Oremus for Friday, October 9, 2020

Antiphon¹

Ant. Say: Take courage, you who are fainthearted, and do not fear;
behold, our God will come and he will save us.
V. The desert and the parched land will exult; *
the steppe will rejoice and bloom. Isaiah 35

Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires, known,
and from whom no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Music: https://tinyurl.com/ycn4djk5

O Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth will declare your praise.
Make haste, O God, to deliver me;
make haste to help me, O Lord.
Glory be 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.
Praise to you, O Christ, Alleluia!

HYMN: Carolyn Gillette ©
Tune: Martyrdom https://tinyurl.com/y4t3ufad

Our Lord, you stood in Pilate’s hall,
His judgment to endure.
Yet all he ruled would one day fall;
You reign forevermore!

You are our King and yet you said
It’s not by sword or might;
Where truth is lived and love is spread,
Your reign comes into sight.

Where people live in deep despair,
Forgotten, hurt, alone,
We hear their urgent, whispered prayer:
“When will your reign be known?”

And where your church on earth today 
Is mighty, rich and strong,
Lord, may we not forget your Way,
Nor lose your kingdom’s song.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done”
Not just in heaven above;
O God, may we obey your Son, 
Who reigns o’er all in love.

PSALMS
For psalms in contemporary language, https://tinyurl.com/y9tjh7rk

Psalm 47 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/sk7c3h7)

1  Clap your hands together, all ye people *
 O sing unto God with the voice of melody.
2  For the Lord is high, and to be feared *
 he is the great King upon all the earth.
3  He shall subdue the people under us *
 and the nations under our feet.
4  He shall choose out an heritage for us *
 even the worship of Jacob, whom he loved.
5  God is gone up with a merry noise *
 and the Lord with the sound of the trump.
6  O sing praises, sing praises unto our God *
 O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.
7  For God is the King of all the earth *
 sing ye praises with understanding.
8  God reigneth over the heathen *
 God sitteth upon his holy seat.
9  The princes of the people are joined
unto the people of the God of Abraham *
 for God, which is very high exalted,
doth defend the earth, as it were with a shield.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.

Psalm 48 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/rhcanfm)

1  Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised *
 in the city of our God, even upon his holy hill.
2  The hill of Sion is a fair place, and the joy of the whole earth *
 upon the north-side lieth the city of the great King;
God is well known in her palaces as a sure refuge.
3  For lo, the kings of the earth *
 are gathered, and gone by together.
4  They marvelled to see such things *
 they were astonished, and suddenly cast down.
5  Fear came there upon them, and sorrow *
 as upon a woman in her travail.
6  Thou shalt break the ships of the sea *
 through the east-wind.
7  Like as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God *
 God upholdeth the same for ever.
8  We wait for thy loving-kindness, O God *
 in the midst of thy temple.
9  O God, according to thy Name, so is thy praise unto the world’s end *
 thy right hand is full of righteousness.
10  Let the mount Sion rejoice, and the daughter of Judah be glad *
 because of thy judgements.
11  Walk about Sion, and go round about her *
 and tell the towers thereof.
12  Mark well her bulwarks, set up her houses *
 that ye may tell them that come after.
13  For this God is our God for ever and ever *
 he shall be our guide unto death.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.

Psalm 49 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/v8qpz99)

1  O hear ye this, all ye people *
 ponder it with your ears, all ye that dwell in the world;
2  High and low, rich and poor *
 one with another.
3  My mouth shall speak of wisdom *
 and my heart shall muse of understanding.
4  I will incline mine ear to the parable *
 and shew my dark speech upon the harp.
5  Wherefore should I fear in the days of wickedness *
 and when the wickedness of my heels compasseth me round about?
6  There be some that put their trust in their goods *
 and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.
7  But no man may deliver his brother *
 nor make agreement unto God for him;
8  For it cost more to redeem their souls *
 so that he must let that alone for ever;
9  Yea, though he live long *
 and see not the grave.
10  For he seeth that wise men also die, and perish together *
 as well as the ignorant and foolish, and leave their riches for other.
11  And yet they think that their houses shall continue for ever *
 and that their dwelling-places shall endure from one generation to another;
and call the lands after their own names.
12  Nevertheless, man will not abide in honour *
 seeing he may be compared unto the beasts that perish;
this is the way of them.
13  This is their foolishness *
 and their posterity praise their saying.
14  They lie in the hell like sheep, death gnaweth upon them,
and the righteous shall have domination over them in the morning *
 their beauty shall consume in the sepulchre out of their dwelling.
15  But God hath delivered my soul from the place of hell *
 for he shall receive me.
16  Be not thou afraid, though one be made rich *
 or if the glory of his house be increased ;
17  For he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth *
 neither shall his pomp follow him.
18  For while he lived, he counted himself an happy man *
 and so long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee.
19  He shall follow the generation of his fathers *
 and shall never see light.
20  Man being in honour hath no understanding *
 but is compared unto the beasts that perish.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.

