Morning Prayer: Psalm 45:1; Leviticus 26:2-4; Romans 8:26 ~ pray in the spirit

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 45:1 NLT:

Beautiful words stir my heart. I will recite a lovely poem about the king, for my tongue is like the pen of a skillful poet.

Leviticus 26:2-4 NLT:

You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.

Romans 8:26 NLT:

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

Reflection/Prayer:

There is a story told about a Jewish farmer who, through carelessness, did not get home before sunset one Sabbath and was forced to spend the day in the field, waiting for sunset the next day before being able to return home.

Upon his return home he was met bt a rather perturbed rabbi who chided him for his carelessness. Finally the rabbi asked him: ‘What did you do out there all day in the field? Did you at least pray?’

The farmer answered: ‘Rabbi, I am not a clever man. I don’t know how to pray properly. What I did was simply to recite the alphabet all day and let God form the words for Himself.’

When we come to celebrate we bring the alphabet of our lives. If our hearts and minds are full of warmth, love, enthusiasm, song and dance, then these are the letters we bring. If they are full of tiredness, despair, blandness, pain and boredom, then those are our letters. Bring them. Spend them. Celebrate them. It is God’s task to make the words!

(Ronald Rolheiser)

You didn’t force me but my heart was burning / Deep inside You touched my very soul / You didn’t threaten and You did not scare me / My frozen heart just melted in Your love

But I’ve been worried thinking ’bout tomorrow / And I refuse to close my eyes / My joy of life has been turning into sorrow / But then You came and took me by surprise

That’s why I sing / That’s why I’m humming / I know what’s coming / And I have no fear / Coping with rain / Hoping for sunshine / I’m on the front line / That’s why I sing

Well I’ve been listening / And I’ve sure been watching / And I can see the writing on the wall / Though things are floating / And there’s deep confusion / You showed me something stable after all

So I’m giving all unknown tomorrows / And all uncertainty to You / For You’ve been sharing all my joy and sorrow / I’m trusting you-that’s all I need to do

That’s why I sing / That’s why I’m humming / I know what’s coming / And I have no fear / Coping with rain / Hoping for sunshine / I’m on the front line / That’s why I sing

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

_____________________________________

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 104:19-23; Isaiah 45:3-7; Mark 1:21-32 ~ seasons of rest

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

rest Van Gough — rest
Vincent van Gough (1880)

Psalm 104:19-23 NLT:

You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set. You send the darkness, and it becomes night, when all the forest animals prowl about. Then the young lions roar for their prey, stalking the food provided by God. At dawn they slink back into their dens to rest. Then people go off to their work, where they labor until evening.

Isaiah 45:3-7 NLT:

And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness — secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name. “And why have I called you for this work? Why did I call you by name when you did not know me? It is for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen one. I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know me, so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.

Mark 1:21-32 NLT:

Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law. Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting, “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered. At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him. Amazement gripped the audience, and they began to discuss what had happened. “What sort of new teaching is this?” they asked excitedly. “It has such authority! Even evil spirits obey his orders!” The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee. After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them. That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus.

Reflection/Prayer:

Evening comes when You call, and all nature listens to You because You hold it all And now You hold me. (Annie Herring and Matthew Ward)

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe! At Your word night falls. In Your wisdom You open heaven’s gates. You control the elements and rotate the seasons. You set the stars in the vault of heaven. You created night and day. You cause the light to fade when darkness comes and the darkness to melt away in the light of a new day. O ever-living and eternal God, You always watch over us, Your creatures. Blessed are You, O Lord, at whose word night falls. (From The Talmud)

In the name of the Lord Jesus, and of the Spirit of healing balm, In the name of the Father of Israel, I lay me down to rest. (From Carmina Gadelica)

The rest of the seventh day is a memorial of creation, but also is a sign of the covenant between God’s people and Himself. If a King were to ratify a treaty or agreement this would bear a sign, usually an image of the gods he owed allegiance to, but Israel was commanded not to make any such image – instead the sabbath itself would be the sign, and a representation of His nature. Only Israel had a seven-day cycle of the weeks. We do not sense today how unique Israel truly was, for the seven-day week has since become the practice of the world. (Adapted from Jewish Roots)

