Morning Prayer - June 6

Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945

Psalm 28
To you I call, O Lord my rock; be not deaf to my cry, lest, if you do not hear me, I become like those who go down to the Pit. Hear the voice of my prayer when I cry out to you, when I lift up my hands to your holy of holies. Do not snatch me away with the wicked, with the evildoers, who speak peaceably with their neighbours, while malice is in their hearts. Repay them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their devices. Reward them according to the work of their hands and pay them their just deserts. They take no heed of the Lord’s doings, nor of the works of his hands; therefore shall he break them down and not build them up.

Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the voice of my prayer.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in him and I am helped; Therefore my heart dances for joy and in my song will I praise him. The Lord is the strength of his people, a safe refuge for his anointed.

Save your people and bless your inheritance; shepherd them and carry them for ever.

Psalm 30
I will exalt you, O Lord, because you have raised me up and have not let my foes triumph over me.
O Lord my God, I cried out to you and you have healed me. You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead; you restored me to life from among those that go down to the Pit.

Sing to the Lord, you servants of his; give thanks to his holy name.
For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, his favour for a lifetime. Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. In my prosperity I said,
‘I shall never be moved. You, Lord, of your goodness, have made my hill so strong.’

Then you hid your face from me and I was utterly dismayed. To you, O Lord, I cried; to the Lord I made my supplication:
‘What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?
‘Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; O Lord, be my helper.’

You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; O Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.

Numbers 27.12-end
The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land that I have given to the Israelites. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarrelled with me. You did not show my holiness before their eyes at the waters.’ (These are the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint someone over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd.’ So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; have him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall give him some of your authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites may obey. But he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the decision of the Urim before the Lord; at his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation.’ So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation; he laid his hands on him and commissioned him—as the Lord had directed through Moses.

Luke 8.40-end
Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. Just then there came a man named Jairus, a leader of the synagogue. He fell at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, who was dying.

As he went, the crowds pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her haemorrhage stopped. Then Jesus asked, ‘Who touched me?’ When all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you.’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.’ When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’

While he was still speaking, someone came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any longer.’ When Jesus heard this, he replied, ‘Do not fear. Only believe, and she will be saved.’ When he came to the house, he did not allow anyone to enter with him, except Peter, John, and James, and the child’s father and mother. They were all weeping and wailing for her; but he said, ‘Do not weep; for she is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. But he took her by the hand and called out, ‘Child, get up!’ Her spirit returned, and she got up at once. Then he directed them to give her something to eat. Her parents were astounded; but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.

The Collect
O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen

Daily Office - June 6

Ini Kopuria, Founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, 1945

Psalm 37
Fret not because of evildoers; be not jealous of those who do wrong.

For they shall soon wither like grass and like the green herb fade away.
Trust in the Lord and be doing good; dwell in the land and be nourished with truth.
Let your delight be in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desire.
Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, and he will bring it to pass.
He will make your righteousness as clear as the light and your just dealing as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord and wait for him; 

do not fret over those that prosper as they follow their evil schemes.
Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; do not fret, lest you be moved to do evil.
For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait upon the Lord shall possess the land.
Yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; 

you will search for their place and find them gone.
But the lowly shall possess the land and shall delight in abundance of peace.
The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash at them with their teeth.
The Lord shall laugh at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming.
The wicked draw their sword and bend their bow to strike down the poor and needy,

to slaughter those who walk in truth.
Their sword shall go through their own heart and their bows shall be broken.
The little that the righteous have is better than great riches of the wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of the godly, and their inheritance shall stand for ever.
They shall not be put to shame in the perilous time, and in days of famine they shall have enough.

But the wicked shall perish;
like the glory of the meadows the enemies of the Lord shall vanish;
they shall vanish like smoke.
The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous are generous in giving.
For those who are blest by God shall possess the land,

but those who are cursed by him shall be rooted out.

When your steps are guided by the Lord and you delight in his way,
Though you stumble, you shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds you fast by the hand.
I have been young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous forsaken,
or their children begging their bread.
All the day long they are generous in lending, and their children also shall be blest.

Depart from evil and do good and you shall abide for ever.
For the Lord loves the thing that is right and will not forsake his faithful ones.
The unjust shall be destroyed for ever, and the offspring of the wicked shall be rooted out.
The righteous shall possess the land and dwell in it for ever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and their tongue speaks the thing that is right.
The law of their God is in their heart and their footsteps shall not slide.
The wicked spy on the righteous and seek occasion to slay them.
The Lord will not leave them in their hand, nor let them be condemned when they are judged.

Wait upon the Lord and keep his way; 

he will raise you up to possess the land, and when the wicked are uprooted, you shall see it.
I myself have seen the wicked in great power and flourishing like a tree in full leaf.
I went by and lo, they were gone; I sought them, but they could nowhere be found.
Keep innocence and heed the thing that is right, for that will bring you peace at the last.
But the sinners shall perish together, and the posterity of the wicked shall be rooted out.
The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.

The Lord shall stand by them and deliver them;
he shall deliver them from the wicked and shall save them,
because they have put their trust in him.

Job 16.1-17.2
Then Job answered:
‘I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.
 Have windy words no limit?
 Or what provokes you that you keep on talking? 

 I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place;
 I could join words together against you,  and shake my head at you.
 I  could encourage you with my mouth,
 and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

‘If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
 Surely now God has worn me out;
 he has made desolate all my company.
 And he has shrivelled me up, which is a witness against me;
 my leanness has risen up against me, and it testifies to my face.
 He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me;
 he has gnashed his teeth at me;
 my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
 They have gaped at me with their mouths;

 they have struck me insolently on the cheek;

 they mass themselves together against me.
 God gives me up to the ungodly,
 and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
 I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
 he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
 he set me up as his target; his archers surround me.
 He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy;
 he pours out my gall on the ground.
 He bursts upon me again and again;

 he rushes at me like a warrior.
 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my strength in the dust.
 My face is red with weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
 though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

‘O earth, do not cover my blood; let my outcry find no resting-place.
 Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high.
 My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God, 

 that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God, as one does for a neighbour.
 For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,  the grave is ready for me.
 Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.

Romans 8.12-17
So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

The Collect
O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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.