Morning Prayer - Aug 5

Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642

Psalm 5
Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.
Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness. because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.

But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover him with favour as with a shield.

Psalm 6
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;bheal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But you, O Lord — how long?

Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?
I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

Psalm 8
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,  whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

1 Samuel 10.17-end
Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. ’ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us. ’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by lot; and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. So they inquired again of the Lord, “Is there a man still to come?” and the Lord said, “Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” Then they ran and took him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

Then Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his home. Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” And they despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Luke 22.31-38
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors. ’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”

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.

The readings today are taken from the English Standard Version 

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.