy and justice; To You, O LORD, I will sing praises. ⁽²⁾ I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. ⁽³⁾ I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me. ⁽⁴⁾ A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.

⁽⁵⁾ Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure. ⁽⁶⁾ My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me; He who walks in a perfect way, He shall serve me. ⁽⁷⁾ He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. ⁽⁸⁾ Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the LORD.

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 109

⁽¹⁾ Do not keep silent, O God of my praise! ⁽²⁾ For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful Have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. ⁽³⁾ They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, And fought against me without a cause. ⁽⁴⁾ In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give myself to prayer.

⁽²⁰⁾ Let this be the LORD's reward to my accusers, And to those who speak evil against my person. ⁽²¹⁾ But You, O GOD the Lord, Deal with me for Your name's sake; Because Your mercy is good, deliver me. ⁽²²⁾ For I am poor and needy, And my heart is wounded within me. ⁽²³⁾ I am gone like a shadow when it lengthens; I am shaken off like a locust.

⁽²⁴⁾ My knees are weak through fasting, And my flesh is feeble from lack of fatness. ⁽²⁵⁾ I also have become a reproach to them; When they look at me, they shake their heads. ⁽²⁶⁾ Help me, O LORD my God! Oh, save me according to Your mercy, ⁽²⁷⁾ That they may know that this is Your hand -- That You, LORD, have done it!

⁽²⁸⁾ Let them curse, but You bless; When they arise, let them be ashamed, But let Your servant rejoice. ⁽²⁹⁾ Let my accusers be clothed with shame, And let them cover themselves with their own disgrace as with a mantle. ⁽³⁰⁾ I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; Yes, I will praise Him among the multitude.

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.

Genesis Chapter 31

⁽²⁵⁾ So Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains, and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead. ⁽²⁶⁾ And Laban said to Jacob: 'What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me, and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword? ⁽²⁷⁾ Why did you flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and not tell me; for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp? ⁽²⁸⁾ And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing.

⁽²⁹⁾ It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.' ⁽³⁰⁾ And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father's house, but why did you steal my gods?' ⁽³¹⁾ Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, 'Because I was afraid, for I said, 'Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force.' ⁽³²⁾ With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you.' For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

⁽³³⁾ And Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the two maids' tents, but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leah's tent and entered Rachel's tent. ⁽³⁴⁾ Now Rachel had taken the household idols, put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them. ⁽³⁵⁾ And she said to her father, 'Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is with me.' And he searched but did not find the household idols. ⁽³⁶⁾ Then Jacob was angry and rebuked Laban, and Jacob answered and said to Laban: 'What is my trespass? What is my sin, that you have so hotly pursued me?

⁽³⁷⁾ Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren, that they may judge between us both! ⁽³⁸⁾ These twenty years I have been with you; your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock. ⁽³⁹⁾ That which was torn by beasts I did not bring to you; I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ There I was! In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes.

⁽⁴¹⁾ Thus I have been in your house twenty years; I served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. ⁽⁴²⁾ Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.' ⁽⁴³⁾ And Laban answered and said to Jacob, 'These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and this flock is my flock; all that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne? ⁽⁴⁴⁾ Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between you and me.'

⁽⁴⁵⁾ So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. ⁽⁴⁶⁾ Then Jacob said to his brethren, 'Gather stones.' And they took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap. ⁽⁴⁷⁾ Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁽⁴⁸⁾ And Laban said, 'This heap is a witness between you and me this day.' Therefore its name was called Galeed,

⁽⁴⁹⁾ also Mizpah, because he said, 'May the LORD watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. ⁽⁵⁰⁾ If you afflict my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us -- see, God is witness between you and me!'

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

1 John Chapter 2

⁽¹²⁾ I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. ⁽¹³⁾ I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father. ⁽¹⁴⁾ I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

⁽¹⁶⁾ For all that is in the world -- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life -- is not of the Father but is of the world. ⁽¹⁷⁾ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

John Chapter 10

⁽¹⁾ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ⁽²⁾ But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ⁽³⁾ To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁽⁴⁾ And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

⁽⁵⁾ Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.' ⁽⁶⁾ Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. ⁽⁷⁾ Then Jesus said to them again, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁽⁸⁾ All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

⁽⁹⁾ I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ⁽¹⁰⁾ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. ⁽¹¹⁾ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. ⁽¹²⁾ But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

⁽¹³⁾ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. ⁽¹⁴⁾ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. ⁽¹⁵⁾ As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ⁽¹⁶⁾ And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. ⁽¹⁸⁾ No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.'

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.


Glory to God        
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.

Lord God, heavenly King,
almighty God and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
you take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.

For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. 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:  Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. 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

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21