Morning Prayer for Wednesday 4.1.26

Morning Prayer for Wednesday in Holy Week. Here is a link to our liturgy: Morning Prayer 4.1.26, Wednesday in Holy Week | Daily Office Network

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Good morning and welcome. I'm Father Tom Roy, the vicar of the Daily Office Network. The Daily Office Network is a community of Christians who gather together on a daily basis to pray morning prayer. We use the 1979 Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer as our guide. We mix in artwork. We have a news story. There's music at the end. We come from several different faith traditions in several different countries. We do our best here to exercise tolerance and decency with one another. Now let's settle in and begin morning prayer. Today is April the first, twenty twenty six. It is Wednesday and Holy Week. If you're looking for our podcast, you'll find it on Daily Office Network by searching Apple or Spotify with those keywords. There's also links here. Let's begin. He has broken down his booth like a garden. He has destroyed his tabernacle. The Lord has abolished in Zion Festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest. Some of us have heard about the flooding in Hawaii. The Diocese of Hawaii is calling for prayers for Camp Muluea in Waialua and the North Shore communities on the island of Oahu after the heaviest rainstorms in over 20 years flooded the region, forcing some 5,500 to evacuate their homes, vehicles. Those were destroyed and roads were washed away. All Camp Moluea staff members are safe and taking shelter in the camp's lodge and are preparing to move to higher ground if necessary, according to Hawaii's Bishop Robert L. Fitzpatrick in a March 20th message delivered to the diocese. But uh they were still devastation nonetheless. Nonetheless. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. I'll lead us in the confession of sin, pronounce absolution, and then I'll ask Addy to lead us in the invitatory and the psalter. First the confession of sin. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name. Amen. Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all of your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen. Lord, open our lips, and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

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. Come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before God's presence with thanksgiving and raise to the Lord a shout with songs. For you are a great God. You are great above all gods. In your hands are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the hills are yours also. The sea is yours, for you made it. In your hands have molded the dry. Come, let us bow down and bend the knee and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand. Oh that today we would hearken to your voice.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Thank you, Eddie. Our psalms appointed for today are Psalm number 55. I'm going to ask Martha and Jacqueline to lead our psalm. Martha, would you start?

SPEAKER_11 5:14

Yeah, my brave, oh God. Do not hide yourself from my petition.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Listen to me and answer me. I have no peace because of my cares.

SPEAKER_11 5:31

I am shaken by the noise of the enemy and by the pressure of the wicked.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

For they have cast an evil spell upon me, and are set against me in fury.

SPEAKER_11 5:49

My heart quakes within me, and the terrors of death are falling upon me.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Fear and trembling have come over me, and horror overwhelms me.

SPEAKER_11 6:07

And I said, Would that I had wings like a dove? I will fly away and be at rest.

SPEAKER_03 6:17

I would flee to a far off place and make my lodging in the wilderness.

SPEAKER_11 6:26

I will hasten to escape from the stormy wind and tempest.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Swallow them up, O Lord, confound their speech, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

SPEAKER_11 6:50

But trouble and misery are in the midst of it.

SPEAKER_03 6:55

There is corruption at its heart, its streets are never free of oppression and deceit.

SPEAKER_11 7:13

Or had it been enemies who faunted themselves against me, then I would have hidden from them.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

But it was you, my companion, my own familiar friend, dear to my heart.

SPEAKER_11 7:32

We took sweet counsel together and walked with the trunk to the house of God.

SPEAKER_03 7:40

Let death come upon them suddenly. Let them go down alive into the grave, for wickedness is in their dwellings, in their very midst.

SPEAKER_11 7:54

But I will call upon God, and the Lord will deliver me.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

In the evening, in the morning, and at noonday, I will complain and lament, and the Lord will hear my voice. God, who is enthroned of old, will hear me and bring them down. They never change. They do not fear God.

SPEAKER_11 8:36

My companion stretch forth a hand against a comrade. A broken and broke a covenant.

SPEAKER_03 8:47

The speech of my companion is softer than butter, but with war at heart.

SPEAKER_11 8:55

The words of my comrade are smoother than oil, for they are drawn sword.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Cast your burden upon the Lord who will sustain you. The Lord will never let the righteous stumble. They shall not live out half their days. But I will put my trust in you.

SPEAKER_11 9:33

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.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Amen. Thank you, Martha and Jacqueline. Painting from the early 18th century by David Roberts. It's called the destruction of it's called Destruction of Jerusalem. Our first lesson is from Lamentations chapter two verses one through nine. Chad, would you lead this?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

How the Lord in his anger has humiliated daughter Zion. He has thrown down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel. He has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. The Lord has destroyed without mercy all the dwellings of Jacob. In his wrath, he has broken down the strongholds of daughter Judah. He has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel. He has withdrawn his right hand from them in the face of the enemy. He has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around. He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe. He has killed all in whom we took pride in the tent of daughter Zion. He has poured out his fury like fire. The Lord has become like an enemy. He has destroyed Israel. He has destroyed all its palaces, laid in ruins its strongholds, and multiplied in daughter Judah mourning and lamentation. He has broken down his booth like a garden. He has destroyed his tabernacle. The Lord has abolished in Zion festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest. The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary, he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. A clamor was raised in the house of the Lord as on a day of festival. The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of daughter Zion. He stretched the line. He did not withhold his hand from destroying. He caused rampart and wall to lament. They languished together. Her gates have sunk into the ground, he has ruined and broken her bars, her king and princes are among the nations, guidance is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the Lord. The word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Thanks be to God. Thank you, Chad. Our first canticle is a song of penitence. Mother Unjell, would you lead this?