PRAYER

Giver of all wisdom,
deliver us from the folly of betraying our eternal birthright
for temporal gain.
Teach us to hold firmly to you
so that we may not treasure things,
but show the imperishable riches of your love
in Jesus Christ. Amen. ^BCW

THE WORD OF GOD

Reading: Numbers 17:1-11

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff, and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant, where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you. Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. So Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant.

When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.’ Moses did so; just as the Lord commanded him, so he did.

HYMN: Psalm 133; para. Bert Polman ©
Tune: Genevan 133^rd

1 Behold, how good, how pleasant is the union 
when brothers, sisters live in sweet communion 
and serve the LORD in cheerfulness. 
It is like precious oil on Aaron’s head, 
which on his beard and priestly robe would spread, 
anointing him to holiness. 

2 It is as if refreshing dew from Hermon 
were falling like a rain upon Mount Zion, 
when God his benediction sends. 
The LORD his bounteous blessings will release 
on those who live in unity and peace; 
God gives them life that never ends. 

Reading: Ephesians 3:1-6

This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given to me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow-heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

HYMN: F Bland Tucker ©
Tune: Azmon https://tinyurl.com/y9o8c6ne

1 Awake, O sleeper, rise from death,
And Christ shall give you light.
So learn his love – its length and breadth,
Its fullness, depth, and height.

2 To us on earth he came to bring
From sin and fear release,
To give the Spirit’s unity,
The very bond of peace.

3 There is one Body and one Hope,
One Spirit and one Call,
One Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism,
One Father of us all.

4 Then walk in love as Christ has loved
Who died that he might save;
With kind and gentle hearts forgive
As God in Christ forgave.

5 For us Christ lived, for us he died
And conquered in the strife.
Awake, arise, go forth in faith,
And Christ shall give you life.

Reading: Luke 23:1-12

Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king.’ Then Pilate asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ He answered, ‘You say so.’ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, ‘I find no basis for an accusation against this man.’ But they were insistent and said, ‘He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.’

When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

CANTICLE Isaiah 26:9-20
(Katie Tracy and Mark Ribera: https://tinyurl.com/y76wq85c)

In our distress we sought the Lord;
Poured out a whispered prayer
Cried out, seeking deliverance;
His mercy met us there
Empty idols have ruled over us;
These hardened hearts of stone
The Lord has brought salvation, sweet;
We rest in him alone
Refrain:
Trust in the Lord forevermore
He is our fortress strong
Souls, cling to this everlasting rock
to our salvation sure

May the wicked learn your power;
May they believe your truth
For your righteousness and justice;
Bring peace upon the earth Refrain

To you who dwell in dust, awake! Rise up and sing for joy!
The Lord will redeem you at last; And life shall be restored

THE PRAYERS ^BCW

Eternal God, we praise you for your mighty love given in Christ’s sacrifice on the
cross, and the new life we have received by his resurrection.
Especially we thank you for
the presence of Christ in our weakness and suffering . . .
the ministry of Word and Sacrament . . .
all who work to help and heal . . .
sacrifices made for our benefit . . .
opportunities for our generous giving. . . .

God of grace, let our concern for others reflect Christ’s self-giving love, not only
in our prayers, but also in our practice.
Especially we pray for
those subjected to tyranny and oppression . . .
wounded and injured people . . .
those who face death . . .
those who may be our enemies . . .
the church in Latin America. . . .

Setting: Sanford Dole https://tinyurl.com/y7ldq7h5

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today the bread of life;
and 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 for ever. Amen.

Troubled God,
in every generation
you call your people to contend
against the brutality of sin and betrayal.
Keep us steadfast even in our fear and uncertainty,
that we may follow where Jesus has led the way. Amen. ^RCLP

Music: https://tinyurl.com/y9efvwm5
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen. 2 Cor. 13:14

---

^BCW Book of Common Worship, Presbyterian Church U.S.A., 1993.

^EH Exciting Holiness, Ed. Brother Tristram SSF © European Province of the Society of Saint Francis, 1997

^RCLP Revised Common Lectionary Prayers. © 2002 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress.

^DL © Daniel Lawson; used with permission.

¹ Adam Bartlett, Simple English Propers; audio from https://musicasacra.com/additional-publications/sep-practice-videos/ ©

The three main scripture readings are from the The New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition, The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer (1662).

Musical links are usually either to artists’ albums posted on Spotify or to recordings made available at smallchurchmusic.com. Audio stripped from YouTube videos is footnoted accordingly above.

Compilation © 2020 Stephen T. Benner. All links worked at the time they were created, but I cannot accept responsibility for their content or any damage resulting from their use. The linked content is under the control of the respective content creators and is subject to change at any time. Any copyright texts included in this compilation are provided for non-commercial purposes related to study or worship. Please contact the respective copyright holders for permission to use the texts in other contexts.