Tuesday 18th October 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

Proverbs 5

Warning against Impurity and Infidelity

5My child, be attentive to my wisdom;
   incline your ear to my understanding,
² so that you may hold on to prudence,
   and your lips may guard knowledge.
³ For the lips of a loose^* woman drip honey,
   and her speech is smoother than oil;
⁴ but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
   sharp as a two-edged sword.
⁵ Her feet go down to death;
   her steps follow the path to Sheol.
⁶ She does not keep straight to the path of life;
   her ways wander, and she does not know it.

⁷ And now, my child,^* listen to me,
   and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
⁸ Keep your way far from her,
   and do not go near the door of her house;
⁹ or you will give your honour to others,
   and your years to the merciless,
¹⁰ and strangers will take their fill of your wealth,
   and your labours will go to the house of an alien;
¹¹ and at the end of your life you will groan,
   when your flesh and body are consumed,
¹² and you say, Oh, how I hated discipline,
   and my heart despised reproof!
¹³ I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
   or incline my ear to my instructors.
¹⁴ Now I am at the point of utter ruin
   in the public assembly.

¹⁵ Drink water from your own cistern,
   flowing water from your own well.
¹⁶ Should your springs be scattered abroad,
   streams of water in the streets?
¹⁷ Let them be for yourself alone,
   and not for sharing with strangers.
¹⁸ Let your fountain be blessed,
   and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
¹⁹   a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
May her breasts satisfy you at all times;
   may you be intoxicated always by her love.
²⁰ Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman
   and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
²¹ For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord,
   and he examines all their paths.
²² The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them,
   and they are caught in the toils of their sin.
²³ They die for lack of discipline,
   and because of their great folly they are lost.

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.