Daily Office - Aug 5

Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642

Psalm 71

In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress. 

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you. 

I have been like a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge. 
My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all day long. 
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
do not forsake me when my strength is spent. 
For my enemies speak concerning me,
and those who watch for my life consult together. 
They say, ‘Pursue and seize that person whom God has forsaken, for there is no one to deliver.’ 

O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me! 
Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;

let those who seek to hurt me be covered with scorn and disgrace. 
But I will hope continually, and will praise you yet more and more. 
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all day long,
though their number is past my knowledge. 
I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,
I will praise your righteousness, yours alone. 

O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 
So even to old age and grey hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come.
Your power and your righteousness, O God,

reach the high heavens. 

You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you? 
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. 
You will increase my honour, and comfort me once again. 

I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. 
My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have rescued. 
All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,
for those who tried to do me harm
have been put to shame, and disgraced.

Proverbs 1.1-19

For learning about wisdom and instruction,
for understanding words of insight, 
for gaining instruction in wise dealing,
righteousness, justice, and equity; 
to teach shrewdness to the simple,
knowledge and prudence to the young— 
let the wise also hear and gain in learning,
and the discerning acquire skill, 
to understand a proverb and a figure,
the words of the wise and their riddles. 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
and do not reject your mother’s teaching; 
for they are a fair garland for your head,
and pendants for your neck. 
My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 
If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us wantonly ambush the innocent; 
like Sheol let us swallow them alive
and whole, like those who go down to the Pit. 
We shall find all kinds of costly things;
we shall fill our houses with booty. 
Throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse’— 
my child, do not walk in their way,
keep your foot from their paths; 
for their feet run to evil,
and they hurry to shed blood. 
For in vain is the net baited
while the bird is looking on; 
yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves!
and set an ambush—for their own lives! 
Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.

Mark 2.23-3.6

 One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come forward.’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. 

The Collect

Lord God almighty,

who so kindled the faith of King Oswald with your Spirit

that he set up the sign of the cross in his kingdom

and turned his people to the light of Christ:

grant that we, being fired by the same Spirit,

may always bear our cross before the world

and be found faithful servants of the gospel;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.