Morning Song - Wednesday after Proper 5

Pentecost - Wednesday Invitation

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


The Lord is in his ho-ly tem-ple;
let all the earth keep si-lence be-fore him
I was glad when they said to me,
Let us go to the house of the Lord.

Let the words of my mouth
and the med-i-ta-tion of my heart
be ac-cep-ta-ble in your sight, O Lord,
my strength and my re-deem-er.

Thus says the high and loft-y One
who in-hab-its e-ter-ni-ty,
whose name is Ho-ly,
I dwell in the high and ho-ly place

Send out your light
and your truth, that they may lead me,
and bring me to your ho-ly hill
and to your dwel-ling place.

Give thanks to the Lord, and call up-on his Name;
make known his deeds a-mong the peo-ples.
Lord, o-pen our lips.
And our mouth shall pro-claim your praise.

Glo-ry to the Fath-er, and to the Son,
and to the Ho-ly Spi-rit:
as it was in the be-gin-ning, is now,
and will be for ev-er. A-men.

Wednesday - Venite

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


Come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our sal-va-tion.
Let us come be-fore his pres-ence with thanks-giv-ing
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God,
and a great King a-bove all gods.
In his hand are the cav-erns of the earth,
and the heights of the hills are his al-so.

The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands have mold-ed the dry land.
Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee,
and kneel be-fore the Lord our Mak-er.

For he is our God,
and we are the peo-ple of his pas-ture
and the sheep of his hand.
Oh, that to-day you would heark-en to his voice!

Psalm 72

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


O God, grant the king
the a-bil-i-ty to make just de-ci-sions!
Grant the king's son
the a-bil-i-ty to make fair de-ci-sions!

Then he will judge your peo-ple fair-ly,
and your op-pressed ones eq-ui-ta-bly.
The moun-tains will bring news of peace to the peo-ple,
and the hills will an-nounce jus-tice.

He will de-fend the op-pressed a-mong the peo-ple;
he will de-liv-er the chil-dren of the poor and crush the op-pres-sor.
Peo-ple will fear you
as long as the sun and moon re-main in the sky,

For gen-er-a-tion af-ter gen-er-a-tion,
He will de-scend like rain on the mown grass,
like show-ers that drench the earth.
Dur-ing his days the god-ly will flour-ish;

Peace will pre-vail
as long as the moon re-mains in the sky.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the Eu-phra-tes Riv-er to the ends of the earth!

Be-fore him the coast-lands will bow down,
and his en-e-mies will lick the dust.
The kings of Tar-shish and the coast lands will of-fer gifts;
the kings of She-bah and Se-bah will bring trib-ute.

All kings will bow down to him;
all na-tions will serve him.
For he will res-cue the need-y when they cry out for help,
and the op-pressed who have no de-fend-er.

He will take pit-y on the poor and need-y;
the lives of the need-y he will save.
From harm and vio-lence he will de-fend them;
he will val-ue their lives.

May he live! May they of-fer him gold from She-bah!
May they con-tin-ual-ly pray for him!
May they pro-nounce bles-sings on him all day long!
May there be an a-bun-dance of grain in the earth;

On the tops of the moun-tains may it sway!
May its fruit trees flour-ish like the for-ests of Leb-a-non!
May his fame en-dure!
May its crops be as a-bun-dant as the grass of the earth!

May his dy-nas-ty last
as long as the sun re-mains in the sky!
May they use his name when they make their bles-sings!
May all na-tions con-sid-er him to be fa-vored by God!

The Lord God, the God of Is-ra-el, de-serves praise!
He a-lone ac-com-plish-es a-maz-ing things!
His glo-ri-ous name de-serves praise for-ev-er-more!
May his ma-jes-tic splen-dor fill the whole earth!

Al-le-lu-ia! A-men!
Let us praise the Lord our God!
His glo-ri-ous name de-serves praise for-ev-er-more!
May his ma-jes-tic splen-dor fill the whole earth!

