Good morning. Today is Tuesday, the 31st of July, 2018. This is Daily Morning Prayer from the Episcopalian Book of Common Prayer. We're using rate 2, which begins on page 78.
I am your layperson host, Jacob. And our readings today are Psalm 61 and 62, Judges 2, 1-5 and 11-23, Romans 16, 17-27, and Matthew 27, 32-44. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence of Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, to set forth his praise, to hear his holy word, and to ask for ourselves and on behalf of others those things that are necessary for our life and our salvation, and so that we may prepare ourselves in heart and mind to worship him, let us kneel in silence and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, that we may obtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen. Almighty God, have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.
Lord, open our lips, and our mouth shall proclaim your praise. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia.
The earth is the Lord's, for he made it. Come, let us adore him. Come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and raise a loud shout to him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands have molded the dry land.
Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. But that today he would hearken to his voice. The earth is the Lord's, for he made it.
Come, let us adore him. Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
Let me abide in your tent forever. Find refuge under the shelter of your wings. For you, O God, have heard my vows. You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.
Prolong the life of the King. May his years endure to all generations. May he be enthroned forever before God. Lord, appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him.
So I will always sing praises to your name, as I pay my vows day after day. For God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation.
My fortress, I shall never be shaken. How long will you assail a person? Will you batter your victim, all of you, as you would a leaning wall and tottering fence? Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
They take pleasure in falsehood, they bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone my soul waits in silence. For my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation.
My fortress, I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor. My mighty rock, my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O people.
Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath. Those of high estate are in delusion.
In the balances they go up. They are together lighter than a breath. Put no confidence in extortion. And set no vain hopes on robbery.
If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Once God has spoken. Twice have I heard this. That power belongs to God.
And steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Amen. Reading from Judges, chapter 2, verses 1-5, and 11-23. Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bachim, and said, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you into the land that I promised to your ancestors. I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
For your part, do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed my command. See what you have done.
So now I say, I will not drive them out before you. That they shall become adversaries to you, and their God shall be a snare to you. When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the Israelites, the people lifted up their voices and wept. So they named that place Bachim, and there they sacrificed to the Lord.
When Joshua dismissed the people, the Israelites all went to their own inheritances, to take possession of the land. Sorry, I went one over, that was six. Yet they did not listen even to their judges, for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their ancestors had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord.
They did not follow their example. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them. For whenever the judge died, they would relapse and behave worse than their ancestors, following other gods, worshipping them, and bowing down to them.
They would not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord was candled against Israel, and he said, In order to test Israel whether or not they would take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their ancestors did, the Lord had left those nations, not driving them out at once, and had not handed them over to Joshua. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
We will use Canticle 13 on page 90. Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers. You are worthy of praise. Glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance of your holy name. We will praise you and highly exalt you forever. Glory to you in the splendor of your temple. On the throne of your majesty, glory to you.
Glory to you seated between the cherubim. We will praise you and highly exalt you forever. Glory to you beholding the depths. In the high vault of heaven, glory to you.
Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will praise you and highly exalt you forever. A reading from Romans chapter 16, verses 17 through 27. I urge you, brothers and sisters, to keep an eye on those who cause dissensions and offenses, in opposition to the teaching that you have learned.
Avoid them. For such people do not serve our Lord Christ with their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded. For while your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, I want you to be wise in what is good, and guileless in what is evil. The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Timothy, my co-worker, greets you. So do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relatives. I, Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord.
Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Aristus, the city treasurer, and our brother Cordus greet you. Now to God, who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings as made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.
Canticle 18, beginning on page 93. Splendor and honor and kingly power are yours by right. O Lord our God, for you created everything that is, and by your will they were created and have their being, and yours by right, O Lamb that was slain. For with your blood you have redeemed for God, from every family, language, people, and nation, a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
And so to him who sits upon the throne, and to Christ the Lamb, be worship and praise, dominion and splendor, forever and forevermore. The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. Glory to you, Lord Christ. Matthew chapter 27, verses 32 through 44.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Christ. We continue with the Apostles' Creed on page 96. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen. The Lord be with you, and also with you. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done. On earth as in heaven, give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen. We'll use suffragist set A, beginning on the bottom of page 97. I will read both the verse and the response, but normally I would read the verse and you would read the response.
Show us your mercy, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. Clothe your ministers with righteousness. Let your people sing with joy. Give peace, O Lord, in all the world, for only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care, and guide us in the way of justice and truth. Let your way be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations. Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor be taken away. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and sustain us with your Holy Spirit.
O God, the King Eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning, drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace, that having done your will with cheerfulness during the day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified, receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you, for all members of your Holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you.
Through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Some thoughts on the readings today. I was very interested to find that my commentary on Psalm 61 says that the psalmist is speaking metaphorically about God's temple, so he's away from the temple and wants to be near the temple.
So all those references to the rock higher than I and those moments in the psalm are references to God's temple. And so I was reminded of how blessed we are that God is everywhere with us, living in the time that we do. After the coming of Christ and the deliverance of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit coming to us, we take God with us wherever we go. Yet, I know that there are times when we feel far away from God, and so I think we can really emphasize with the psalmist here, as well as I think the metaphor carries a bit further, right?
