Daily Offices

Friday September 20 - Morning
Friday September 20 - Evening

How to pray the Daily Office using the New Zealand Prayerbook

A New Zealand Prayer Book Online Edition

2023-2024 Lectionary Year B [PDF]

Friday September 20 - Morning

John Coleridge Patteson

Recommended liturgies
ANZPB pp87-89 or pp130-132

The readings are those set for Morning Prayer for September 20.

Psalm 51
1 Kings 18:21-46
Acts 21:1-16
Collect

Psalm 51

¹Have mercy on me, O God,
 according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
 blot out my transgressions.
²Wash away all my iniquity
 and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions,
 and my sin is always before me.
⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned
 and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
 and justified when you judge.
⁵Surely I was sinful at birth,
 sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
⁶Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
 you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
 wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;
 let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from my sins
 and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰Create in me a pure heart, O God,
 and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me from your presence
 or take your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation
 and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
 so that sinners will turn back to you.
¹⁴Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
 you who are God my Savior,
 and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
¹⁵Open my lips, Lord,
 and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
 you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
¹⁷My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
 a broken and contrite heart
 you, God, will not despise.

¹⁸May it please you to prosper Zion,
 to build up the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
 in burnt offerings offered whole;
 then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and shall be for ever. Amen.

1 Kings 18:21-46

²¹Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

²²Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. ²³Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. ²⁴Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire — he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

²⁵Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” ²⁶So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

²⁷At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” ²⁸So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. ²⁹Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

³⁰Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. ³¹Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” ³²With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. ³³He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

³⁴“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. ³⁵The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

³⁶At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. ³⁷Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

³⁸Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

³⁹When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord — he is God! The Lord — he is God!”

⁴⁰Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

⁴¹And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” ⁴²So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

⁴³“Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.

“There is nothing there,” he said.

Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”

⁴⁴The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”

So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

⁴⁵Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. ⁴⁶The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

Acts 21:1-16

¹After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara. ²We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. ³After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. ⁴We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. ⁵When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way. All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city, and there on the beach we knelt to pray. ⁶After saying goodbye to each other, we went aboard the ship, and they returned home.

⁷We continued our voyage from Tyre and landed at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day. ⁸Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. ⁹He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

¹²When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

¹⁵After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples.

Collect

God of the southern isles and seas,
we remember with thanksgiving your servant John Patteson,
whose life was taken by those
for whom he would freely have given it;
grant us the same courage in extending your gospel
and readiness to share our life with others,
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Friday September 20 - Evening

Eve of the Feast of St Matthew

Recommended liturgies
ANZPB pp87-89 or pp130-132

The readings are those set for the Eve of the Feast of St Matthew.

Psalm 34
Isaiah 33:13-17
Matthew 6:19-34
Collect

Psalm 34

¹ I will extol the Lord at all times;
 his praise will always be on my lips.
² I will glory in the Lord;
 let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
³ Glorify the Lord with me;
 let us exalt his name together.

⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
 he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
 their faces are never covered with shame.
⁶ This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
 he saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
 and he delivers them.

⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good;
 blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
⁹ Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
 for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
 but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
 I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
 and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
 and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
 seek peace and pursue it.

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
 and his ears are attentive to their cry;
¹⁶ but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
 to blot out their name from the earth.

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
 he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
 and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
 but the Lord delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
 not one of them will be broken.

²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
 the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
²² The Lord will rescue his servants;
 no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Isaiah 33:13-17

¹³ You who are far away, hear what I have done;
 you who are near, acknowledge my power!
¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are terrified;
 trembling grips the godless:
“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?
 Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
¹⁵ Those who walk righteously
 and speak what is right,
who reject gain from extortion
 and keep their hands from accepting bribes,
who stop their ears against plots of murder
 and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—
¹⁶ they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,
 whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
Their bread will be supplied,
 and water will not fail them.

¹⁷ Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.

Matthew 6:19-34

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Collect for the Feast of St Matthew

Gracious and eternal God
through your Son Jesus Christ
you called Matthew from his place of business
to be an apostle and evangelist
free us all from greed and selfish love of money
the we may follow in the steps
of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Amen.