Cantica Gaudia

Season of Epiphany: Thursday Morning Prayer

Opening:  Teach me to do what pleases you, for you are my God.  Let your kindly spirit lead me on a level path.

Canticle: Though in the form of God,
Christ Jesus did not cling to equality with God,
But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,
And was born in human likeness.
Being found in human form, he humbled himself
And became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Therefore, God has highly exalted him
And given him the name above every name,
That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow,
In heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
To the glory of God the Father.

Psalm: When you bring us out from enclosure
We will be like dreamers
Our heads thrown back with laughter
Our throats vibrating with song
And the others will say

Yes
Great happenings
Have happened to them
The ones who have struggled
Long with their questions

Yes
Great things would have happened to us
And we would be dizzy with the joy of them
Drunk on water in an arid land
Our tears our joy’s seed
We’d go out weeping
And come back singing
Our arms full of sheaves

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: My heart is cloven and a flower appears;
Grace springs up and fruit from you, Lord.
You, the Highest One, split me with your Holy Spirit,
Expose my love for you and fill me with your love.
Your splitting of my heart is my salvation
And I follow the way of your peace, the way of truth.
From the beginning to the end I received your knowledge
And sit on the rock of truth where you place me.
Speaking waters come near my lips
From the vast fountain of you, Lord.
I drink and am drunk with the living water that never dies,
And my drunkenness gives me knowledge.
I turned off vanity, turned to you, my God,
And your bounty makes me rich.
I throw off the madness of the earth,
I strip it from me and cast it away.

The Lord’s Prayer: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
Sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
Now and for ever.  Amen.

Prayer: O God of my heart and understanding, be alive in me this day.  Nourish me and challenge me.  Show me how to ask and how to receive from you.  Be in me, with me, beside me, around me.  Open my heart in a way that will support your purpose for my life.  Amen.

Collect:  Holy Wisdom, in your loving-kindness you created and restored us when we were lost: inspire us with your truth, that we may love you with our whole minds, and run to you with open hearts.  Through Christ our Savior, we ask it.  Amen.

Going forth: The wisdom of God, the love of God, and the grace of God strengthen us to be Christ’s hands and heart in the world today, in the name of the Trinity.  Amen.