Morning Prayer for Wednesday 5.13.26

Here is a link to our liturgy: Morning Prayer 5.13.26, Frances Perkins, Social Reformer, 1965, Rogation Day | Daily Office Network

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Good morning and welcome. I'm Father Tom Royd, the Vicar of the Daily Office Network. The Daily Office Network is a community of Christians who gather together on a daily basis Monday through Friday at 7 and 9 a.m. Eastern time to pray morning prayer from the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer. We mix in artwork, news story. We have a video at the end. We come from several different faith traditions in several different countries. All are welcome here where we do our best to exercise tolerance and decency with one another. Now let's settle in and begin morning prayer. Today is the 13th of May, 2026. It is a Wednesday. In the life of the church, we celebrate the Saint Francis Perkins, a social reformer who died in the year 1965. It is also our last rogation day. Tomorrow is Ascension Day. Let's begin. The Daily Office Network is posting our recorded services to our podcast. They're edited, but they're there. You can find them on Apple or Spotify. And you can search by the keywords Daily Office Network or click on the links here, and it will take you there. Just not when it's my document. You have to have your own to make those links live. Let's begin. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. We see some people out in the parking lot, a priest, some bicycles. Getting to St. Mary's Episcopal Church for Sunday services is a 17-mile round trip for Bob Perkins from his home in Aca no Mont Walk. Bob, an avid bicyclist, is likely to cover those miles on two wheels instead of four. It's an even longer journey for Mary Beth Esser. It's 20 miles for her out and back. Yet on May the 3rd, there she was at the small town crossroads church with her trek road bike. On this Sunday, the congregation held a special outdoor worship at 8 a.m. in the grassy area next to the Bark River. And afterwards, a church members and the community were invited to participate in St. Mary's annual bike blessing. The Reverend Pippa Lindwright, St. Mary's rector, led the brief ceremony at the edge of the church's parking lot, blessing three trek bikes brought by Perkins, Esser, and another member, Marion Ketterer, as well as one motorcycle. If your local church doesn't, your local Episcopal Church doesn't have a bike blessing, ask your local Episcopal priest. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. See? Everything has become new. Addie, would you lead us in the invitatory in this altar this morning?

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Lord, open our lips.

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And our mouths shall proclaim your praise.

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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. Hallelujah. Christ our Passover. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the peace, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 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. Hallelujah. Christ has been raised from the dead. The first fruit 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 also in Christ shall all be made alive. Hallelujah.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Thank you, Addie. Our psalm appointed for this morning is a portion of Psalm number 119, verses 97 through 120. I'm going to ask Jill and Jacqueline to lead our psalm. Jill, would you begin?

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Oh, how I love your law. All the day long it is in my mind.

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Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies. And it is always with me.

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I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my study.

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I am wiser than the elders, because I observe your commandments.

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I restrain my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word.

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I do not shrink from your judgments, because you yourself have taught me.

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How sweet are your words to my taste. They are sweeter than honey to my mouth.

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Through your commandments I gain understanding. Therefore I hate every lying way.

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Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light unto my path.

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I have sworn and am determined to keep your righteous judgments.

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I am deeply troubled. Preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word.

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Accept, O Lord, the willing tribute of my lips, and teach me your way.

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Yet I do not forget your law.

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The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not strayed from your commandments.

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Your decrees are my inheritance forever. Truly, they are the joy of my heart.

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I have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes forever and to the end.

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I hate those who have a divided heart. But your law do I love.

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You are my refuge and shield. My hope is in your word.

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Away from me, you wicked. I will keep the commandments of my God.

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Sustain me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be disappointed in my hope.

SPEAKER_08 8:00

Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and my delight shall be ever in your statutes.

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You spurn all who stray from your statutes. Their deceitfulness is in vain.

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In your sight all the wicked of the earth are but dross. Therefore I love your decrees.

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My flesh trembles with dread of you. I am afraid of your judgments.

SPEAKER_08 8:31

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_03 8:45

Thank you, Jill and Jacqueline. That was a great reading. Here we see a scroll. Leviticus, the third book of the law, contains the holiness code, of which this lesson offers a concluding summary. If the Hebrews obey the Lord, life will be wonderful. If not, the Hebrews will be annihilated. This warning is given at Sinai after the Passover, but before the people enter the promised land, which will they choose? Our reading is from Leviticus chapter 26, verses 27 to 42. Chad, would you lead this?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

But if despite this you disobey me and continue hostile to me, I will continue hostile to you in fury. I in turn will punish you myself sevenfold for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars. I will heap your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols. I will abhor you. I will lay your cities waste, will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing odors. I will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to settle in it shall be appalled at it. And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheath the sword against you. Your land shall be a desolation, your cities a waste. Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbath years, as long as it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies. Then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbath years. As long as it is desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your Sabbaths when you were living on it. And as for those of you who survive, I will send faintness into their hearts and into the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall though no one pursues. They shall stumble over one another as if to escape a sword, though no one pursues, and you shall have no power to stand against your enemies. You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall devour you. And those of you who survive shall languish in the land of your enemies because of their iniquities. Also, they shall languish because of the iniquities of their ancestors. But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors, and that they committed treachery against me, and moreover, that they continued hostile to me, so that I in turn continued hostile to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies. If then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they make amends for their iniquity, then will I remember my covenant with Jacob. I will remember also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. The word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

Thanks be to God. Thank you, Chan. Our first canticle is a song of Ezekiel. Mother Ungel, would you lead this?

