Wednesday Morning Prayer – 03 January 2024

Readings: Psalm 9; Isaiah 65.1-16; Ephesians 2.11-22.

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 Wednesday 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

Rejoice always pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks;

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. 

Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit: 

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

2 The Opening Canticle, A Song of God’s Grace

Blessed are you,

 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:

For you have blessed us in Christ Jesus

with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 

You chose us to be yours in Christ,

before the foundation of the world:

That we should be holy and blameless before you. 

In love you destined us to be your children,

through Jesus Christ:

according to the purpose of your will, 

to the praise of your glorious grace:

which you freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Ephesians 1.3-6  

3 The Opening Prayer

The night has now 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.

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

Psalm 9

1 I will give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart:

I will tell of all the wonders you have done.

2 I will rejoice and be glad in you:

I will make my songs to your name, O Most High.

3 For my enemies are driven back:

they stumble and perish at your presence.

4 You have maintained my cause and my right:

you sat enthroned as a righteous judge.

5 You rebuked the heathen nations,

you brought the wicked to destruction:

you blotted out their name for ever and ever.

6 The strongholds of the enemy are made a perpetual desolation:

you plucked up their cities, and even their memory has perished.

7 The Lord confounds them; but the Lord endures

for ever:

he has set up his throne for judgement.

8 He shall judge the world with righteousness:

and deal true justice to the peoples.

9 The Lord is a strong tower to those that are oppressed:

he is a tower of strength in time of need.

10 All who heed your name will trust in you:

for you have never forsaken those that seek you.

11 O sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion:

tell among the peoples what great things he has done.

12 For he that avenges blood has remembered the poor:

he has not forgotten their cry.

13 The Lord has been merciful toward me,

he saw what I suffered from my foes:

he raised me up again from the gates of death,

14 That I might tell all your praises in the gates of Zion:

that I might rejoice in your deliverance.

15 The nations have sunk into the pit they dug for others:

in the very snare they laid is their foot taken;

16 The Lord has declared himself and upheld the right:

the wicked are trapped in the work of their own hands.

17 The wicked shall be given over to death:

and all the nations that forget God.

18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten:

nor shall the hope of the poor perish for ever.

19 Arise, Lord, let no human power prevail:

let the nations be judged before you.

20 Put them in fear, O Lord:

and let the nations know they are but human.

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

We consecrate this day to your service, O Lord; may all our thoughts, words, and actions be well-pleasing to you and serve the good of our brothers and sisters; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

Amen.

6 One or two Readings from the Bible as appointed.

Isaiah 65.1-16

1 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,

     to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, ‘Here I am, here I am’,

     to a nation that did not call on my name. 

2 I held out my hands all day long

     to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

     following their own devices; 

3 a people who provoke me

     to my face continually,

sacrificing in gardens

     and offering incense on bricks; 

4 who sit inside tombs,

     and spend the night in secret places;

who eat swine’s flesh,

     with broth of abominable things in their vessels; 

5 who say, ‘Keep to yourself,

     do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.’

These are a smoke in my nostrils,

     a fire that burns all day long. 

6 See, it is written before me:

     I will not keep silent, but I will repay;

I will indeed repay into their laps 

7 their iniquities and their ancestors’ iniquities together,



says the Lord ;

because they offered incense on the mountains

     and reviled me on the hills,

I will measure into their laps

     full payment for their actions. 

8 Thus says the Lord :

As the wine is found in the cluster,

     and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,

     for there is a blessing in it’,

so I will do for my servants’ sake,

     and not destroy them all. 

9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

     and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;

my chosen shall inherit it,

     and my servants shall settle there. 

10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,

     and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,

     for my people who have sought me. 

11 But you who forsake the Lord ,

     who forget my holy mountain,

who set a table for Fortune

     and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, 

12 I will destine you to the sword,

     and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter;

because, when I called, you did not answer,

     when I spoke, you did not listen,

but you did what was evil in my sight,

     and chose what I did not delight in. 

13 Therefore thus says the Lord God :

My servants shall eat,

     but you shall be hungry;

my servants shall drink,

     but you shall be thirsty;

my servants shall rejoice,

     but you shall be put to shame; <b