Wednesday 8th June 2022

Meeting details

Morning prayer is hosted by Graham on weekday mornings at 07:30 when it is not a public holiday. If you want to recall a particular day's liturgy you can add the date to the end of the web address (YYYY-MM-DD). Here is a real-world example https://morningprayer.torrix.uk/2020-11-16.

Join via Zoom

Meeting ID: 886 6182 8034
Passcode: morning

You can join by telephone if you wish:

+44 203 901 7895 (United Kingdom)
Passcode: 5521199

Meeting expectations

This is a short service that you are welcome to invite anyone to. It will last no more than 20 minutes.

There will be opportunities for you to contribute by saying some of the prayers or reading scripture. There is no obligation to participate.

You are welcome to join with your camera off and to keep your microphone muted.

Opening

One thing I have asked of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His temple.

Call: Who is it that you seek?
Response: We seek the Lord our God.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?
Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy.

Declaration of faith

We believe in God who celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate.

We will allow ourselves to be challenged and will not discriminate against people on grounds of

disability or economic power,
ethnicity or gender,
gender identity or mental health,
neurodiversity or sexuality.

We believe in a Church that:

welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ;
Listens to the scriptures and learns from them;
seeks to share the stories of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit;
And allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.

Scripture reading

Psalm 102

Prayer to the Eternal King for Help

A prayer of one afflicted, when faint and pleading before the Lord.
¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord;
   let my cry come to you.
² Do not hide your face from me
   on the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
   answer me speedily on the day when I call.

³ For my days pass away like smoke,
   and my bones burn like a furnace.
⁴ My heart is stricken and withered like grass;
   I am too wasted to eat my bread.
⁵ Because of my loud groaning
   my bones cling to my skin.
⁶ I am like an owl of the wilderness,
   like a little owl of the waste places.
⁷ I lie awake;
   I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
⁸ All day long my enemies taunt me;
   those who deride me use my name for a curse.
⁹ For I eat ashes like bread,
   and mingle tears with my drink,
¹⁰ because of your indignation and anger;
   for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.
¹¹ My days are like an evening shadow;
   I wither away like grass.

¹² But you, O Lord, are enthroned for ever;
   your name endures to all generations.
¹³ You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
   for it is time to favour it;
   the appointed time has come.
¹⁴ For your servants hold its stones dear,
   and have pity on its dust.
¹⁵ The nations will fear the name of the Lord,
   and all the kings of the earth your glory.
¹⁶ For the Lord will build up Zion;
   he will appear in his glory.
¹⁷ He will regard the prayer of the destitute,
   and will not despise their prayer.

¹⁸ Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
   so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:
¹⁹ that he looked down from his holy height,
   from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
²⁰ to hear the groans of the prisoners,
   to set free those who were doomed to die;
²¹ so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,
   and his praise in Jerusalem,
²² when peoples gather together,
   and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

²³ He has broken my strength in mid-course;
   he has shortened my days.
²⁴ O my God, I say, do not take me away
   at the mid-point of my life,
you whose years endure
   throughout all generations.

²⁵ Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,
   and the heavens are the work of your hands.
²⁶ They will perish, but you endure;
   they will all wear out like a garment.
You change them like clothing, and they pass away;
²⁷   but you are the same, and your years have no end.
²⁸ The children of your servants shall live secure;
   their offspring shall be established in your presence.

NRSV

Prayers for others

Canticle

Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks to me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.

Acknowledgements

Structure, Opening, Canticle and Blessing:: Taken from Morning Prayer from Northumbria Community’s Celtic Daily Prayer published by Collins.
Declaration of Faith: Adapted from http://inclusive-church.org/.
Scriptures: New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.