Sunday Morning Prayer 7th January 2024; Readings:  Psalm 2; Ezekiel 47.1-12; John 1.19-24.

Led by Felicity Scott, Liturgical Assistant at St John the Baptist Anglican Church Bulimba, QLD, Australia.

The full prayer transcript is available by going to this episode on the Podcast website.

https://dailyprayeranglicanprayerbookforaustralia.podbean.com

Welcome to Sunday Morning prayer from the Anglican ‘A prayer book for Australia’.

We proclaim the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ:

GOD in his infinite mercy, forgives all sins, and through our baptism in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, we are given a rebirth into new life, free from the burden of all sin. ALLELUIA

Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Blessed be God forever.

Let us Pray.

1

This is the day that the Lord has made.

We will rejoice and be glad in it. 

Psalm 118.24

Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit: 

as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.

The Baptism of Our Lord (First Sunday after Epiphany)

God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; and he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10.38

2 The Opening Canticle, A Song of Triumph (Venite)

O come, let us sing out to the Lord: 

let us shout in triumph to the rock of our salvation. 

Let us come before his face with thanksgiving: 

and cry out to him joyfully in psalms. 

For the Lord is a great God: 

and a great king above all gods. 

In his hand are the depths of the earth:

and the peaks of the mountains are his also. 

The sea is his and he made it: 

his hands moulded dry land. 

Come, let us worship and bow down: 

and kneel before the Lord our maker. 

For he is the Lord our God: 

we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. 

Today if only you would hear his voice: 

‘Do not harden your hearts as Israel did in the wilderness; 

‘When your forebears tested me: 

put me to proof though they had seen my works. 

‘Forty years long I loathed that generation and said: 

“It is a people who err in their hearts, 

for they do not know my ways”; 

‘Of whom I swore in my wrath: 

“They shall not enter my rest.”’ 

Psalm 95

3 The Opening Prayer

The night has passed and the day lies open before us; 

let us pray with one heart and mind. 

Silence may be kept.

As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, 

so may the light of your presence, O God, 

set our hearts on fire with love for you; 

now and for ever. 

Amen.

 Confession

A pause for self-examination, the Confession and Absolution (see note 1) may be used here.

God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy, you who truly and earnestly repent of your sins and intend to lead a new life, following God and walking in his Holy ways, draw near with faith, confident in God’s forgiveness to all who confess their sins.

We confess our sins in penitence and faith. Father we have sinned in thought word and deed, please hear our confession.

We confess to commanding our way in the world, by using the Fathers’ power to gain our wants and desires; instead of conforming to our purpose through the fathers will.

Merciful Father: we turn to you in faith, pardon us and set us free from all our sins, through Jesus Christ. Amen

4 The Psalms as appointed. A pause is observed after each.

Psalm 2

1 Why are the nations in tumult:

and why do the peoples cherish a vain dream?

2 The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers conspire together:

against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,

3 ‘Let us break their bonds asunder:

let us throw off their chains from us.’

4 He that dwells in heaven shall laugh them to scorn:

the Lord will hold them in derision.

5 Then will he speak to them in his wrath,

and terrify them in his fury:

‘I, the Lord, have set up my king on Zion my holy hill.’

6 I will announce the Lord’s decree,

that which he has spoken:

‘You are my son, this day have I begotten you.

7 ‘Ask of me,

and I will give you the nations for your inheritance:

the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.

8 ‘You may break them with a rod of iron:

and shatter them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’

9 Now therefore be wise, O kings:

be advised, you that are judges of the earth.

10 Serve the Lord with awe,

and govern yourselves in fear and trembling:

lest he be angry, and you perish in your course.

11 For his wrath is quickly kindled:

blessed are those that turn to him for refuge.

5 At the end of the (last) pause there may follow

Lord God, whose blessed Son rose in triumph and set us free: grant us the fullness of life he promised us, that through the Holy Spirit our hearts may possess him whom our eyes cannot see, the same Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

6 One or two Readings from the Bible as appointed.

1st Reading

Ezekiel 47.1-12

1 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple towards the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. 2 Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate that faces towards the east; and the water was coming out on the south side. 3 Going on eastwards with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. 4 Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist. 5 Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. 6 He said to me, ‘Mortal, have you seen this?’Then he led me back along the bank of the river. 7 As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on one side and on the other. 8 He said to me, ‘This water flows towards the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. 9 Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. 10 People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12 On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.’

2nd Reading

John 1.19-24

19 This is the tes