Receive the Gospel of Christ,
whose herald you now are.
Believe what you read,
teach what you believe,
and practice what you teach.
From Rite of Ordination of a Deacon
Lord, help me to always determine what is best
And this is my prayer,
that your love may overflow more and more
with knowledge and full insight
to help you to determine what is best,
so that on the day of Christ
you may be pure and blameless,
having produced the harvest of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.
that your love may overflow more and more
with knowledge and full insight
to help you to determine what is best,
so that on the day of Christ
you may be pure and blameless,
having produced the harvest of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1.9-11
Paul and the False Apostles
I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!
I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.
I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.
Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness.
Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness.
Their end will match their deeds.
2 Corinthians 11:1-11
May no suffering distract me from the Kingdom
The sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing
with the glory about to be revealed to us.
are not worth comparing
with the glory about to be revealed to us.
Romans 8:18
Lauds. Week 4,Thursday
May no suffering distract me from the Kingdom
The sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing
with the glory about to be revealed to us.
are not worth comparing
with the glory about to be revealed to us.
Romans 8:18
Lauds W4,Thu
Lord, transform me as you please
Do not conform yourselves to this age
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.
Brothers, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,
so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.
Brothers, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:2
Have we been bewitched so?
O stupid Galatians!
Who has bewitched you,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
I want to learn only this from you:
did you receive the Spirit from works of the law,
or from faith in what you heard?
Who has bewitched you,
before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
I want to learn only this from you:
did you receive the Spirit from works of the law,
or from faith in what you heard?
Are you so stupid?
After beginning with the Spirit,
are you now ending with the flesh?
After beginning with the Spirit,
are you now ending with the flesh?
Did you experience so many things in vain?
—if indeed it was in vain.
Does, then, the one
who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds among you
do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?
—if indeed it was in vain.
Does, then, the one
who supplies the Spirit to you and works mighty deeds among you
do so from works of the law or from faith in what you heard?
Galatians 3:1-5
Lord, may I aim only for peace and to strengthen the other
The kingdom of God
is not a matter of eating or drinking,
but of justice, peace, and the joy
that is given by the Holy Spirit.
Whoever serves Christ in this way
pleases God and wins the esteem of men.
Let us, then, make it our aim
to work for peace and to strengthen one another.
is not a matter of eating or drinking,
but of justice, peace, and the joy
that is given by the Holy Spirit.
Whoever serves Christ in this way
pleases God and wins the esteem of men.
Let us, then, make it our aim
to work for peace and to strengthen one another.
Romans 14:17-19
Naked I came...
"Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb,
and naked I shall go back again."
and naked I shall go back again."
Job 1:21; 2:10b
Lord, my gifts are yours for the Kingdom
"Those who are learned
will be as radiant as the sky in all its beauty;
those who instruct the people in goodness
will shine like the stars for all eternity."
will be as radiant as the sky in all its beauty;
those who instruct the people in goodness
will shine like the stars for all eternity."
The kingdom of God is justice, peace, and joy of the Holy Spirit.
is not a matter of eating or drinking,
but of justice, peace,
and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit.
and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit.
Whoever serves Christ in this way pleases God
and wins the esteem of men.
and wins the esteem of men.
Let us, then, make it our aim
to work for peace and to strengthen one another.
to work for peace and to strengthen one another.
Romans 14:17-19
Lord, may we always rest in you alone
May the all-powerful Lord
grant us a restful night
and a peaceful death. Amen.
grant us a restful night
and a peaceful death. Amen.
May we always do your will
May the love of your Holy Spirit direct our hearts and our lips,
and may we always act in accordance with your will.
and may we always act in accordance with your will.
May our lives may bear fruit abundantly.
Lord God, hope of all the earth,
hear the humble prayer of your children
as we sing your praises.
Pour out your Spirit on us
so that our lives may bear fruit abundantly.
hear the humble prayer of your children
as we sing your praises.
Pour out your Spirit on us
so that our lives may bear fruit abundantly.
(A Psalm Prayer)
May nothing separate us from the love of Christ
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Trial, or distress, or persecution, or hunger,
or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?
or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?
Yet in all this,
we are more than conquerors
because of him who has loved us.
we are more than conquerors
because of him who has loved us.
Romans 8:35, 37
May the Lord bless us...
May the Lord + bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.
May I ever yearn for you, O Lord
When I found your words, I devoured them;
they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,
Because I bore your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
they became my joy and the happiness of my heart,
Because I bore your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
Jeremiah 15:16
Seek first his kingdom
Each of you should give
what you have decided in your heart to give,
not reluctantly nor under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.
what you have decided in your heart to give,
not reluctantly nor under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver.
2 Corinthians 9.7
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6.33
Lord, make me a means of your goodness
You, my child, shall be called
the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord
to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
Luke 1:76-77
Cleanse me, O Lord, from all idols
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will put my spirit within you
and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart
and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you
and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
Ezekiel 36:25-27
Lord, how can we know the way?
Lord,
we do not know where you are going;
Jesus replied:
"I am the way, the truth and the life."
we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?
Jesus replied:
"I am the way, the truth and the life."
John 14.5-6a
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Ulysses
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,—
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
-30-
Lord, in your light we see light
Your love, Lord, reaches to heaven,
your truth to the skies.
Your justice is like God's mountain,
your judgments like the deep.
your truth to the skies.
Your justice is like God's mountain,
your judgments like the deep.
To both man and beast you give protection.
O Lord, how precious is your love.
My God, the sons of men
find refuge in the shelter of your wings.
find refuge in the shelter of your wings.
They feast on the riches of your house;
they drink from the stream of your delight.
In you is the source of life
and in your light we see light.
they drink from the stream of your delight.
In you is the source of life
and in your light we see light.
Psalm 36.6-10