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Thursday after the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

MorningEvening

The Collect of the Day

Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

George Herbert

Almighty God, who called your servant George Herbert from the pursuit of worldly honors to be a poet and a pastor of souls: Give us grace, we pray, joyfully to dedicate all our powers to your service; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalms

131

Domine, non estBCP p. 785

1O Lord, I am not proud; *I have no haughty looks.

2I do not occupy myself with great matters, *or with things that are too hard for me.

3But I still my soul and make it quiet, like a child upon its mother’s breast; *my soul is quieted within me.

4O Israel, wait upon the Lord, *from this time forth for evermore.

132

Memento, DomineBCP p. 785

1Lord, remember David, *and all the hardships he endured;

2How he swore an oath to the Lord *and vowed a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3“I will not come under the roof of my house, *nor climb up into my bed;

4I will not allow my eyes to sleep, *nor let my eyelids slumber;

5Until I find a place for the Lord, *a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

6“The ark! We heard it was in Ephratah; *we found it in the fields of Jearim.

7Let us go to God’s dwelling place; *let us fall upon our knees before his footstool.”

8Arise, O Lord, into your resting-place, *you and the ark of your strength.

9Let your priests be clothed with righteousness; *let your faithful people sing with joy.

10For your servant David’s sake, *do not turn away the face of your Anointed.

11The Lord has sworn an oath to David; *in truth, he will not break it:

12“A son, the fruit of your body *will I set upon your throne.

13If your children keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, *their children will sit upon your throne for evermore.”

14For the Lord has chosen Zion; *he has desired her for his habitation:

15“This shall be my resting-place for ever; *here will I dwell, for I delight in her.

16I will surely bless her provisions, *and satisfy her poor with bread.

17I will clothe her priests with salvation, *and her faithful people will rejoice and sing.

18There will I make the horn of David flourish; *I have prepared a lamp for my Anointed.

19As for his enemies, I will clothe them with shame; *but as for him, his crown will shine.”

133

Ecce, quam bonum!BCP p. 787

1Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *when brethren live together in unity!

2It is like fine oil upon the head *that runs down upon the beard,

3Upon the beard of Aaron, *and runs down upon the collar of his robe.

4It is like the dew of Hermon *that falls upon the hills of Zion.

5For there the Lord has ordained the blessing: *life for evermore.

Daily Office Readings

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Ruth 2:14-23

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat some of this bread, and dip your morsel in the sour wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he heaped up for her some parched grain. She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. 15 When she got up to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, “Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles, and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.” 17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. 18 She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over after she herself had been satisfied. 19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” 20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the Lord, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.” 21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay close by my servants, until they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, otherwise you might be bothered in another field.” 23 So she stayed close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

2 Cor. 3:1-18

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; 3 and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, 8 how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! 10 Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; 11 for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory! 12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, 13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. 14 But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. 15 Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; 16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

Matt. 5:27-37

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.