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I will take you from among the nations, and gather you from all lands to bring you home. I will sprinkle clean water upon you and purify you from false gods and uncleanness. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit put within you. I will take the stone heart from your chest and give you a heart of a flunge. I will help you walk in my laws and cherish my commandments and do them. You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

SPEAKER_03 13:18

Thank you, Mother Angel. Be the church, protect the environment, care for the poor, forgive often, reject racism, fight for the powerless, share earthly and spiritual resources, embrace diversity, proclaim Christ risen, love God, love one another, enjoy this life. This is a poster from the youth ministry at St. James Cathedral in Chicago, a photo that was taken by Leah Nakamura when we were there. Beautiful, beautiful poster. Our second reading is from Paul's letter to the Ephesians chapter one verses one through ten. Paul, would you lead this?

SPEAKER_07 14:18

Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the for excuse me, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. The word of the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Thanks be to God. Thank you, Paul. Our next canticle is a song of the Spirit. Mother Angel.

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Blessed are those who do God's commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city through the gates. I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony from all the churches. I am the root and offspring of David. I am the bright morning star. Come say the spirit and the bride. Come, let each hearer reply. Come forward, you who are thirsty, let those who desire take the water of life as a gift.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

Thanks again, Mother Angel. This is by Jacob Jordan's Christ disputing with the Pharisees. Deacon Diana, would you lead this?

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Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question, What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David. He said to them, How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord? saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son? No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. The word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God. Thank you, Deacon. And now the apostle's creed. Carol, would you lead us in the creed?

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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 resurre the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

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

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The Lord be with you.

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And also with you.

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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.

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Clothe your ministers with righteousness.

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Let your people sing with joy.

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Give peace, O Lord, in all the world.

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For only in you can we live in safety.

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Lord, keep our nations under your care.

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And guide us in the way of justice and truth.

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Let your way be known upon earth.

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Your saving health among all nations.

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Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten. Create in us clean hearts, O God.

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And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

Thank you, Marcia. Our saint of the day, Frances Perkins. Here she is inspecting the building of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. She was Secretary of Labor, the first woman U.S. cabinet member. Here she is inspecting the Golden Gate Bridge construction site in the mid-1930s. The bridge opened in 1937. She's known as the mother of Social Security, unemployment insurance, and the minimum wage. There was nowhere she wouldn't go for worker safety. Frances Perkins, our saint of the day. And now I believe there's four prayers. And just take a quick peek. Yes, there are four prayers. Deacon Elizabeth, would you lead us in these four prayers?

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Sure. Loving God, we bless your name for Francis Perkins, who in faithfulness to her baptism envisioned a society in which all may live in health and decency. Help us following our example and in union with our prayers to contend tirelessly, tirelessly for justice and for the protection of all, that we may be faithful followers of Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns. One God forever and ever. Amen. O merciful Creator, your hand is wide open to satisfy the needs of every living creature. Make us always thankful for your loving providence and grant that we, remembering the account that we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns. One God, forever and ever. Amen. Oh 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 these experiences 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.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Amen. And our photograph for joy in God's creation is one you might recognize. Sarah Malale on the left and the Pope on the right. And he's holding a jar of honey that was presented to him. During her meeting with Pope Leo two weeks ago at the Vatican, Archbishop Sarah presented him with a jar of honey that was produced from the beehives that are located in the Lambeth Palace Garden, her official London residence. The honey served as a simple and hospitable token of friendship between the Anglican and the Catholic churches. I see it as an example of Joyce joy in God's creation in action. Honey from the bees. And then our collect for joy in God's creation. Deacon.

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Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_03 25:21

Amen. Thank you, Deacon. One more look back at that photograph. As I see joy in both their faces. Such a simple and yet such a promising gift. And now our Wednesday morning prayer list for healing of body, mind, and soul. Pray for the essential workers in our world. Without whose sacrifice, without whose toil, many things would not get accomplished. Continue to pray for our founding vicar, Josh Thomas, in a skilled nursing facility after a stroke. Pray for healing for Deacon Leilani and her health challenges. Tracy Kay is awaiting a transplant. Andrea has a brain tumor, and as a result, she's undergoing physical and occupational therapy. Continue to pray for her healing. Prayers for Beth and Jim. Jim has been losing his eyesight. Pray for Addy and her husband Anthony for their continued health. Stephen, Paul, Danielle, Peter, Jerry G, Robbie, Zachary, and all these have cancer. Please pray for all of those who have cancer, such a horrible disease. Pray for Don and Shirley with dementia. Pray for Patricia for her continued strength and wellness. And pray for all of those who are in hospice or comfort care. We also on Wednesdays pray for the caregivers. There are many, but we mention a few: Jan, Marianne, Cheryl, Beth, Judith, Tina, Morgan, Pam, and Mark prayers. We'll continue with the prayer for the mission of the church. I'm going to ask Michael Brown to lead this, and then I'll bless the Lord and bless us.

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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.

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Let us bless the Lord.

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Thanks be to God.

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Life is short, and we don't have much time to gladden the hearts of those that make this journey with us. So be swift to love and make haste to be kind. And may the blessing of the God of Abraham and Sarah. And of Jesus Christ, born of our sister Mary, 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. That's 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. Many need Jesus right now. Hope to see you back with us tomorrow safe and sound.