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

_____________________________________

Morning Prayer: Psalm 30:1-5; Job 2:7-13; John 11:32-40 ~ mourning

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 30:1-5 NLT:

I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

Job 2:7-13 NLT:

A bereaved Israeli mourning ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day at the grave of a fallen soldier at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul military cemetery, April 14, 2013. (Gideon Markowicz/Flash 90) Read more: http://www.jta.org/2013/04/15/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/israel-observes-memorial-day-with-siren-ceremonies#ixzz2lVoyAFcJ — A bereaved Israeli mourning ahead of Israel’s Memorial Day at the grave of a fallen soldier at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul military cemetery, April 14, 2013. (Gideon Markowicz/Flash 90)

So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.

Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”

But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

John 11:32-40 NLT:

When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them.

They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”

Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.

But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”

Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”

Reflection/Prayer:

Jewish custom was to mourn for the dead three full days and nights known as ‘days of weeping’ which were followed by four ‘days of lamentation’ thus making seven days. One rabbinical notion suggested that for tree days the person’s spirit wandered about the sepulchre; hoping to re-enter the body, but when corruption set in the spirit left. For this reason loud lamentations began on the fourth day. When the seven-day mourning period was over, and the visitors had left, the mourner returned to a quiet period of less intense mourning for 30 days, then 11 months to progressively come out of mourning. Close relatives make a practice of saying ‘the Kaddish’ often in the eleven months – a prayer of praise to God and longing for His Kingdom. It’s wording is parallel to that of the Lord’s prayer and is often used at other times as well.

Glorified and sanctified be the Great name of God in the world which He created according to His will. May He establish His Kingdom during your days and during the days of the whole house of Israel at a near time speedily and soon. Say, Amen.

May His Great name be praised for ever, glorified and exalted, extolled and honoured, and praised and magnified be the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose glory transcends, yea is beyond all blessing and praise and consolation which is uttered in the world. Say, Amen.

May there be great peace from heaven upon us and upon all Israel. Say Amen.

May He who makes peace from the heavens grant peace upon us and upon all Israel. Say, Amen.

David Kossoff in his book A Small Town is a World tells of Rabbi Mark sitting by the death-bed of his friend old Mendel. Mendel sensed the Rabbi’s grief and made jokes. But then when his breathing grew shallow he asked the Rabbi for one last wish, his voice by now rather faint. ‘Anything, old friend,’ said Rabbi Mark, bending forward to hear the last words. ‘When it’s all over,’ said Mendel, ‘and it’s time to lift me into my coffin, promise not to hold me under my arms… I’m ticklish.’

A prayer upon waking:

The soul You gave me is pure, my Lord: You gave it life and You preserve it within me, and at the end, when the time comes, You will take it away, only to give it back to me one day. But as long as that soul is in me it will worship You, O Lord my God, the God of my fathers, from whom one day the dead will receive back their souls.

One Jew exclaimed to his friend:

‘You should live to be 120 years and a couple of months.’
‘Why a couple of months?’
‘So you shouldn’t die suddenly.’

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 116:3-4; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Luke 21:21 ~ fall of Zion

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 116:3-4 NLT:

Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Please, Lord, save me!”

Ecclesiastes 12:14 NLT:

God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

Al Khazneh or The Treasury at Petra Petra, El Deir, Jordan — Al Khazneh or The Treasury at Petra
Petra, El Deir, Jordan

Luke 21:21 NLT:

Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. Those in Jerusalem must get out, and those out in the country should not return to the city.

Reflection/Prayer:

In AD 70 before the fall of Jerusalem there were several divisions within Judaism – Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes were the most prominent sects. Nazarene Jews (Jewish believers in Jesus) were another section of the Jewish community. But when the Roman armies approached Jerusalem to quell Israel’s rebellion, these Nazarenes fled the city, taking up residence in Petra. They thereby avoided terrible destruction and slaughter by the Roman army. The rest of the Jews distrusted them thereafter and assumed there was treachery afoot. Why did they flee? In Luke 21 and Matthew 24 Jesus predicted that Jerusalem would be surrounded by enemies. His followers were commanded, whenever they saw this beginning to occur, to ‘flee to the mountains’. They were not traitors; they were simply following their Yeshua’s teaching.

