OREMUS: 5 March 2007

Mon Mar 5 17:28:12 GMT 2007

OREMUS for Monday, March 5, 2007
O God, make speed to save us;
O Lord, make haste to help us.

Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy:

you accepted the sacrifice of your Son,
who have himself up for the sake of all.
You train us by his teaching
and school us in his obedience,
that as we walk his way of sacrifice,
we may come to share in your glory.
For these and all your mercies, we praise you:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Blessed be God for ever!

An opening canticle may be sung.

Psalm 65
You are to be praised, O God, in Zion;*
  to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.
To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come,*
  because of their transgressions.
Our sins are stronger than we are,*
  but you will blot them out.
Happy are they whom you choose
    and draw to your courts to dwell there!*
  they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house,
    by the holiness of your temple.
Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness,
    O God of our salvation,*
  O Hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the seas that are far away.
You make fast the mountains by your power;*
  they are girded about with might.
You still the roaring of the seas,*
  the roaring of their waves,
    and the clamour of the peoples.
Those who dwell at the ends of the earth
    will tremble at your marvellous signs;*
  you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.
You visit the earth and water it abundantly;
    you make it very plenteous;*
  the river of God is full of water.
You prepare the grain,*
  for so you provide for the earth.
You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges;*
  with heavy rain you soften the ground
    and bless its increase.
You crown the year with your goodness,*
  and your paths overflow with plenty.
May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing,*
  and the hills be clothed with joy.
May the meadows cover themselves with flocks
    and the valleys cloak themselves with grain;*
  let them shout for joy and sing.

Psalm 110:1-5
The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right hand,*
  until I make your enemies your footstool.’
The Lord will send the sceptre of your power
    out of Zion,*
  saying, ‘Rule over your enemies round about you.
‘Princely state has been yours
    from the day of your birth,*
  in the beauty of holiness have I begotten you,
    like dew from the womb of the morning.’
The Lord has sworn and he will not recant:*
  ‘You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’

A Song of Humility (Hosea 6:1-6)

Come, let us return to the Lord
who has torn us and will heal us.

God has stricken us
and will bind up our wounds.

After two days, he will revive us,
and on the third day will raise us up,
that we may live in his presence.

Let us strive to know the Lord;
his appearing is as sure as the sunrise.

He will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.

'O Ephraim, how shall I deal with you?
How shall I deal with you, O Judah?

'Your love for me is like the morning mist,
like the dew that goes early away.

'Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets,
and my judgement goes forth as the light.

'For loyalty is my desire and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.'

Psalm 150
Praise God in his holy temple;*
  praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts;*
  praise him for his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the blast of the ram’s-horn;*
  praise him with lyre and harp.
Praise him with timbrel and dance;*
  praise him with strings and pipe.
Praise him with resounding cymbals;*
  praise him with loud-clanging cymbals.
Let everything that has breath*
  praise the Lord.

FIRST READING [Exodus 33:1-6]:

The Lord said to Moses, 'Go, leave this place, you and the people whom you 
have brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land of which I 
swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, "To your descendants I will 
give it." I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the 
Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and 
the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not 
go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a 
stiff-necked people.'

When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on 
ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, "You are 
a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I 
would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what 
to do to you." ' Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their 
ornaments, from Mount Horeb onwards.

HYMN
Words: Dieter Trautwein (1928-); translated by Fred Kaan (1929-) ©
Tune: Resignation

http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/t/t 698.html
Hit "Back" in your browser to return to Oremus.

Bless, and keep us, God, in your love united,
from your family never separated.
You make all things new as we follow after;
whether tears or laughter, we belong to you.

Blessing shrivels up when your children hoard it;
move us then to share, for we can afford it:
blessing only grows in the act of sharing,
in a life of caring; love that heals and grows.

Fill your world with peace, such as you intended.
Teach us to prize the earth, love, replenish, tend it.
God, uplift, fulfill all who sow in sadness,
let them reap with gladness, by your kingdom thrilled.

You renew our life, changing tears to laughter;
we belong to you, so we follow after.
Bless and keep us, God, in your love united,
never separated from your living Word.

SECOND READING [Romans 4:1-12]:

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to 
the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast 
about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? 'Abraham 
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.' Now to one who 
works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one 
who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is 
reckoned as righteousness. So also David speaks of the blessedness of those 
to whom God reckons righteousness irrespective of works:
'Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.'

Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on 
the uncircumcised? We say, 'Faith was reckoned to Abraham as 
righteousness.' How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he 
had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He 
received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he 
had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him 
the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have 
righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the 
circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of 
the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

The Benedictus (Morning), the Magnificat (Evening), or Nunc dimittis 
(Night) may follow.

Prayer:
Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance,
Govern and uphold them now and always.

Day by day, we bless you;
We praise your name for ever.

Keep us today, Lord, from all sin;
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.

We long for your salvation, O Lord:
grant us understanding, that we may live.

Lord, show us your love and mercy,
For we put our trust in you.

In you, Lord, is our hope:
Let us not be confounded at the last

Let your Spirit, O Lord, come into the midst of us
to wash us with the pure water of repentance,
and prepare us to be always a living sacrifice to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Trusting in the compassion of God,
let us pray as our Savior taught us:

- The Lord's Prayer

Help us, O God, to be obedient to your call
to love all your children,
to do justice and show mercy,
and to live in peace with your whole creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The psalms and the invitation to the Lord's Prayer are from Celebrating 
Common Prayer (Mowbray), © The Society of Saint Francis 1992, which is used 
with permission.

The biblical passage is from The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized 
Edition), copyright © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of 
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by 
permission. All rights reserved.

The opening prayer of thanksgiving adapts phrases from Opening Prayers: 
Collects in Contemporary Language. Canterbury Press, Norwich, 1999.