Morning Prayer

Lent
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8, 9

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

Venite
The Antiphon:

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

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: Come let us adore him.

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.

Genesis Chapter 39

⁽¹⁾ Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. ⁽²⁾ The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. ⁽³⁾ And his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all he did to prosper in his hand. ⁽⁴⁾ So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.

⁽⁵⁾ So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. ⁽⁶⁾ Thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. ⁽⁷⁾ And it came to pass after these things that his master's wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, 'Lie with me.' ⁽⁸⁾ But he refused and said to his master's wife, 'Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand.

⁽⁹⁾ There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' ⁽¹⁰⁾ So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. ⁽¹¹⁾ But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, ⁽¹²⁾ that she caught him by his garment, saying, 'Lie with me.' But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.

⁽¹³⁾ And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, ⁽¹⁴⁾ that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, 'See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ⁽¹⁵⁾ And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.' ⁽¹⁶⁾ So she kept his garment with her until his master came home.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, 'The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; ⁽¹⁸⁾ so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.' ⁽¹⁹⁾ So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, 'Your servant did to me after this manner,' that his anger was aroused. ⁽²⁰⁾ Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison.

⁽²¹⁾ But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ⁽²²⁾ And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. ⁽²³⁾ The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

1 Corinthians Chapter 2

⁽¹⁴⁾ But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ⁽¹⁵⁾ But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. ⁽¹⁶⁾ For 'who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?' But we have the mind of Christ. ⁽¹⁾ And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ⁽²⁾ I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ⁽³⁾ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? ⁽⁴⁾ For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not carnal?

⁽⁵⁾ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? ⁽⁶⁾ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. ⁽⁷⁾ So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. ⁽⁸⁾ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁽⁹⁾ For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building. ⁽¹⁰⁾ According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. ⁽¹¹⁾ For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ⁽¹²⁾ Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,

⁽¹³⁾ each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. ⁽¹⁴⁾ If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. ⁽¹⁵⁾ If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Mark Chapter 2

⁽¹⁾ And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. ⁽²⁾ Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. ⁽³⁾ Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. ⁽⁴⁾ And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

⁽⁵⁾ When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.' ⁽⁶⁾ And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, ⁽⁷⁾ Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' ⁽⁸⁾ But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, 'Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?

⁽⁹⁾ Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? ⁽¹⁰⁾ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins' -- He said to the paralytic, ⁽¹¹⁾ I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' ⁽¹²⁾ Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this!'

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:  First Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 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