Prayer & Praise/ Praying Through The Pandemic

The Collect

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Jeremiah 20:7-13

O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot. For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” say all my close friends, watching for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.” But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.

Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

Psalm 69:1-18

Save me, O God, * for the waters have come up even to my neck.

I sink down in the deep mire, where there is no ground; * I have come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me.

I am weary of crying; my throat is dry; * my sight fails me from waiting so long for my God.

Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; * those who are my enemies, and would destroy me wrongfully, are mighty.

They bid me restore things I never took. * O God, you know my foolishness, and my faults are not hidden from you.

Let not those who trust in you, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; * let not those who seek you be confounded through me, O God of Israel.

Surely for your sake have I suffered reproach; * shame has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my brethren, * unknown to my mother’s children,

Because zeal for your house has consumed me, * and the reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me.

I wept, and humbled myself with fasting, * but that was turned to my reproach.

I put on sackcloth also, * and I became a byword among them.

Those who sit in the gate speak against me, * and the drunkards make songs about me.

But, Lord, I make my prayer to you * in an acceptable time.

Hear me, O God, in the multitude of your mercy, * even in the truth of your salvation.

Take me out of the mire, lest I sink; * O let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.

Let not the floodwaters drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up, * and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me.

Hear me, O Lord, for your loving-kindness is good; * turn to me according to the multitude of your mercies;

And hide not your face from your servant, for I am in trouble; * O hasten and hear me.

+Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end.  Amen

Romans 5:15-19

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Matthew 10:16-33

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.