Daily Offices

Friday January 24 - Morning
Friday January 24 - Evening

ANZPB Online
The Lectionary - Year C - 2024
New Zealand Prayer Book Daily Prayer - Bosco Peters

Friday January 24 - Morning

Recommended liturgies
ANZPB pp84-87 or pp128-130

The readings are those set for Morning Prayer for January 24.

Psalm 27
Hosea 1:1-2:1
1 Corinthians 8
Collect

Psalm 27

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—
 whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
 of whom shall I be afraid?

² When the wicked advance against me
 to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
 who will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me,
 my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
 even then I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I ask from the Lord,
 this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
 all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
 and to seek him in his temple.
⁵ For in the day of trouble
 he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
 and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
 above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
 I will sing and make music to the Lord.

⁷ Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
 be merciful to me and answer me.
⁸ My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
 Your face, Lord, I will seek.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
 do not turn your servant away in anger;
 you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
 God my Savior.
¹⁰ Though my father and mother forsake me,
 the Lord will receive me.
¹¹ Teach me your way, Lord;
 lead me in a straight path
 because of my oppressors.
¹² Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
 for false witnesses rise up against me,
 spouting malicious accusations.

¹³ I remain confident of this:
 I will see the goodness of the Lord
 in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
 be strong and take heart
 and wait for the Lord.

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.

Hosea 1:1-2:1

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel:

² When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” ³ So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. ⁵ In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”

⁶ Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. ⁷ Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them — not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”

⁸ After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. ⁹ Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.

¹⁰ “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ¹¹ The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

^{[2] 1} Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

1 Corinthians 8

¹ Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. ² Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. ³ But whoever loves God is known by God.

⁴ So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” ⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), ⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

⁷ But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸ But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

⁹ Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

Collect

Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the povery of our nature
by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make know by your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Daily Office SSF, p175.

Friday January 24 - Evening

Eve of the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul

Recommended liturgies
ANZPB pp87-89 or pp130-132

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

Psalm 149
Isaiah 49:1-13
Acts 22:3-16
Collect

Psalm 149

¹ Praise the Lord.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
 his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.

² Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
 let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
³ Let them praise his name with dancing
 and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
⁴ For the Lord takes delight in his people;
 he crowns the humble with victory.
⁵ Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
 and sing for joy on their beds.

⁶ May the praise of God be in their mouths
 and a double-edged sword in their hands,
⁷ to inflict vengeance on the nations
 and punishment on the peoples,
⁸ to bind their kings with fetters,
 their nobles with shackles of iron,
⁹ to carry out the sentence written against them—
 this is the glory of all his faithful people.

Praise the Lord.

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 49:1-13

¹ Listen to me, you islands;
 hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the Lord called me;
 from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
² He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
 in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
 and concealed me in his quiver.
³ He said to me, “You are my servant,
 Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain;
 I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,
 and my reward is with my God.”

⁵ And now the Lord says—
 he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
 and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
 and my God has been my strength—
⁶ he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
 to restore the tribes of Jacob
 and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
 that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

⁷ This is what the Lord says—
 the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
 to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
 princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
 the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

⁸ This is what the Lord says:

“In the time of my favor I will answer you,
 and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
 to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
 and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
⁹ to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
 and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’

“They will feed beside the roads
 and find pasture on every barren hill.
¹⁰ They will neither hunger nor thirst,
 nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them.
He who has compassion on them will guide them
 and lead them beside springs of water.
¹¹ I will turn all my mountains into roads,
 and my highways will be raised up.
¹² See, they will come from afar—
 some from the north, some from the west,
 some from the region of Aswan.”

¹³ Shout for joy, you heavens;
 rejoice, you earth;
 burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
 and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Acts 22:3-16

³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵ as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

⁸ “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. ⁹ My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

¹⁰ “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’ ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

¹² “A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. ¹³ He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

¹⁴ “Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. ¹⁵ You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

Collect

Almighty God
who cause the light of the gospel
to shine throughout the world
through the preaching of your servant Saint Paul:
grant that we who celebrate his wonderful conversion
may follow him in bearing witness to your truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen.