Oremus for Monday, November 16, 2020

Antiphon¹

Ant. Ask of me, *
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance
and the utmost parts of the earth as your possession.
V. Why do the nations conspire, *
and the peoples plot in vain?
They arise, the kings of the earth; *
princes plot against the Lord and his Anointed.
“Let us burst asunder their fetters. *
Let us cast off from us their chains.” Psalm 2

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: Antoinette Bourignon; trans. John Wesley and John Byrom
Tune: Deus tuorum militum https://tinyurl.com/y2dww4lg

1 Come, Saviour Jesus, from above,
Assist me with thy heavenly grace;
Empty my heart of earthly love,
And for thyself prepare the place.

2 O let thy sacred presence fill
And set my longing spirit free,
Which wants to have no other will,
But day and night to feast on thee!

3 Henceforth may no profane delight
Divide this consecrated soul;
Possess it thou, who hast the right,
As Lord and Master of the whole.

4 Wealth, honour, pleasure, and what else
This short-enduring world can give,
Tempt as ye will, my soul repels;
To Christ alone resolved to live.

5 Nothing on earth do I desire
But thy pure love within my breast;
This, only this, do I require,
And freely give up all the rest.

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

Psalm 79 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/ssjuezl)

1  O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance *
 thy holy temple have they defiled,
and made Jerusalem an heap of stones.
2  The dead bodies of thy servants have they given
to be meat unto the fowls of the air *
 and the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the land.
3  Their blood have they shed like water on every side of Jerusalem *
 and there was no man to bury them.
4  We are become an open shame to our enemies *
 a very scorn and derision unto them that are round about us.
5  Lord, how long wilt thou be angry *
 shall thy jealousy burn like fire for ever?
6  Pour out thine indignation upon the heathen that have not known thee *
 and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy Name.
7  For they have devoured Jacob *
 and laid waste his dwelling-place.
8  O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon *
 for we are come to great misery.
9  Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy Name *
 O deliver us, and be merciful unto our sins, for thy Name’s sake.
10  Wherefore do the heathen say *
 Where is now their God?
11  O let the vengeance of thy servants’ blood that is shed *
 be openly shewed upon the heathen in our sight.
12  O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee *
 according to the greatness of thy power,
preserve thou those that are appointed to die.
13  And for the blasphemy wherewith our neighbours have blasphemed thee *
 reward thou them, O Lord, seven-fold into their bosom.
14  So we, that are thy people, and sheep of thy pasture,
shall give thee thanks for ever *
 and will alway be shewing forth thy praise from generation to generation.
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 80 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/ry2whon)

1  Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep *
 shew thyself also, thou that sittest upon the cherubims.
2  Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses *
 stir up thy strength, and come, and help us.
3  Turn us again, O God *
 shew the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.
4  O Lord God of hosts *
 how long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth?
5  Thou feedest them with the bread of tears *
 and givest them plenteousness of tears to drink.
6  Thou hast made us a very strife unto our neighbours *
 and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
7  Turn us again, thou God of hosts *
 shew the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.
8  Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt *
 thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
9  Thou madest room for it *
 and when it had taken root it filled the land.
10  The hills were covered with the shadow of it *
 and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar-trees.
11  She stretched out her branches unto the sea *
 and her boughs unto the river.
12  Why hast thou then broken down her hedge *
 that all they that go by pluck off her grapes?
13  The wild boar out of the wood doth root it up *
 and the wild beasts of the field devour it.
14  Turn thee again, thou God of hosts, look down from heaven *
 behold, and visit this vine;
15  And the place of the vineyard that thy right hand hath planted *
 and the branch that thou madest so strong for thyself.
16  It is burnt with fire, and cut down *
 and they shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17  Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand *
 and upon the son of man, whom thou madest so strong for thine own self.
18  And so will not we go back from thee *
 O let us live, and we shall call upon thy Name.
19  Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts *
 shew the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole.
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 81 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/tl45xkf)

1  Sing we merrily unto God our strength *
 make a cheerful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2  Take the psalm, bring hither the tabret *
 the merry harp with the lute.
3  Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon *
 even in the time appointed, and upon our solemn feast-day.
4  For this was made a statute for Israel *
 and a law of the God of Jacob.
5  This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony *
 when he came out of the land of Egypt, and had heard a strange language.
6  I eased his shoulder from the burden *
 and his hands were delivered from making the pots.
7  Thou calledst upon me in troubles, and I delivered thee *
 and heard thee what time as the storm fell upon thee.
8  I proved thee also *
 at the waters of strife.
9  Hear, O my people, and I will assure thee, O Israel *
 if thou wilt hearken unto me,
10  There shall no strange god be in thee *
 neither shalt thou worship any other god.
11  I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt *
 open thy mouth wide, and I shall fill it.
12  But my people would not hear my voice *
 and Israel would not obey me.
13  So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lusts *
 and let them follow their own imaginations.
14  O that my people would have hearkened unto me *
 for if Israel had walked in my ways,
15  I should soon have put down their enemies *
 and turned my hand against their adversaries.
16  The haters of the Lord should have been found liars *
 but their time should have endured for ever.
17  He should have fed them also with the finest wheat-flour *
 and with honey out of the stony rock should I have satisfied thee.
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

Strength of the weak,
defender of the needy,
rescuer of the poor,
deliver us from the power of wickedness,
that we may rejoice in your justice now and forever;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. ^BCW

THE WORD OF GOD

Reading: Judges 6:1-24

The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years. The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian the Israelites provided for themselves hiding-places in the mountains, caves and strongholds. For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them. They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighbourhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey. For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted; so they wasted the land as they came in. Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian; and the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

When the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery; and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land; and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.” But you have not given heed to my voice.’

Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.’ Gideon answered him, ‘But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.’ He responded, ‘But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’ The Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.’ Then he said to him, ‘If now I have found favour with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.’ And he said, ‘I will stay until you return.’

So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, ‘Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.’ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

HYMN: Jane Parker Huber ©
Tune: Pleading Saviour https://tinyurl.com/ybjs8vbk

1 God, You spin the whirling planets,
Fill the seas and spread the plain,
Mold the mountains, fashion blossoms,
Call forth sunshine, wind, and rain.
We, created in Your image,
Would a true reflection be
Of Your justice, grace, and mercy
And the truth that makes us free.

2 Yu have called us to be faithful
In our life and ministry,
We respond in grateful worship
Joined in one community.
When we blur Your gracious image,
Focus us and make us whole,
Healed and strengthened as Your people,
We move onward toward Your goal.

3 God, Your word is still creating,
Calling us to life made new
Now reveal to us fresh vistas
Where there’s work to dare and do.
Keep us clear of all distortion.
Polish us with loving care.
Thus, new creatures in Your image,
We’ll proclaim Christ everywhere.

Reading: Revelation 17:15 – 18:8

And the angel said to me, ‘The waters that you saw, where the whore is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by agreeing to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God will be fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.’

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendour. He called out with a mighty voice,
‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
   It has become a dwelling-place of demons,
a haunt of every foul spirit,
   a haunt of every foul bird,
   a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.
For all the nations have drunk
   of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
   and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxury.’

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
‘Come out of her, my people,
   so that you do not take part in her sins,
and so that you do not share in her plagues;
for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
   and God has remembered her iniquities.
Render to her as she herself has rendered,
   and repay her double for her deeds;
   mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.
As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,
   so give her a like measure of torment and grief.
Since in her heart she says,
   “I rule as a queen;
I am no widow,
   and I will never see grief”,
therefore her plagues will come in a single day—
   pestilence and mourning and famine—
and she will be burned with fire;
   for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.’

HYMN: Spiritual
Tune: https://tinyurl.com/y6kaab7o

Refrain:
Steal away, steal away,
steal away to Jesus!
Steal away, steal away home,
I ain’t got long to stay here.

1 My Lord, he calls me,
He calls me by the thunder;
The trumpet sounds within my soul;
I ain’t got long to stay here. [Refrain]

2 Green trees are bending,
Poor sinners stand a trembling;
The trumpet sounds within my soul;
I ain’t got long to stay here. [Refrain]

3 My Lord, he calls me,
He calls me by the lightning;
The trumpet sounds within my soul;
I ain’t got long to stay here. [Refrain]

Reading: Mark 8:27-30

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

CANTICLE 1 Samuel 2
(Jason Silver: https://tinyurl.com/y3zdb8z9)

My heart exults in the Lord;
and my strength is exalted in God.
I loudly denounce my enemies,
for I am so glad you rescued me.

There is no Holy One like the Lord,
There is no Rock like our God.
Boast no more so very proud,
no arrogance come out of your mouth;
the Lord is our God who knows,
and by him our actions they are weighed.

The bows of the mighty are broken,
the feeble ones strengthened anew.
The well-fed hire themselves for bread,
but those who are hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven babes,
but she who has many is forlorn.
The Lord kills and the Lord brings to life;
brings down to the grave, raises up.

The Lord makes poor and he makes rich;
he brings us low, also exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit down with princes
and to inherit an honorable seat.
The pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he set the world.
He watches over his holy ones,
but the wicked shall be cut off in the dark.
For not by might does one prevail;
the Lord’s adversaries shall be shattered.
The Most High will thunder in heaven.
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king,
and exalt the power of his anointed ones.

THE PRAYERS ^BCW

We praise you, God our creator, for your handiwork in shaping and sustaining
your wondrous creation. Especially we thank you for
the miracle of life and the wonder of living . . .
particular blessings coming to us in this day . . .
the resources of the earth . . .
gifts of creative vision and skillful craft . . .
the treasure stored in every human life. . . .

We dare to pray for others, God our Savior, claiming your love in Jesus Christ for
the whole world, committing ourselves to care for those around us in his name.
Especially we pray for
those who work for the benefit of others . . .
those who cannot work today . . .
those who teach and those who learn . . .
people who are poor . . .
the church in Europe. . . .

(Plainsong Mode 2: https://tinyurl.com/yctqq8cf)^DL

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is 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.

God our refuge and hope,
when race, status, or gender divide us,
when despondency and despair haunt and afflict us,
when community lies shattered:
comfort and convict us with the stillness of your presence,
that we may confess all you have done,
through Christ to whom we belong
and in whom we are one. 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 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.