Glo-ry to the Fath-er, and to the Son,
and to the Ho-ly Spi-rit:
as it was in the be-gin-ning, is now,
and will be for ev-er. A-men.


A reading from Ecclesiastes 9:11-18


Again, I observed this on the earth:
the race is not always won by the swiftest,
the battle is not always won by the strongest;
prosperity does not always belong to those who are the wisest,
wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning,
nor does success always come to those with the most knowledge –
for time and chance may overcome them all.

Surely, no one knows his appointed time!
Like fish that are caught in a deadly net, and like birds that are caught in a snare –
just like them, all people are ensnared at an unfortunate time that falls upon them suddenly.


This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth,
and it is a great burden to me:


There was once a small city with a few men in it,
and a mighty king attacked it, besieging it and building strong siege works against it.


However, a poor but wise man lived in the city,
and he could have delivered the city by his wisdom,
but no one listened to that poor man.


So I concluded that wisdom is better than might,
but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens to his advice.


The words of the wise are heard in quiet,
more than the shouting of a ruler is heard among fools.


Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner can destroy much that is good.


Here ends the reading.
Thanks be to God!

Wednesday - Third Song of Isaiah

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


A-rise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glo-ry of the Lord has dawned up-on you.
For be-hold, dark-ness co-vers the land;
deep gloom en-shrouds the peo-ples.

But o-ver you the Lord will rise,
and his glo-ry will ap-pear up-on you.
Na-tions will stream to your light,
and kings to the bright-ness of your dawn-ing.

Your gates will al-ways be o-pen;
by day or night they will nev-er be shut.
They will call you, The Cit-y of the Lord,
The Zi-on of the Ho-ly One of Is-ra-el.

Vio-lence will no more be heard in your land,
ru-in or de-struc-tion with-in your bor-ders.
You will call your wall, Sal-va-tion,
and all your por-tals, Praise.

The sun will no more be your light by day;
by night you will not need the bright-ness of the moon.
The Lord will be your ev-er-last-ing light,
and your God will be your glo-ry.

Glo-ry to the Fath-er, and to the Son,
and to the Ho-ly Spi-rit:
as it was in the be-gin-ning, is now,
and will be for ev-er. A-men.


A reading from Galatians 5:1-15

For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all!And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love.

You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you! A little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise! I am confident in the Lord that you will accept no other view. But the one who is confusing you will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. Now, brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those agitators would go so far as to castrate themselves!

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself. ” However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.

Here ends the reading.
Thanks be to God!

Wednesday - Song of Zechariah

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


Bless-ed be the Lord, the God of Is-ra-el;
he has come to his peo-ple and set them free.
He has raised up for us a might-y sav-ior,
born of the house of his serv-ant Da-vid.

Through his ho-ly proph-ets he prom-ised of old,
that he would save us from our en-e-mies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He prom-ised to show mer-cy to our fath-ers

and to re-mem-ber his ho-ly cov-e-nant.
This was the oath he swore to our fath-er A-bra-ham,
to set us free from the hands of our en-e-mies,
Free to wor-ship him with-out fear,

ho-ly and right-eous in his sight
all the days of our life.
And you, my child, shall be called
the proph-et of the Most High,

for you will go be-fore the Lord to pre-pare his way,
To give his peo-ple knowl-edge of sal-va-tion
by the for-give-ness of their sins.
In the ten-der com-pas-sion of our God

the dawn from on high shall break up-on us,
To shine on those who dwell in dark-ness
and the shad-ow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glo-ry to the Fath-er, and to the Son,
and to the Ho-ly Spi-rit:
as it was in the be-gin-ning, is now,
and will be for ev-er. A-men.

Wednesday Creed

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


We be-lieve in God, the Fath-er al-might-y,
cre-a-tor of heav-en and earth.
We be-lieve in Je-sus Christ,
his on-ly son, our Lord.

