Morning Prayer - 24th August 2020

It was a great pleasure to lead a short service of Morning Prayer today on the St Augustine's College of Theology Facebook page whilst on holiday in the Cotswolds. Please follow along by watching the video below.

Hello, welcome to a short service of Morning Prayer, from the Cotswolds. Today the church remembers Saint Bartholomew.

(From Exciting Holiness) It has long been assumed that Bartholomew is the same as Nathanael though it is not a certainty. The gospels speak of Philip bringing Nathanael to Jesus and calling him an Israelite worthy of the name. He is also present beside the Sea of Galilee at the resurrection. Although he seems initially a somewhat cynical man, he recognises Jesus for who he is and proclaims him as Son of God and King of Israel.

I will be using the abridged form of the Common Worship order of service and the readings set for this Feast Day - we'll catch up with King David in 2 Samuel and the Acts of the Apostles tomorrow, but today our readings the story of Jacob's Ladder from Genesis - the selection of which becomes obvious when we hear the last line of the Gospel reading scribing the call of Nathanael (or Bartholomew).

Let us pray.

O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Blessed are you, creator of all,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
As your dawn renews the face of the earth
bringing light and life to all creation,
may we rejoice in this day you have made;
as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep,
open our eyes to behold your presence
and strengthen our hands to do your will,
that the world may rejoice and give you praise.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.

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

Psalm 86
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, *
for I am poor and in misery.
Preserve my soul, for I am faithful; * save your servant, for I put my trust in you.
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; * I call upon you all the day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant, * for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 
For you, Lord, are good and forgiving, * abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer * and listen to the voice of my supplication.
In the day of my distress I will call upon you, * for you will answer me. 
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, * nor any works like yours.
All nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord, *and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wonderful things; * you alone are God. 
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; * knit my heart to you, that I may fear your name.
I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, * and glorify your name for evermore;
For great is your steadfast love towards me, * for you have delivered my soul from the depths of the grave. 
O God, the proud rise up against me and a ruthless horde seek after my life; * they have not set you before their eyes.
But you, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion, * slow to anger and full of kindness and truth.
Turn to me and have mercy upon me; * give your strength to your servant and save the child of your handmaid.
Show me a token of your favour, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; * because you, O Lord, have helped and comforted me.

Psalm 117
O praise the Lord, all you nations; * praise him, all you peoples.
For great is his steadfast love towards us, * and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever. Alleluia.

Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Genesis 28.10-17
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

John 1.43-51
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

The Benedictus
Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, * who has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty Saviour, * born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets God promised of old * to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all that hate us,
To show mercy to our ancestors, * and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham: * to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear, * holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.
And you, 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 all their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God * the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Prayers 
Almighty God, you have blessed us and are with us each day.
Help us, wherever we are, to see, like Jacob, how awesome this place is;
May our thoughts and actions today be worthy of our presence in the house of God; the gate of heaven; 

We pray for those who are taking their first steps on the ladder today; excited or daunted by doing so. For those who find themselves at the bottom of the ladder again, despite a hard climb yesterday; for those who feel stuck in the middle, weighed down by heavy loads, those who feel too sick or too weak to carry on. We pray for those who are scared of heights and in need of a helping hand and for all those who have climbed out of sight and we see no longer.

By the power of your Spirit, strengthen us all on our journey today, helping us to tread the steps you have put before us, towards your eternal Kingdom. 

Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer 

The apostle Nathanael asked "Can anything good come out of Nazareth" but after seeing our Saviour declared him to be the Son of God, the King of Israel.

Lord, may the light of your love shine on the darkness of our lives, to help us to see our cynicism, our prejudices and our judgements and, by your grace, like Nathanael, may we come to see greater things than these.

May each of us be open to your presence; to hear the Good News of your unconditional love, unchanging purpose and unending mercy.

Help us today to hear the call of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, and follow Him.

Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer 

Collect

Almighty and everlasting God,
who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace
      truly to believe and to preach your word:
grant that your Church
may love that word which he believed
and may faithfully preach and receive the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

The Conclusion 

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil,
and keep us in eternal life.
Amen

Let us bless the Lord. 
Thanks be to God.

Thank you for joining me for Morning Prayer. I hope you have a wonderful day and week ahead.