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Thursday after Easter

MORNING

04.09.2026

Our Father, whichwho art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done inon earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them thatthose who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

O Lord, open thou our lips.

And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.

O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Praise ye the Lord.

The Lord's Name be praised.

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Ps. 95.

O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and shew ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts: as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways;
Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ps. 44.

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what thou hast done in their time of old;
How thou hast driven out the heathen with thy hand, and planted them in; how thou hast destroyed the nations and cast them out.
For they gat not the land in possession through their own sword, neither was it their own arm that helped them;
But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance: because thou hadst a favour unto them.
Thou art my King, O God; send help unto Jacob.
Through thee will we overthrow our enemies, and in thy Name will we tread them under, that rise up against us.
For I will not trust in my bow, it is not my sword that shall help me;
But it is thou that savest us from our enemies, and puttest them to confusion that hate us.
We make our boast of God all day long, and will praise thy Name for ever.
But now thou art far off, and puttest us to confusion, and goest not forth with our armies.
Thou makest us to turn our backs upon our enemies, so that they which hate us spoil our goods.
Thou lettest us be eaten up like sheep, and hast scattered us among the heathen.
Thou sellest thy people for nought, and takest no money for them.
Thou makest us to be rebuked of our neighbours, to be laughed to scorn, and had in derision of them that are round about us.
Thou makest us to be a byword among the heathen, and that the people shake their heads at us.
My confusion is daily before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me;
For the voice of the slanderer and blasphemer, for the enemy and avenger.
And though all this be come upon us, yet do we not forget thee, nor behave ourselves frowardly in thy covenant.
Our heart is not turned back, neither our steps gone out of thy way;
No, not when thou hast smitten us into the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
If we have forgotten the Name of our God, and holden up our hands to any strange god, shall not God search it out? for he knoweth the very secrets of the heart.
For thy sake also are we killed all the day long, and are counted as sheep appointed to be slain.
Up, Lord, why sleepest thou? awake, and be not absent from us for ever.
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our misery and trouble?
For our soul is brought low, even unto the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the ground.
Arise, and help us, and deliver us for thy mercy's sake.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ps. 45.

My heart is inditing of a good matter; I speak of the things which I have made unto the king.
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men; full of grace are thy lips, because God hath blessed thee for ever.
Gird thee with thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most Mighty, according to thy worship and renown.
Good luck have thou with thine honour: ride on, because of the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
Thy arrows are very sharp, and the people shall be subdued unto thee; even in the midst among the King's enemies.
Thy seat, O God, endureth for ever; the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; wherefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
All thy garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia; out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women; upon thy right hand did stand the queen in a vesture of gold, wrought about with divers colours.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house.
So shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty; for he is thy Lord God, and worship thou him.
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; like as the rich also among the people shall make their supplication before thee.
The King's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold.
She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework; the virgins that be her fellows shall bear her company, and shall be brought unto thee.
With joy and gladness shall they be brought, and shall enter into the King's palace.
Instead of thy fathers thou shalt have children, whom thou mayest make princes in all lands.
I will remember thy Name from one generation to another; therefore shall the people give thanks unto thee, world without end.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Ps. 46.

God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof rage and swell, and though the mountains shake at the tempest of the same.
The rivers of the flood thereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most Highest.
God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed; God shall help her, and that right early.
The heathen make much ado, and the kingdoms are moved; but God hath shewed his voice, and the earth shall melt away.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
O come hither, and behold the works of the Lord, what destruction he hath brought upon the earth.
He maketh wars to cease in all the world; he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder, and burneth the chariots in the fire.
Be still then, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, and I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Here beginneth the 21st chapter of 1 Samuel.
Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.
Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.
And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.
And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.
So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.
And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.
And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.
And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
Here endeth the first lesson.

We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.

All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

To thee all Angels cry aloud; the Heavens, and all the powers therein.

To thee Cherubin and Seraphin continually do cry,

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;

Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee.

The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee.

The noble army of Martyrs praise thee.

The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee;

The Father of an infinite Majesty;

Thine honourable, true, and only Son;

Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter,

Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ;

Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.

When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man,

thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.

When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,

thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.

Thou sittest at the right hand of God,

in the glory of the Father.

We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.

We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.

Make them to be numbered with thy saints,

in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage.

Govern them and lift them up for ever.

Day by day we magnify thee;

And we worship thy Name ever, world without end.

Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.

O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.

O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded.

Here beginneth the 6th chapter of Acts.
And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.
And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.
Here endeth the second lesson.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;

for he hath visited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us,

in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets,

which have been since the world began;

That we should be saved from our enemies,

and from the hand of all that hate us:

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, that he would give us;

That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear;

In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest:

for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people

for the remission of their sins,

Through the tender mercy of our God;

whereby the Day-spring from on high hath visited us;

To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory be to the Father,

and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us, thou dost put into our minds good desires; so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

O God, who art the author of peace, and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom; Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Lord our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day; Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that isdoings, being ordered by thy governance, may be righteous in thy sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.