Prayer & Praise

COLLECT

O God, you show your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

 ISAIAH 57:14-21

And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
remove every obstruction from my people’s way.”

 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.
 For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before me,
and the breath of life that I made.
 Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,
I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
    creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
“and I will heal him.
 But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
for it cannot be quiet,
and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

PSALM 22:23-31

O praise the Lord, you that fear him; magnify him, all you seed of Jacob, and fear him, all you seed of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the low estate of the poor; he has not hidden his face from him, but when he called unto him, he heard him. My praise is of you in the great congregation; my vows will I perform in the sight of those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek after the Lord shall praise him; may your hearts live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember, and be turned unto the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he is the Governor among the peoples. All those who sleep in the earth, how shall they worship him? All those who go down into the dust, how shall they kneel before him? But my life shall be preserved in his sight, and my children shall worship him; they shall tell of the Lord to the generations to come; And to a people yet unborn shall they declare his righteousness, that he hath brought it to pass.

EPHESIANS 2:11-22

 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.  And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.  For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God bythe Spirit.

MARK 6:30-44

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.