Cam Villages Pop-Up Prayer: Readings for 31 May 2019

This is Friday’s Common Lectionary Bible reading, which we will include in the Cam Villages pop-up prayer. This week’s morning prayer will be celebrated at St. Peter’s Church, Littlebury Green, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. 

1 Samuel 2.1-10

Hannah prayed, and said:
“My heart exults in the LORD!
My horn is exalted in the LORD.
My mouth is enlarged over my enemies,
because I rejoice in your salvation.
There is no one as holy as the LORD,
for there is no one besides you,
nor is there any rock like our God.
“Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly.
Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth,
for the LORD is a God of knowledge.
By him actions are weighed.
“The bows of the mighty men are broken.
Those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.
Those who were hungry are satisfied.
Yes, the barren has borne seven.
She who has many children languishes.
“The LORD kills and makes alive.
He brings down to Sheol* and brings up.
The LORD makes poor and makes rich.
He brings low, he also lifts up.
He raises up the poor out of the dust.
He lifts up the needy from the dunghill
to make them sit with princes
and inherit the throne of glory.
For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s.
He has set the world on them.
He will keep the feet of his holy ones,
but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness;
for no man will prevail by strength.
10 Those who strive with the LORD shall be broken to pieces.
He will thunder against them in the sky.
“The LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give strength to his king,
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Psalm 85

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah.
1 LORD, you have been favourable to your land.
You have restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people.
You have covered all their sin.
Selah.
3 You have taken away all your wrath.
You have turned from the fierceness of your anger.
4 Turn us, God of our salvation,
and cause your indignation towards us to cease.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
6 Won’t you revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your loving kindness, LORD.
Grant us your salvation.
8 I will hear what God, the LORD, will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, his saints;
but let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth meet together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth springs out of the earth.
Righteousness has looked down from heaven.
12 Yes, the LORD will give that which is good.
Our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness goes before him,
And prepares the way for his steps.

Cam Villages Pop-Up Prayer: Readings for 26 April 2019

This is Friday’s Common Lectionary Bible reading, which we will include in the Cam Villages pop-up prayer. This week’s morning prayer will be celebrated at St. Peter’s Church, Littlebury Green, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. 

Song of Solomon 7.10-8.4

10 I am my beloved’s.
His desire is towards me.
11 Come, my beloved! Let’s go out into the field.
Let’s lodge in the villages.
12 Let’s go early up to the vineyards.
Let’s see whether the vine has budded,
its blossom is open,
and the pomegranates are in flower.
There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes produce fragrance.
At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old,
which I have stored up for you, my beloved.

1 Oh that you were like my brother,
who nursed from the breasts of my mother!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you;
yes, and no one would despise me.
2 I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother,
who would instruct me.
I would have you drink spiced wine,
of the juice of my pomegranate.
3 His left hand would be under my head.
His right hand would embrace me.

4 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up, nor awaken love,
until it so desires.

Psalm 115

1 Not to us, LORD, not to us,
but to your name give glory,
for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God, now?”
3 But our God is in the heavens.
He does whatever he pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of men’s hands.
5 They have mouths, but they don’t speak.
They have eyes, but they don’t see.
6 They have ears, but they don’t hear.
They have noses, but they don’t smell.
7 They have hands, but they don’t feel.
They have feet, but they don’t walk,
neither do they speak through their throat.
8 Those who make them will be like them;
yes, everyone who trusts in them.
9 Israel, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
10 House of Aaron, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.
12 The LORD remembers us. He will bless us.
He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear the LORD,
both small and great.
14 May the LORD increase you more and more,
you and your children.
15 Blessed are you by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens are the LORD’s heavens,
but he has given the earth to the children of men.
17 The dead don’t praise the LORD,
neither any who go down into silence;
18 but we will bless the LORD,
from this time forward and forever more.
Praise the LORD!

Cam Villages Pop-Up Prayer: Readings for 22 March 2019

This is Friday’s Common Lectionary Bible reading, which we will include in the Cam Villages pop-up prayer. This week’s morning prayer will be celebrated at St. Peter’s Church, Littlebury Green, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. 

John 7.14-24

14 But when it was now the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never been educated?”
16 Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17  If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself. 18  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19  Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”
20 The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?”
21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work and you all marvel because of it. 22  Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy. 23  If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath? 24  Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgement.”

Psalm 41

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
1 Blessed is he who considers the poor.
The LORD will deliver him in the day of evil.
2 The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive.
He shall be blessed on the earth,
and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.
3 The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed,
and restore him from his bed of illness.
4 I said, “LORD, have mercy on me!
Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
5 My enemies speak evil against me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
6 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood.
His heart gathers iniquity to itself.
When he goes abroad, he tells it.
7 All who hate me whisper together against me.
They imagine the worst for me.
8 “An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him.
Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”
9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
who ate bread with me,
has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But you, LORD, have mercy on me, and raise me up,
that I may repay them.
11 By this I know that you delight in me,
because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.
12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity,
and set me in your presence forever.

13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting and to everlasting!
Amen and amen.

Cam Villages Pop-Up Prayer: Readings for 15 February 2019

This is Friday’s Common Lectionary Bible reading, which we will include in the Cam Villages pop-up prayer. This week’s morning prayer will be celebrated at St. Peter’s Church, Littlebury Green, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. 

1 Chronicles 29.21-end

21 They sacrificed sacrifices to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings to the LORD, on the next day after that day, even one thousand bulls, one thousand rams, and one thousand lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel, 22 and ate and drank before the LORD on that day with great gladness. They made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him before the LORD to be prince, and Zadok to be priest.
23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. 24 All the princes, the mighty men, and also all of the sons of king David submitted themselves to Solomon the king. 25 The LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and gave to him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel. 26 Now David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. 27 The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 28 He died at a good old age, full of days, riches, and honour; and Solomon his son reigned in his place. 29 Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Samuel the seer, and in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the history of Gad the seer, 30 with all his reign and his might, and the times that went over him, and over Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the countries.

Psalm 31

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
1 In you, LORD, I take refuge.
Let me never be disappointed.
Deliver me in your righteousness.
2 Bow down your ear to me.
Deliver me speedily.
Be to me a strong rock,
a house of defence to save me.
3 For you are my rock and my fortress,
therefore for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.
4 Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me,
for you are my stronghold.
5 Into your hand I commend my spirit.
You redeem me, LORD, God of truth.
6 I hate those who regard lying vanities,
but I trust in the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness,
for you have seen my affliction.
You have known my soul in adversities.
8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet in a large place.
9 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress.
My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow,
my years with sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
My bones are wasted away.
11 Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbours,
a horror to my acquaintances.
Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
12 I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man.
I am like broken pottery.
13 For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side,
while they conspire together against me,
they plot to take away my life.
14 But I trust in you, LORD.
I said, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in your hand.
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
16 Make your face to shine on your servant.
Save me in your loving kindness.
17 Let me not be disappointed, LORD, for I have called on you.
Let the wicked be disappointed.
Let them be silent in Sheol.*
18 Let the lying lips be mute,
which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.
19 Oh how great is your goodness,
which you have laid up for those who fear you,
which you have worked for those who take refuge in you,
before the sons of men!
20 In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man.
You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.
21 Praise be to the LORD,
for he has shown me his marvellous loving kindness in a strong city.
22 As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”
Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
23 Oh love the LORD, all you his saints!
The LORD preserves the faithful,
and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who hope in the LORD.