Morning Prayer - June 14

Richard Baxter, Puritan Divine, 1691

Psalm 147
Alleluia.
How good it is to make music for our God, how joyful to honour him with praise.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem and gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds.
He counts the number of the stars and calls them all by their names. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his wisdom is beyond all telling.
The Lord lifts up the poor, but casts down the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God upon the lyre;
Who covers the heavens with clouds and prepares rain for the earth;
Who makes grass to grow upon the mountains and green plants to serve our needs.
He gives the beasts their food and the young ravens when they cry.
He takes no pleasure in the power of a horse, no delight in human strength;
But the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their trust in his steadfast love.

Sing praise to the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion; for he has strengthened the bars of your gates and has blest your children within you.
He has established peace in your borders and satisfies you with the finest wheat.
He sends forth his command to the earth and his word runs very swiftly.
He gives snow like wool and scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.
He casts down his hailstones like morsels of bread; •who can endure his frost?
He sends forth his word and melts them; he blows with his wind and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Israel.
He has not dealt so with any other nation; they do not know his laws.
Alleluia.

Joshua 6.1-20
Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the Israelites; no one came out and no one went in. The Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers. You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets. When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.’ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and have seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.’ To the people he said, ‘Go forward and march around the city; have the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.’

As Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets; the rearguard came after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. To the people Joshua gave this command: ‘You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.’ So the ark of the Lord went around the city, circling it once; and they came into the camp, and spent the night in the camp.

Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord passed on, blowing the trumpets continually. The armed men went before them, and the rearguard came after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. On the second day they marched around the city once and then returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

On the seventh day they rose early, at dawn, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city. The city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers we sent. As for you, keep away from the things devoted to destruction, so as not to covet and take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel an object for destruction, bringing trouble upon it. But all silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are sacred to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.’ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat; so the people charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.

Luke 10.17-24
The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’

The Collect
O Lord, from whom all good things come:
grant to us your humble servants,
that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good,
and by your merciful guiding may perform the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Daily Office - June 14

Richard Baxter, Puritan Divine, 1691

Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God, in your great goodness;
according to the abundance of your compassion blot out my offences.
Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults and my sin is ever before me.
Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
So that you are justified in your sentence and righteous in your judgement.
I have been wicked even from my birth, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

Behold, you desire truth deep within me and shall make me understand wisdom in the depths of my heart.
Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear of joy and gladness, that the bones you have broken may rejoice.
Turn your face from my sins and blot out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me.
Give me again the joy of your salvation and sustain me with your gracious spirit;
Then shall I teach your ways to the wicked and sinners shall return to you.
Deliver me from my guilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
For you desire no sacrifice, else I would give it; you take no delight in burnt offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

O be favourable and gracious to Zion; build up the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will accept sacrifices offered in righteousness, the burnt offerings and oblations;
then shall they offer up bulls on your altar.

Psalm 54
Save me, O God, by your name and vindicate me by your power.
Hear my prayer, O God; give heed to the words of my mouth.
For strangers have risen up against me and the ruthless seek after my life;
they have not set God before them.
Behold, God is my helper; it is the Lord who upholds my life.
May evil rebound on those who lie in wait for me;
destroy them in your faithfulness.
An offering of a free heart will I give you and praise your name, O Lord, for it is gracious.
For he has delivered me out of all my trouble, and my eye has seen the downfall of my enemies.

Job 24
‘Why are times not kept by the Almighty,
   and why do those who know him never see his days?
The wicked remove landmarks;
   they seize flocks and pasture them.
They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
   they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
They thrust the needy off the road;
   the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
Like wild asses in the desert
   they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the waste-land
   food for their young.
They reap in a field not their own
   and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
They lie all night naked, without clothing,
   and have no covering in the cold.
They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
   and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

‘There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast,
   and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.
They go about naked, without clothing;
   though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
between their terraces they press out oil;
   they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
From the city the dying groan,
   and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
   yet God pays no attention to their prayer.

‘There are those who rebel against the light,
   who are not acquainted with its ways,
   and do not stay in its paths.
The murderer rises at dusk
   to kill the poor and needy,
   and in the night is like a thief.
The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
   saying, “No eye will see me”;
   and he disguises his face.
In the dark they dig through houses;
   by day they shut themselves up;
   they do not know the light.
For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
   for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
   their portion in the land is cursed;
   no treader turns towards their vineyards.
Drought and heat snatch away the snow-waters;
   so does Sheol those who have sinned.
The womb forgets them;
   the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered;
   so wickedness is broken like a tree.

‘They harm the childless woman,
   and do no good to the widow.
Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
   they rise up when they despair of life.
He gives them security, and they are supported;
   his eyes are upon their ways.
They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
   they wither and fade like the mallow;
   they are cut off like the heads of grain.
If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
   and show that there is nothing in what I say?’

Romans 11.1-12
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’ But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written,
‘God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.’
And David says,
‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling-block and a retribution for them;
let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and keep their backs for ever bent.’
So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

The Collect
Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ's sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.