Morning Prayer: Psalm 65:9-13; Leviticus 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-2 ~ Shavuot

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 65:9-13 NLT:

You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture, and the hillsides blossom with joy. The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are carpeted with grain. They all shout and sing for joy!

An Ultra-Orthodox Jew carries sacks full with wheat after harvesting it using hand sickles in a field some three kilometers from the Mevo Horon settlement in the Israeli occupied West Bank, on May 22, 2012. (Photo credit: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GettyImages) — An Ultra-Orthodox Jew carries sacks full with wheat after harvesting it using hand sickles in a field some three kilometers from the Mevo Horon settlement in the Israeli occupied West Bank, on May 22, 2012.
(Photo credit: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/GettyImages)

Leviticus 23:15-22 NLT:

“From the day after the Sabbath—the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering — count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the Lord as a special offering. Make these loaves from four quarts of choice flour, and bake them with yeast. They will be an offering to the Lord from the first of your crops. Along with the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs with no defects, one young bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the Lord. These burnt offerings, together with the grain offerings and liquid offerings, will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a peace offering.

“The priest will lift up the two lambs as a special offering to the Lord, together with the loaves representing the first of your crops. These offerings, which are holy to the Lord, belong to the priests. That same day will be proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

“When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”

Acts 2:1-2 NLT:

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

Reflection/Prayer:

The temple priest now returns to the grain field, now full and rich with a very ripe crop of grain, ready for harvest. He cuts and gathers enough to make two loaves. Back in the temple, he beats and presses the seed, grinding it to flour, adding water to fashion loaves from the dough and slips them into the depths of a fired oven. He waits. It is now about eight in the morning. Soon the loaf will be ready to lift out from the oven, take to the altar and lift up to God. Then the day of Pentecost will have fully come.

Meanwhile at a house somewhere in the city people are praying, and the presence of God bursts upon them. The Day of Pentecost is fulfilled. Harvest is here. The church is born.

(Gene Edwards)

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
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Peanut Gallery: The Morning Prayer readings are from the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community as available online here… and in the book form, Celtic Daily Prayer available on Amazon.com.

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 121:3, 5-8; Genesis 24:34-58; Hebrews 11:5-16 ~ by faith

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 121:3, 5-8 NLT:

He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber….

The Lord watches over you — the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Genesis 24:34-58 NLT:

So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’

“Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’

“He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family. You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you — then you will be released from my oath.’

“When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,” and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’

“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

“She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

“I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’

“She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.’

“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.”

When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there.

When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”

But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.”

But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.”

Then they said, “Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.” So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”

“I will go,” she said.

Hebrews 11:5-16 NLT:

By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Reflection/Prayer:

O Lord our God
and God of our fathers!
Mercifully direct and guide our steps
to our destination,
and let us arrive there
in health, joy and peace!
Keep us from snares and dangers,
and protect us from enemies
that we might meet along the way.
Bless and protect our journey!
Let us win favour in Your eyes
and in the sight of those around us.
Blessed are You, O Lord,
who hear and grant our prayers!
(Praying with the Jewish Tradition, trs. Paula Gifford)

“Hallelujah” – NewsBoys

I’m looking up / Holding out / Pressing forward / Without a doubt / Longing for the things unseen / Longing for the things I believe / My true country

(please click on audio link)

We hope and wait / For the glorious day / All tears will vanish / Wiped away / On the saints this day already shines / On the saints this day already shines / It already shines

We’ll be singing hallelujah / We’ll be singing hallelujah / At the top of our lungs, halle-le-lujah / (With all our breath, halle-le-lujah) / To Your glory, hallelujah / Hallelujah, hallelujah

And I know that it’s coming / But I can’t see it now / And I’ve touched it in moments / But I can’t hold it yet / And it glows in the darkness / And it calls us away / To our true destination / ‘Til that glorious day

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
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The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 80:7-19; Genesis 4:10; 2 Timothy 2:2-7 ~ revive us

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 80:7-19 NLT:

Turn us again to yourself, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved. You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land. You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land. Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars. We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River. But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit? The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it.

Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself. For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies. May they perish at the sight of your frown. Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice. Then we will never abandon you again. Revive us so we can call on your name once more.

Turn us again to yourself, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.

Genesis 4:10 NLT:

But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!”

2 Timothy 2:2-7 NLT:

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.

Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don’t get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them. And athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. Think about what I am saying. The Lord will help you understand all these things.