He was con-ceived by the pow-er of the Ho-ly Spi-rit
and born of the Vir-gin Ma-ry.
He suf-fered un-der Pon-tius Pi-late,
was cru-ci-fied, died, and was bur-ied.

He de-scend-ed to the dead.
On the third day he rose a-gain.
He a-scend-ed into heav-en,
and is seat-ed at the right hand of the Fath-er.

He will come a-gain
to judge the liv-ing and the dead.
We be-lieve in the Ho-ly Spi-rit,
the ho-ly cath-o-lic Church,

the com-mun-ion of saints,
the for-give-ness of sins,
the res-ur-rec-tion of the bod-y,
and the life ev-er-last-ing. A-men.

Wednesday - Our Father

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


The Lord be with you.
And al-so with you. A-men.
Our Fath-er in heav-en,
hal-low-ed be your Name.

Your king-dom come,
your will be done, on earth as in heav-en.
Give us to-day our dai-ly bread.
For-give us our sins as we for-give those who sin a-gainst us.

Save us from the time of tri-al,
and de-liv-er us from e-vil.
For the king-dom, the pow-er, and the glo-ry are yours,
now and for ev-er. A-men.

Wednesday - Suffrages A

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All   


Show us your mer-cy, O Lord;
And grant us your sal-va-tion.
Clothe your min-is-ters with right-eous-ness;
Let your peo-ple sing with joy.

Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For on-ly in you can we live in safe-ty.
Lord, keep this na-tion un-der your care;
And guide us in the way of jus-tice and truth.

Let your way be known up-on earth;
Your sav-ing health a-mong all na-tions.
Let not the need-y, O Lord, be for-got-ten;
Nor the hope of the poor be tak-en a-way.

Cre-ate in us clean hearts, O God;
And sus-tain us with your Ho-ly Spi-rit.
Show us your mer-cy, O Lord;
And grant us your sal-va-tion.

Collect of the Day

Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, in your divine providence you have appointed various orders in your Church: Give your grace, we humbly pray, to all who are [now] called to any office and ministry for your people; and so fill them with the truth of your doctrine and clothe them with holiness of life, that they may faithfully serve before you, to the glory of your great Name and for the benefit of your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. 

Amen.

A Collect for Grace

O Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

A Prayer for Mission

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Amen.

General Thanksgiving

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All     


Al-might-y God, Fa-ther of all mer-cies,
we your un-wor-thy serv-ants give you hum-ble thanks
for all your good-ness and lov-ing kind-ness
to us and to all whom you have made.

We bless you for our cre-a-tion, pres-er-va-tion,
and all the bles-sings of this life;
but a-bove all for your im-meas-ur-a-ble love
in the re-demp-tion of the world by our Lord Je-sus Christ;

for the means of grace, and for the hope of glo-ry.
And, we pray, give us such an a-ware-ness of your mer-cy,
that with tru-ly thank-ful hearts
we may show forth your praise,

not on-ly with our lips, but in our lives,
by giv-ing up our selves to your ser-vice,
and by walk-ing be-fore you
in ho-li-ness and right-eous-ness all our days;

through Je-sus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Ho-ly Spi-rit,
be ho-nor and glo-ry
through-out all the ag-es. A-men.

Wednesday - Closing Blessings

Tenor     Soprano     Response     Cantor     Bass     Alto     All     


The grace of our Lord Je-sus Christ,
and the love of God our Fath-er,
and the fel-low-ship of the Ho-ly Spi-rit,
be with us all ev-er-more. A-men.

Thanks be to God!
May the God of hope fill us
with all joy and peace in be-liev-ing
through the pow-er of the Ho-ly Spi-rit. A-men.

Music from the Vox Barnabas Psalter, a collection of 60 Chant Scores by John Johansen, 

released to Public Domain March 30, 2020.

Scriptures from the New English Translation (NET) Bible, used with permission.