So the psalmist is speaking in metaphoric terms about the temple of God, but I think we can carry that into God himself, for he is the rock higher than we are, and when we rest in him, we do find perfect peace and salvation. Another bit of that that I found interesting was speaking about the king. May his years endure to all generations. So, like, may the godly legacy of the king not be lost, but be carried from generation to generation.
At least that's Jacob's interpretation of it, right? I think that's beautiful, and I want to put a pin in it, because an example of that not happening comes in our next reading from Judges, where it talks about every time the judge died, the people reverted back to their sinful, idle, worshiping ways. And I think this speaks to trust in man is temporal, but trust in God is eternal, for God himself is eternal. And I think our prayer of legacy would be that may we be twofold godly, godly in our generation and in such a way that it can be passed to future generations.
And this speaks a lot to me right now, because we're in a time where we're trying to, where we are, where we are rejuvenating the children's ministry in our church, which was non-existent when we arrived. It had been thriving in decades past, and then it had fallen out. And I think this is a problem. I'm just going to go ahead and say it, so I apologize in advance.
I think this is a problem for the Episcopal Church in general, is that we do not have the thriving programs for young people, both children and young adults, that some other denominations do. And I've said it before. It's kind of, my son teases me, you know, that I'm so passionate about the children's program that I'm always preaching it to anybody who will listen and trying to recruit people. And it's true, because our legacy will die out if we don't pass it to the next generation.
And here, you know, we're shocked and astounded. at quite honestly the precocious depravity of our young people and i know that's really strong so i apologize if it's offensive but i believe it is our culture our greater american culture is teaching our children things if we do not also step up and teach our children what are they going to carry forward what they've learned right and and so when i when i see and hate and bullying and all of this that is coming out of the mouths of children it's because they're not being taught an alternative way to be if they're not being taught kindness and accepting and the gospel then of course they're not going to know it they don't know what they're not taught and so we must step into the gap and teach them and so this is very poignant reading for me um and i i will take it as an affirmation to to keep um keep investing energy and time into children's ministry and into the next generation so our reading from from romans brought up um an interesting point at least in my mind the beginning talks about dissenters right those who are teaching against the message and it's another moment of discernment right because i do believe blessed are the peacemakers right that's often said of the people of my upbringing the quakers but i also believe blessed can be the troublemakers and so when is it the time to make peace and when is the time to make trouble and i think that's another question of discernment right because sometimes dissension can be good and sometimes dissension can be evil and i realize i'm jumping from topic to topic there's just a lot i'm trying to cover it all i'm already at this point running late for work so i think it comes back to what purpose are we trying to enlighten are we making trouble are we pushing against the establishment are we pushing against what's been taught before to try to from a place of love or from a place of fear right i think that's what it all comes back to what's the purpose what's the motivation where is it coming from what place within us is it coming from or without due but at any rate um that was something interesting about about reading from romans and then also that the great mystery was revealed it was revealed through jesus christ so there are things which were mysterious to generations before us that have been revealed to us and in due time further revelation will come if um if we're ready right if we keep exercising our minds and our spirits and our souls so that we can be ready in a place to receive it and again a little disjointed i would bring it together better um if i had a little more time which i guess is a lesson to me but hey at least i'm getting it done this morning right moving on to our gospel reading a couple interesting things there one that jumped out at me was that simon from cyrene was compelled to carry the cross but we willingly carry the cross and that means something because following the way of jesus is sometimes hard and painful um there is great joy in it as well but sometimes you just have to push through the pain and it's even i believe i believe a lot of believers try to compel others to carry the cross and that is not our place our place is that we willingly carry the cross and we reach out and love to those we encounter on the way there i think that's the most succinct way to put it and then when jesus is being taunted on the cross the others were saying to him oh if you're the son of god let him deliver you instead we were delivered we taunted let god deliver you now but instead we were delivered sometimes when we pray for our deliverance or for others and it doesn't look right away like we've gotten it i believe it's because there's a greater purpose there's something at work more than we can imagine and there will be more benefit to the communal kingdom of god if we are delivered in a different way or at a different time than we imagine and those are the thoughts i have so now is our time for personal prayer i'm also going to pray as i've been lately here the saint francis prayer number 62 on page 833 lord make us instruments of your peace where there is hatred let us so love where there is injury pardon where there is discord union where there is doubt faith where there is despair hope where there is darkness light where there is sadness joy grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console to be understood as to understand to be loved as to love for it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life amen wrapping things up with a general thanksgiving on page 101 almighty god father of all mercies we are unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all whom you have made we bless you for our creation preservation and all the blessings of this life but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our lord jesus christ for the means of grace and for the hope of glory and we pray give us such an awareness of your mercies that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise not only with our lips but in our lives by giving up ourselves to your service and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days through jesus christ our lord to whom with you and the holy spirit be honoring glory throughout all ages amen almighty god you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you and you have promised your well-beloved son that when two or three are gathered together in his name you will be in the midst of them fulfill now oh lord our desires and petitions as may be best for us granting us in this world knowledge of your truth and in the age to come life everlasting amen let us bless the lord thanks be to god glory to god whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine glory to him from generation to generation in the church and in christ jesus forever and ever amen we live without fear for has made us holy has always protected us and loves us as a good mother loves her children we go in peace to follow the good road and may god's blessing be with us always amen