MIDNIGHT PRAYER (Matins)

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Psalm 80

1-2 Listen, Shepherd, Israel’s Shepherd—
    get all your Joseph sheep together.
Throw beams of light
    from your dazzling throne
So Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh
    can see where they’re going.
Get out of bed—you’ve slept long enough!
    Come on the run before it’s too late.

3 God, come back!
    Smile your blessing smile:
    That will be our salvation.

4-6 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    how long will you smolder like a sleeping volcano
    while your people call for fire and brimstone?
You put us on a diet of tears,
    bucket after bucket of salty tears to drink.
You make us look ridiculous to our friends;
    our enemies poke fun day after day.

7 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!
    Smile your blessing smile:
        That will be our salvation.
8-18 Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt,
    cleared out the brambles and briers
    and planted your very own vineyard?
You prepared the good earth,
    you planted her roots deep;
    the vineyard filled the land.
Your vine soared high and shaded the mountains,
    even dwarfing the giant cedars.
Your vine ranged west to the Sea,
    east to the River.
So why do you no longer protect your vine?
    Trespassers pick its grapes at will;
Wild pigs crash through and crush it,
    and the mice nibble away at what’s left.
God-of-the-Angel-Armies, turn our way!
    Take a good look at what’s happened
    and attend to this vine.
Care for what you once tenderly planted—
    the vine you raised from a shoot.
And those who dared to set it on fire—
    give them a look that will kill!
Then take the hand of your once-favorite child,
    the child you raised to adulthood.
We will never turn our back on you;
    breathe life into our lungs so we can shout your name!

19 God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, come back!
    Smile your blessing smile:
    That will be our salvation.

Collect

O God, who in the work of creation
commanded the light to shine out of darkness:
we pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
may shine into the hearts of all your people,
dispelling the darkness of ignorance and unbelief
and revealing to them the knowledge of your glory
in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord . . .
Amen.

Thanksgiving

Thank Him for 3 things that happened today (Good or Not!)

Prayer

Our Father,
hallowed be your name
on earth as in heaven.

God the source of eternal light,
shed forth your unending day on us who watch for you;
that our lips may praise you,
our hearts bless you and our lives glorify you;
through our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen

The Blessing

May Christ the King give us his blessing of peace.
Amen

Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

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Prayer 7s Ministry, New Zealand. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.