Reflection/Prayer:

During the fifty days between First Fruits and Pentecost (or Weeks) occupies another more modern marked day on the Jewish calendar. This is Holocaust Day – Yom Ha Shoah – the Day of Calamity which recalls the destruction of European Jewry under the unspeakable horrors of the reign of the Nazis. The day is marked in both synagogues and larger communities by services which include memorial prayers, readings from concentration camp poetry and literature, and recommitment to the survival of Israel.

My heart still beats inside my breast
while friends depart for other worlds.
Perhaps, it’s better – who can say ? –
than watching this, to die today?
Eva Pickova, age 12, Auschwitz

Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t
speak up because I was not a Jew.
Pastor Martin Niemoller

Canticle

Published April 8, 2013 – This was the scene at 10 am on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial day at Machaneh Yehudah – the central market in Jerusalem, Israel. A 2 minute siren rang out to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust as the entire country stood silently at attention.

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
_____________________________________

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 147:14; Leviticus 23:9-11; James 1:17-18 ~ first fruits

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 147:14 NLT:

He sends peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat.

Jesus Christ had to be accepted by God the Father to fulfill the wave-sheaf offering.

Leviticus 23:9-11 NLT:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf.”

James 1:17-18 NLT:

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.

Reflection/Prayer:

On the fourteenth day of the month the Passover Lamb was prepared. After sunset it was eaten, and this began the Sabbath which was a high holy day, the first day of unleavened bread. On the next day, the sixteenth, the day after this Sabbath day when no work was done, a priest would search for the first sprouts of grain in the ground, carry his find back to the Temple and wave them before the Lord as the ‘first fruits’.

Another seven times seven days, a sabbath of sabbaths, makes fifty days, ‘pentecost’, and by then the grain will have ripened untill an armful can be gathered – but for now it is just an early sign of life, first fruits from the earth.

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
_____________________________________

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

Morning Prayer: Psalm 16:9-11; 2 Chronicles 30:2-5; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 ~ lamb of God

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentence

One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

You will find the Lord your God, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Morning readings

Psalm 16:9-11 NLT:

No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

2 Chronicles 30:2-5 NLT:

The king, his officials, and all the community of Jerusalem decided to celebrate Passover a month later than usual. They were unable to celebrate it at the prescribed time because not enough priests could be purified by then, and the people had not yet assembled at Jerusalem.

This plan for keeping the Passover seemed right to the king and all the people. So they sent a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north, inviting everyone to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover of the Lord, the God of Israel. The people had not been celebrating it in great numbers as required in the Law.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 NLT:

Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.

Reflection/Prayer:

Jesus and His disciples celebrate the Passover meal a full day earlier than they should, since He knows that if they waited it would not be possible, and He has so desired to share the feast with them, and will not be disappointed. (They are only one day out, after all, and in 2 Chronicles we read how God blessed the reinstitution of Passover even when by force of circumstance His people were a whole month out from the correct date.) Jesus would be on trial all night and nailed to the cross around nine the next morning. Six hours later He died at the exact time when the Passover lambs were also killed.

At the sunset the Preparation would be over and the Passover Feast would begin which must be observed as Sabbath (Leviticus 23:4-8) known as the first day of unleavened bread. Any leaven is carefully hunted for and swept out of a Jewish home before these seven days begin. The soldiers are urged to break the legs of crucified men so they will die more quickly and be removed before the Feast Sabbath begins: Jesus is already dead by now.

He is carried hastily to a borrowed tomb, observed by the women. Between the Feast and the usual weekly Sabbath they have time to prepare the spices for His embalming, then early on the first day of the week, when it is already ‘the third day since all this took place’ they hurry to the tomb and find him gone. Death could not hold him.
_______________________________

Lamb of God – Twila Paris

Your only Son, no sin to hide / But You have sent Him from Your side / To walk upon this guilty sod / And to become the Lamb of God

Oh, Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God / I love the holy Lamb of God / Oh, wash me in His precious blood / My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

Your gift of love, they crucified / They laughed and scorned Him as He died / The humble King, they named a fraud / And sacrificed the Lamb of God

Oh, Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God / I love the holy Lamb of God / Oh, wash me in His precious blood / My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

I was so lost, I should have died / But You have brought me to Your side / To be led by Your staff and rod / And to be called a lamb of God

Oh, Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God / I love the holy Lamb of God / Oh, wash me in His precious blood / My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

Oh, wash me in His precious blood / My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

Canticle

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
_____________________________________

The website and prayer book are rich in prayer resources and I commend them to you. For our purpose here, I will limit my selections to the Morning Prayer resources.

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