Amazingly, this date, Tisha B’av, was exactly that of the destruction of the first Temple; now 656 years later the second Temple was destroyed (and in 1492 it was on this day the decree of Expulsion of Jews from Spain took effect). This date is still marked by mourning customs

Now some people argue that, with the birth of modern Israel, mourning for the fall of Zion has become an anachronism.

But the Jewish national memory is long. It is not likely that the given date of the capture of Jerusalem and the ruin of two temples will be forgotten.

In the twelfth century the Crusades set out to free the Holy Land from Arab-Islamic control. The cry went out that it was inconsistent to seek to rid the Holy Land of infidels when there were infidel Jews within the midst of the lands of Europe. Hence Crusaders held their crosses high as they pillaged and destroyed Jewish lives and property throughout Europe on the way to the Holy Land. Many were burned alive or tortured. Bad theology easily kills – as surely as obedience to the words of Jesus brought life to the Nazarenes at Petra. There is a tendency to read Scripture in such a way that we assume all the negative words to Israel are still addressed to Israel, and that anything nice to say will be transferred to the ‘church’.

We may validly receive from Scripture a subjective answer or a word with real prophetic significance to us. What we cannot do is disregard its original intention. (‘Upper and Nether Springs’ speaks about Northumberland for us, but we are not saying that was the author’s original intention, only that God has quickened such an understanding of these passages in addition to their own factual meaning.)

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 19:1-6; Judges 21:16-25; 1 Corinthians 7:9-12 ~ married forever

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 19:1-6 NLT:

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.

God has made a home in the heavens for the sun. It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding. It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race. The sun rises at one end of the heavens and follows its course to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat.

A chuppah at the Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington D.C.

Judges 21:16-25 NLT:

So the elders of the assembly asked, “How can we find wives for the few who remain, since the women of the tribe of Benjamin are dead? There must be heirs for the survivors so that an entire tribe of Israel is not wiped out. But we cannot give them our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that anyone who does this will fall under God’s curse.”

Then they thought of the annual festival of the Lord held in Shiloh, south of Lebonah and north of Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem. They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives, “Go and hide in the vineyards. When you see the young women of Shiloh come out for their dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them home to the land of Benjamin to be your wife! And when their fathers and brothers come to us in protest, we will tell them, ‘Please be sympathetic. Let them have your daughters, for we didn’t find wives for all of them when we destroyed Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not actually give your daughters to them in marriage.’”

So the men of Benjamin did as they were told. Each man caught one of the women as she danced in the celebration and carried her off to be his wife. They returned to their own land, and they rebuilt their towns and lived in them.

Then the people of Israel departed by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

1 Corinthians 7:9-12 NLT:

But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.

But for those who are married, I have a command that comes not from me, but from the Lord. A wife must not leave her husband. But if she does leave him, let her remain single or else be reconciled to him. And the husband must not leave his wife.

Now, I will speak to the rest of you, though I do not have a direct command from the Lord. If a Christian man has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to continue living with him, he must not leave her.

Reflection/Prayer:

The last chapters of the book of Judges can ve summed up in the final verse: they did what seemed to be right in their own eyes. It is a pantomime of neglect, abuse, reprisals, massacre, hasty oaths and back-pedalling.

The 600 Benjamite men were given 400 virgins from Jabesh Gilead – the only survivors respectively from both areas, but that left 200 Benjamites still needing wives, and all the other Israelites had sworn not to give their own daughters to a Benjamite.

Instead they turned a blind eye, and let the Benjamites hide nearby when the young girls came out to dance through the vineyards at harvest-time. We read of no complaints: their families were satisfied, the couples returned to larger portions of land, and were never able to be divorced. However hastily, some of the couples at least had chance to decide for themselves who’d be carried off by whom. Today ‘Tu B’Av’ is celebrated as the Festival of Love.

At a Jewish wedding ceremony the marrying couple exchange vows under a very special canopy known as a ‘hupah’. The rods at the four corners are either able to stand on the ground or are held by the groom’s attendants. The top of the canopy is his own prayer tallit (a fringed shawl). The symbolism is that he is taking the bride under his roof and she is becoming part of his house.

A song shall be heard in the cities of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem
a song of joy, a cry of gladness
a song of the Bridegroom,
a song of the Bride.
Jeremiah 33:10-11

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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