Oremus for Saturday, May 17, 2025

Autherine Lucy, left, and her legal team, NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall, center, and Birmingham lawyer Arthur Shores. Lucy was the first African American to attend the University of Alabama. February 3, 1956. © AP

Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall is best known as the Supreme Court Justice and early advocate for pressing the nation’s courts in matters of civil rights. Born in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Pullman car porter and a schoolteacher, Marshall was the grandson of a freed slave. In 1930 he applied to the University of Maryland Law School but was denied admission due to his race. The indignity of this event would influence his future professional life. After graduating first in his class and receiving his law degree from Howard University, Marshall successfully sued the University, resulting in the admittance of minority students.

In 1954 as chief counsel for NAACP, he argued and won the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court. The decision refuted the idea of “separate but equal” public schools and was one of the many challenges to state-sponsored discrimination that Marshall argued and won. After serving as Solicitor General of the United States, he was appointed to the US Supreme Court in 1967, the first African American to hold either position. He retired in 1991.¹

Antiphon https://tinyurl.com/292eca36

Your merciful love, O God,
we have received in the midst of your temple.
Your praise, O God, like your name,
reaches the ends of the earth;
your right hand is filled with saving justice. Psalm 48

Make us instruments of your love, O God,
agents of your justice and peace.
Strengthen us to work for unity and harmony
between people of every race, color and creed.
Enable us to respect all of your creation
and to love one another as ourselves,
that we may serve one another
in humility, simplicity and joy;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. ^{World Council of Churches, 2013}

Music: https://tinyurl.com/mb6h9xfa

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth shall declare your praise.
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.
Alleluia, alleluia!

HYMN: H. Kenn Carmichael ©
Tune: Kingsfold https://tinyurl.com/yv8whu72

1 Today we all are called to be disciples of the Lord,
To help to set the captive free, make plowshare out of sword,
To feed the hungry, quench their thirst, make love and peace our fast,
To serve the poor and homeless first, our ease and comfort last.

2 God made the world and at its birth ordained our human race
To live as stewards of the earth, responding to God’s grace.
But we are vain and sadly proud, we sow not peace but strife,
Our discord spreads a deadly cloud that threatens all of life.

3 Pray justice may come rolling down as in a mighty stream,
With righteousness in field and town to cleanse us and redeem.
For God is longing to restore an earth where conflicts cease,
A world that was created for a harmony of peace.

4 May we in service to our God act out the living Word,
And walk the road the saints have trod till all have seen and heard.
As stewards of the earth may we give thanks in one accord
To God who calls us all to be disciples of the Lord.

PSALMS

Psalm 86 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/vmvol2r)
1  Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me *
for I am poor, and in misery.
2  Preserve thou my soul, for I am holy *
my God, save thy servant that putteth his trust in thee.
3  Be merciful unto me, O Lord *
for I will call daily upon thee.
4  Comfort the soul of thy servant *
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5  For thou, Lord, art good and gracious *
and of great mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
6  Give ear, Lord, unto my prayer *
and ponder the voice of my humble desires.
7  In the time of my trouble I will call upon thee *
for thou hearest me.
8  Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord *
there is not one that can do as thou doest.
9  All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship thee, O Lord *
and shall glorify thy Name.
10  For thou art great, and doest wondrous things *
thou art God alone.
11  Teach me thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth *
O knit my heart unto thee, that I may fear thy Name.
12  I will thank thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart *
and will praise thy Name for evermore.
13  For great is thy mercy toward me *
and thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell.
14  O God, the proud are risen against me *
and the congregations of naughty men
have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before their eyes.
15  But thou, O Lord God, art full of compassion and mercy *
long-suffering, plenteous in goodness and truth.
16  O turn thee then unto me, and have mercy upon me *
give thy strength unto thy servant, and help the son of thine handmaid.
17  Shew some token upon me for good,
that they who hate me may see it, and be ashamed *
because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,*
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 87 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/sjg229z)
1  Her foundations are upon the holy hills *
the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
2  Very excellent things are spoken of thee *
thou city of God.
3  I will think upon Rahab and Babylon *
with them that know me.
4  Behold ye the Philistines also *
and they of Tyre, with the Morians; lo, there was he born.
5  And of Sion it shall be reported that he was born in her *
and the most High shall stablish her.
6  The Lord shall rehearse it when he writeth up the people *
that he was born there.
7  The singers also and trumpeters shall he rehearse *
All my fresh springs shall be in 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.

Psalm 88 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/tl4xkf)
1  O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee *
O let my prayer enter into thy presence, incline thine ear unto my calling.
2  For my soul is full of trouble *
and my life draweth nigh unto hell.
3  I am counted as one of them that go down into the pit *
and I have been even as a man that hath no strength.
4  Free among the dead, like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave *
who are out of remembrance, and are cut away from thy hand.
5  Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit *
in a place of darkness, and in the deep.
6  Thine indignation lieth hard upon me *
and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms.
7  Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me *
and made me to be abhorred of them.
8  I am so fast in prison *
that I cannot get forth.
9  My sight faileth for very trouble *
Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched forth my hands unto thee.
10  Dost thou shew wonders among the dead *
or shall the dead rise up again, and praise thee?
11  Shall thy loving-kindness be shewed in the grave *
or thy faithfulness in destruction?
12  Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark *
and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten?
13  Unto thee have I cried, O Lord *
and early shall my prayer come before thee.
14  Lord, why abhorrest thou my soul *
and hidest thou thy face from me?
15  I am in misery, and like unto him that is at the point to die *
even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind.
16  Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me *
and the fear of thee hath undone me.
17  They came round about me daily like water *
and compassed me together on every side.
18  My lovers and friends hast thou put away from me *
and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight.
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 86 (LSB Tone B: http://oremus.org/chant/Psalm-86-LSB.mp3)
1 Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me,*
for I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my life, for I am godly;*
save your servant, who trusts in you— you are my God.
3 Be gracious to me, O Lord,*
for to you do I cry all the day.
4 Gladden the soul of your servant,*
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,*
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
6 Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer;*
listen to my plea for grace.
7 In the day of my trouble I call upon you,*
for you answer me.
8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,*
nor are there any works like yours.
9 All the nations you have made
shall come and worship before you, O Lord,*
and shall glorify your name.
10 For you are great and do wondrous things;*
you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;*
unite my heart to fear your name.
12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,*
and I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;*
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
14 O God, insolent men have risen up against me;
a band of ruthless men seek my life,*
and they do not set you before them.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,*
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me;*
give your strength to your servant,
and save the son of your maidservant.
17 Show me a sign of your favor,*
that those who hate me may see
and be put to shame because you, LORD,
have helped me and comforted me.
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.

Psalm 87 (Coptic Chant: https://tinyurl.com/4afp2bpa)
His foundations are in the holy mountains.
The Lord loves the gates of Zion,
more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things have been spoken of you, O city of God.
I shall make mention of Raab and Babylon,
those who know me: behold the foreigners,
and Tyre, and the people of Ethiopia:
these were there.
“My mother Zion,” a man will say;
and a man was living in her:
and the Most High himself has founded her forever.
The Lord shall tell it in the writings of peoples and princes,
these who were in her.
The dwelling of all who rejoice is within you. ALLELUIA.

Psalm 88 (Karl Kohlhase: http://oremus.org/chant/Psalm-88-KH.mp3)
O LORD, God of salvation,
I cry to you day and night
O let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry
My soul’s had its fill of trouble,
my life has reached Sheol
Like those who sink in a pit;
like men without any strength