Spirituality: Daily Prayer

Thursday 13 August 2026

Morning Prayer

Jeremy Taylor, Bishop, 1667
Week D / Week of Proper 19

O Lord, open our lips:
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Glory be to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.
Amen.

Psalmody

Antiphon:
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;*
make your way straight before me.
Psalm. 5.8


Opening

Come, let us sing

1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before the presence of the Lord with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to God with psalms.
3 For you, O Lord, are a great God, * and a great sovereign above all gods.
4 In your hand are the caverns of the earth, * and the heights of the hills are yours also.
5 The sea is yours, for you made it, *
and your hands have moulded the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, * and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For you are our God, and we are the people of your pasture and the sheep of your hand. *
Oh, that today we would hearken to your voice!
8 “Harden not your hearts, *
as your forebears did in the wilderness.
9 They put me to the test, * though they had seen my works.
10 So I swore in my wrath, *
‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

or

Glory be to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

or a suitable Hymn

(Or from Psalm 5)

1. In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;*
early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.
2. Through the greatness of your mercy I will go into your house;*
I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.
3. All who take refuge in you will be glad;*
they will sing out their joy for ever.
4. You will shelter them,*
so that those who love your name may exult in you.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

or

Glory be to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

or a suitable hymn


Psalm 107:1-22

1. Give thanks to the Lord who is good, *
and whose mercy endures for ever.
2. Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim *
that God redeemed them from the hand of the foe.
3. The Lord gathered them out of the lands; *
from the east and from the west, from the north
and from the south.
4. Some wandered in desert wastes; *
they found no way to a city where they might dwell.
5. They were hungry and thirsty; *
their spirits languished within them.
6. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, *
who delivered them from their distress.
7. The Lord put their feet on a straight path *
to go to a city where they might dwell.
8. Let them give thanks to you, O Lord, for your mercy *
and the wonders you do for your children.
9. For you satisfy the thirsty *
and fill the hungry with good things.
10. Some sat in darkness and deep gloom, *
bound fast in misery and iron;
11. because they rebelled against the words of God *
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
12. So you humbled their spirits with hard labour; *
they stumbled, and there was none to help.
13. Then they cried to you in their trouble, *
and you delivered them from their distress.
14. You led them out of darkness and deep gloom *
and broke their bonds asunder.
15. Let them give thanks to you, O Lord, for your mercy *
and the wonders you do for your children.
16. For you shatter the doors of bronze *
and break in two the iron bars.
17. Some were fools and took to rebellious ways; *
they were afflicted because of their sins.
18. They abhorred all manner of food *
and drew near to death’s door.
19. Then they cried to you, O Lord, in their trouble, *
and you delivered them from their distress.
20. You sent forth your word and healed them *
and saved them from the grave.
21. Let them give thanks to you, O Lord, for your
mercy *
and the wonders you do for your children.
22. Let them offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving *
and tell of your acts with shouts of joy.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

or

Glory be to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.


Conclusion

Isaiah 66

1. Rejoice with Jerusalem and exult in her,*
all you who love her.
2. Share her joy with all your heart,*
all you who mourn over her.
3. Then you may suck and be fed from her breasts,*
delighting in her plentiful milk.
4. For thus says the Lord, I will send peace flowing over her like a river,*
and the wealth of nations like a stream in flood;
5. you shall be carried in her arms,*
and rocked upon her knees.
6. As a mother comforts her child,*
so will I myself comfort you, and you shall find strength
in Jerusalem.
7. This you shall see and be glad at heart;*
your limbs shall be as the fresh grass in spring.*
8. Then I myself will gather all nations;*
and they shall come and behold my glory.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

or

Glory be to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

Antiphon: Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness;* make your way straight before me.

Reading(s)

Judges 14.1-19

Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. Then he came up, and told his father and mother, ‘I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.’ But his father and mother said to him, ‘Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get her for me, because she pleases me.’ His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do. When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. Samson said to them, ‘Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.’ So they said to him, ‘Ask your riddle; let us hear it.’ He said to them,

‘Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.’

But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, ‘Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?’ So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, ‘You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.’ He said to her, ‘Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?’ She wept before him for the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

‘What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?’

And he said to them,

‘If you had not ploughed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.’

Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.


Acts 6.15-7.16

And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Then the high priest asked him, ‘Are these things so?’ And Stephen replied:

‘Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, “Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.” Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living. He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and maltreat them for four hundred years. “But I will judge the nation that they serve,” said God, “and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.” Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

‘The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and enabled him to win favour and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan, and great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit. On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five in all; so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself died there as well as our ancestors, and their bodies were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.


Silence


Response (Psalm 33.18)

Behold, your eye, O Lord, is upon those who fear you,* on those who wait upon your love.
Behold, your eye, O Lord, is upon those who fear you,* on those who wait upon your love.
On those who wait upon your love.
On those who fear you.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Behold, your eye, O Lord, is upon those who fear you,* on those who wait upon your love.

Song of Zechariah

Song of Zechariah Antiphon: God has come to us * * and set us free.

1 Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel,* for he has come to his people and set them free.
2 He has raised up for us a mighty saviour,* born of the house of his servant David.
3 Through his holy prophets he promised of old* that he would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us.
4 He promised to show mercy to our forebears,* and to remember his holy covenant.
5 This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:* to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6 free to worship him without fear,* holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
7 You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High,* for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8 to give his people knowledge of salvation* by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9 In the tender compassion of our God* the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,* and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

or

Glory be to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.

Amen.

(may be said by all)

Song of Zechariah Antiphon: God has come to us * * and set us free.

Prayers

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon 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.
Do not bring us to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.

Amen


Collect of the Day

Open your merciful ears, O Lord,
to the prayers of your humble servants:
and, that you would graciously grant what we ask,
make us desire what is pleasing in your sight;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.
Amen


God most holy, we give you thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night into the light of morning; and we ask you for the joy of spending this day in your service, so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks, through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen

Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!

The Lord bless us and preserve us from all evil;
and bring us to life eternal.
Amen.

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