Cantica Gaudia

Season of Easter: Thursday Morning Prayer

Opening: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Canticle: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
Because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted.
The Lord has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted
To proclaim liberty for the captives, and release for those in prison,
To comfort all who mourn
To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
A garment of splendor for the heavy heart.
They shall be called trees of righteousness,
Planted for the glory of the Lord.
Therefore I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall exult in my God,
For God has robed me with salvation as a garment,
And clothed me with integrity as a cloak.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
And as a garden causes the seeds to spring up
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
To spring forth before all the nations.

Psalm: All the earth and all that fills it belongs to you
And the earth and all that lives is yours
For you have arrayed it upon the dark waters
Upon the rivers you have set it firm

Who shall ascend your mountain?
Who shall stand in the place where you stand?

The one with open hands
The one with a quiet heart
The one whose soul is not lifted up with lies
Nor deceit, seduction, or heedlessness

That one will be moved along with your blessing
Will be fortified with your rightness
And will be kept whole

This is the circle of those who love you
Who search out your presence
Jacob’s family: those who journey

Raise your heads, gates!
Be raised wide, everlasting doors
And let the fire enter!
What is this fire?
It is you, powerful and final
Decisive in all things

Raise up your heads, gates!
Raise open wide, everlasting doors
And let the fire in!
What is this fire?
All in all, this is the fire
All in all, this is what burns ever bright.

Glory be to God, who made us, who bears our pain, and who loves us
As it was in the beginning, is now and will be always.  Amen.

Reading: He is sweet that way, trying to coax the world to dance.

Look how the wind holds the trees in its hands helping them to sway.

Look how the sky takes the fields and the oceans and our bodies in its arms, and moves all beings towards His lips.

God must get hungry for us; why is He not also a lover who wants His lovers near?

Beauty is my teacher, helping me to know He cares for me.

The Lord’s Prayer: Seed and source,
Far in the distance and in our souls,
You are holy and make us whole.
May we perceive your divine will
That loved us into being
Help us to join your creative force
And let it prosper here.
Give us what we need to survive,
And release us from our transgressions
As we release others from theirs.
Keep us away from paths of destruction
And from those who would ruin what you have made,
For you are the matrix of life, love and wisdom,
Now and forever.  Amen.

Prayer: Glorious God, everything that is given to us rains forth out of the abundance of your love, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless our gifts and our lives together that all we are and all we offer give glory to you; in the name of Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen.

Collect:  Lord of the dawn, revealed to women of courage and men of doubt: take us from the empty places where death holds power to the rising of your love as light for all the world; in Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life.  Amen.

Going Forth: Lord, you see us as we are. Breathe into our minds and hearts the passion of your love.