Morning Prayer – Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Sunday, July 26, 2020
Families or small groups might gather, taking turns serving as “Leader” and others responding with words in bold print, or the entire service is said by one person, knowing that others are praying in the same way in their own locations.
A candle may be lit, to set apart this time of prayer.
A Penitential Rite
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbour.
Silence is kept.
God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you, opposing your will in our lives. We have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves and in the world you have created. We repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done and the evil done on our behalf. Forgive, restore and strengthen us through our Saviour Jesus Christ, so that we may abide in your love and serve only your will. Amen.
The presider says,
May the God of love and power forgive us and free us from our sins, heal and strengthen us by the Holy Spirit and raise us to new life in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Opening Responses
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful; and kindle in us the fire of your love.
O Come, let us Worship.
Lord, open our lips
And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Jubilate – Psalm 100 (Inclusive Language Psalter)
Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness and come into the divine presence with a song.
Know this: the Lord, the Lord, is God;
the One made us and to whom we belong;
we are God’s people, the sheep of God’s pasture.
Enter the gates of the Lord with thanksgiving;
go into these courts with praise;
give thanks to God and call upon the name of the Lord.
For the Lord is good, whose steadfast love is everlasting;
and whose faithfulness endures from age to age.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful; and kindle in us the fire of your love.
O Come, let us Worship.
Hymn: “God Who Gives to Life Its Goodness” CP#428
God who gives to life its goodness,
God creator of all joy,
giver of all human freedom,
God who blesses tool and toy:
Teach us now to laugh and praise you,
deep within your praises sing,
till the whole creation dances
for the goodness of its King.
God who fills the earth with beauty,
God who binds each friend to friend,
giver of all human talent,
God who wills that chaos end:
grant us now creative spirits,
minds responsive to your mind,
hearts and wills your rule extending,
all our acts by love refined.
The Proclamation of the Word
Genesis 29:15-28 New Revised Standard Version
Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were lovely, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.” So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” Laban said, “This is not done in our country–giving the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.” Jacob did so, and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Psalm 128 (Inclusive Language Psalter)
1 Happy are they all who fear the Lord, * and who follow in the ways of God!
2 You shall eat the fruit of your labour; * happiness and prosperity shall be yours.
3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, * your children like olive shoots round about your table.
4 The one who fears the Lord * shall thus indeed be blessed.
5 The Lord bless you from Zion, * and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children; * may peace be upon Israel.
Romans 8:26-39 New Revised Standard Version
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Stand or sit for the Gospel reading, as seems appropriate for your setting.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew (13:31-33, 44-52)
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
The Gospel of Christ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Did anything stand out for you in this story while you heard it this time? What does this story have to say to you today?
Homily: The Rev. Christine Conkin
Affirmation of Faith
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
This is the first and the great commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these.
Intercessions and Thanksgivings
This litany, or one like it, is said or sung:
God of Israel, may this day be one of fulfillment and peace.
Holy One, hear and have mercy.
Teach us to love others as you have loved us.
Holy One, hear and have mercy.
Fill the world with your peace and justice.
Holy One, hear and have mercy.
Strengthen and relieve those who are in need.
Holy One, hear and have mercy.
Renew the Church through the power of your life-giving Spirit.
Holy One, hear and have mercy.
Additional intercessions, petitions and thanksgivings may be offered in silence or aloud. Among these concerns it is appropriate to remember
• the Church throughout the world;
• all who lead the church, ordained and lay;
• the leaders of the nations;
• the natural world and the resources of the earth;
• all who are in any kind of need.
After a period of silence, we pray:
Collect of the Day
God of eternal wisdom, you alone impart the gift of discernment: grant us understanding hearts, so that we may choose wisely between the treasures of your promised reign and this world’s counterfeits; through Jesus Christ, the pearl of true value. Amen. (Opening Prayers (1997) alt.)
The Lord’s Prayer
Gathering our prayers and praises into one, let us pray as our Saviour taught us,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread. 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.
Hymn: “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High” CP#628
O love, how deep, how broad, how high!
It fills the heart with ecstasy,
that God, the Son of God should take
our mortal form for mortals’ sake.
God sent no angel to our race,
of higher or of lower place,
but wore the robe of human frame
for us, and to this lost world came.
For us he prayed, for us he taught,
for us his daily works he wrought;
by words and signed, and actions, thus
still seeking not himself but us.
To God whose boundless love has won
salvation for us through the Son,
to God the Father, glory be
both now and through eternity.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
May the God of peace give us peace in all ways and at all times. Amen.
If a candle was lit, it is extinguished now
This service is assembled from resources found in the Book of Alternative Services, Published by the Anglican Church of Canada.
And from ALTERNATIVE COLLECTS FOR YEARS A, B & C OF THE REVISED COMMON LECTIONARY AND SEASONAL PRAYERS OVER THE GIFTS AND AFTER COMMUNION Prepared by the Liturgy Task Force, Faith, Worship, and Ministry Committee Of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada and found online at https:// www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/Alternative-RCL-Collects-Final-2019.pdf
The Psalms are drawn from the Inclusive Language Psalter, commended for use by the Council of General Synod, March 2019 and found online at https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/ GS2016-Liturgical-Psalter-2016-05-04.pdf
