Morning Prayer - Mar 5 (Ash Wednesday)

Ash Wednesday

Psalm 38
Rebuke me not, O Lord, in your anger, neither chasten me in your heavy displeasure. For your arrows have stuck fast in me and your hand presses hard upon me.

There is no health in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no peace in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; their weight is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds stink and fester because of my foolishness. I am utterly bowed down and brought very low; I go about mourning all the day long. My loins are filled with searing pain; there is no health in my flesh. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I roar aloud because of the disquiet of my heart.

O Lord, you know all my desires and my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart is pounding, my strength has failed me; the light of my eyes is gone from me. My friends and companions stand apart from my affliction; my neighbours stand afar off. Those who seek after my life lay snares for me; and those who would harm me whisper evil and mutter slander all the day long. But I am like one who is deaf and hears not, like one that is dumb, who does not open his mouth. I have become like one who does not hear and from whose mouth comes no retort.

For in you, Lord, have I put my trust; you will answer me, O Lord my God. For I said, ‘Let them not triumph over me, those who exult over me when my foot slips.’ Truly, I am on the verge of falling and my pain is ever with me. I will confess my iniquity and be sorry for my sin.

Those that are my enemies without any cause are mighty, and those who hate me wrongfully are many in number.
Those who repay evil for good are against me, because the good is what I seek.

Forsake me not, O Lord; be not far from me, O my God. Make haste to help me, O Lord of my salvation.

Daniel 9.3-6,17-19
Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying,

‘Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, and for your own sake, Lord, let your face shine upon your desolated sanctuary. Incline your ear, O my God, and hear. Open your eyes and look at our desolation and the city that bears your name. We do not present our supplication before you on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of your great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and act and do not delay! For your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people bear your name!’

1 Timothy 6.6-19
Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;
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.

Daily Office - Mar 5

Psalm 6
O Lord, rebuke me not in your wrath; neither chasten me in your fierce anger.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak; Lord, heal me, for my bones are racked.
My soul also shakes with terror; how long, O Lord, how long?
Turn again, O Lord, and deliver my soul; save me for your loving mercy’s sake.
For in death no one remembers you; and who can give you thanks in the grave?
I am weary with my groaning; every night I drench my pillow and flood my bed with my tears.
My eyes are wasted with grief and worn away because of all my enemies.
Depart from me, all you that do evil, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.
All my enemies shall be put to shame and confusion; they shall suddenly turn back in their shame.

Psalm 9
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all your marvellous works.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will make music to your name, O Most High.
When my enemies are driven back, they stumble and perish at your presence.
For you have maintained my right and my cause;
you sat on your throne giving righteous judgement.
You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
The enemy was utterly laid waste.
You uprooted their cities; their very memory has perished.
But the Lord shall endure for ever; he has made fast his throne for judgement.
For he shall rule the world with righteousness and govern the peoples with equity.
Then will the Lord be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in the time of trouble.
And those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have never failed those who seek you.
Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion; declare among the peoples the things he has done.
The avenger of blood has remembered them; he did not forget the cry of the oppressed.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider the trouble I suffer from those who hate me, you that lift me up from the gates of death;
That I may tell all your praises in the gates of the city of Zion and rejoice in your salvation.
The nations shall sink into the pit of their making and in the snare which they set will their own foot be taken.
The Lord makes himself known by his acts of justice; the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands.
They shall return to the land of darkness, all the nations that forget God.
For the needy shall not always be forgotten and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Arise, O Lord, and let not mortals have the upper hand; let the nations be judged before your face.
Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but mortal.

Jeremiah 11.18-12.6
It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
   then you showed me their evil deeds.
But I was like a gentle lamb
   led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
   that they devised schemes, saying,
‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
   let us cut him off from the land of the living,
   so that his name will no longer be remembered!’
But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
   who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
   for to you I have committed my cause.

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the people of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, ‘You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand’—therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and not even a remnant shall be left of them. For I will bring disaster upon the people of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.

You will be in the right, O Lord, when I lay charges against you;
   but let me put my case to you.
Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
   Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
You plant them, and they take root;
   they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouths yet far from their hearts.
But you, O Lord, know me; you see me and test me—my heart is with you.
Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it the animals and the birds are swept away,
   and because people said, ‘He is blind to our ways.’

If you have raced with foot-runners and they have wearied you,
   how will you compete with horses?
And if in a safe land you fall down, how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?
For even your kinsfolk and your own family, even they have dealt treacherously with you;
   they are in full cry after you;
do not believe them, though they speak friendly words to you.

John 7.53-8.11
Then each of them went home,while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them.

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him,
‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’
They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them,
‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’
And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.

When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her,
‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’

She said, ‘No one, sir.’

And Jesus said,
‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

The Collect
Almighty God,
whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain,
and entered not into glory before he was crucified:
mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross,
may find it none other than the way of life and peace;
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.