SPEAKER_04 13:02

O Lord and ruler of the host of heaven, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of all their righteous offspring. You made the heavens and the earth with all their stories. All things quake with fear at fear at your presence. My trouble because of your power. But your merciful kindness promises beyond all passion. It surpasses all that our minds can fathom. Oh Lord, you are full of compassion, long suffering and abounding in mercy. You hold back your hand, you do not punish as we deserve. In your great goodness, Lord, you have promised forgiveness to sinners, that they may repent of their sin and be saved. And now, O Lord, I bend the knee of my heart and make my appeal show of your gracious goodness. I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I know my wickedness only too well. Therefore I make this prayer to you. Forgive me, Lord, forgive me. Do not let me perish in my sin, nor condemn me to the depths of the earth. For you already are the God of those repent, and in me you will show forth your goodness. Unworthy as I am, you will save me in accordance with your great mercy, and I will praise you without ceasing all the days of my life. For all the powers of heaven sing your praises, and yours is the glory to ages of ages. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Thank you, Mother Angel. Forgiveness. Paul, would you lead this?

SPEAKER_06 15:52

But I call on God as witness against me. It was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth. I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith. Rather we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith. So I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit, for if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice. For I am confident about all of you, that my joy would be the joy of all of you, for I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart, and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. But if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but to some extent, not to exaggerate it, to all of you. This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person, so now instead you should forgive and console him, so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. I wrote for this reason, to test you and to know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. The word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Thanks be to God. Thank you, Paul. Our next canticle is Song of Zachariah. Mother Angel, would you lead this one as well?

SPEAKER_04 18:20

In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us. Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel. You have come to your people and set them free. You have raised up for us a mighty Savior, born of the house of your servant David. Through your holy prophets you promised abold, to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us, to show mercy to our forebears, and to remember your holy covenant. This was the oath you swore to our father Abraham, to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship you without fear, holy and righteous before you all the days of our life. And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High. For you will go before the Lord to prepare the way, to give God's people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from unhear shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. 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. In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

Thank you, Mother Angel. The parable of the vineyard and the tenants.

SPEAKER_09 20:52

Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard, but a fence around it duck. Okay. A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, duck a pit for the wine press, and built a washtower. Then he listed to tenants and went to another country. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenant to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent another slave to them. This one they beat over the head and insulted. Then he sent another and that one they killed. And so it was with many others. Some they beat and others they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, They will respect my son. But those And say to one another, This is the hair. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it's amazing in our eyes. The word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Thanks be to God. Thank you, Deacon. And now the Apostles' Creed. Jill, would you lead us in the Apostles' Creed?

SPEAKER_05 22:54

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, 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. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and 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.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Amen. Thank you, Jill. And now the prayers begin with our Lord's Prayer. Carol, would you lead us in the Lord's Prayer and then we'll read the suffrages?

SPEAKER_08 23:53

The Lord be with you.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

And also with you.

SPEAKER_08 23:57

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen. Show us your mercy, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Clothe your ministers with righteousness.

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Let your people sing with joy.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Give peace, O Lord, in all the world.

SPEAKER_08 24:44

For only in you can we live in safety. Lord, keep our nations under your care and guide us in the way of justice and truth.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Let your way be known upon earth.

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You are saving health among all nations.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten.

SPEAKER_08 25:05

Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Create in us clean hearts, O God.

SPEAKER_08 25:13

And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Thank you, Carol. This is a different kind of a cross. This is by Jeffrey Clark from 1958. It is the Coventry Clos Cross. Now, four prayers. The collect of the day for Wednesday and Holy Week, a collect on racism and injustice. A collect for grace and a collect for joy in God's creation. Deacon Diana, would you lead us in these four prayers? Nope, you're Z'd out. I'm sorry, Diana. I will call on someone else. Patricia, would you lead us in these four prayers?

SPEAKER_07 26:05

Lord God, whose blessed Son, our Savior, gave his body to be whipped, his face to be spit upon. Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. O God, call us into a deeper relationship to be your church for the sake of the world. Help us to see with new eyes the injustices within church and society. Call us to have a loving heart that respects and uplifts the humanity and dignity of every person. Open our ears to listen and learn from the experience of people whose skin is different from ours. Open our mouths to speak up about injustices. Join us with others to work for racial equity and inclusion for all people. Amen. 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.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Amen. And this is a photograph of I believe these are Azaleas. And this is called the Pride of Mobile. These were taken, this photograph was taken by Tom Welsh.

SPEAKER_07 27:54

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Aren't they?

SPEAKER_07 27:57

Yeah. Go ahead, Patricia. Oh Heavenly Father, you have filled the world with beauty. Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works, that rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Amen. We'll continue with the prayer for the mission of the church. And I'm going to ask John R. to lead us in the prayer for the mission of the church, and then I'll bless the Lord and bless us.

SPEAKER_10 28:42

Almighty and everlasting God. The Spirit, the whole body of your faithful people 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.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Let us bless the Lord.

SPEAKER_10 29:09

Thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

May the blessing of the God of Abraham and Sarah, and of Jesus Christ, born of our sister Mary, and of the Holy Spirit, who broods over the world as a mother over her children, be upon you now and remain with you always. Amen. And that is morning prayer on this Wednesday. Thank you for coming to pray today. Wherever you go, take that love of Jesus that lives inside of you in your heart. Share that Jesus with the world. Show that Jesus to the world. Hope to see you back with us tomorrow, safe and sound.