Pray today
Good morning.
Morning Prayer- Opening
- Psalm 63
- Gospel
- Song of Zechariah
- Prayers
- Lord’s Prayer
- Blessing
“God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you.”Psalm 63, in this prayer
Today’s three
Tick what you do, if you like.
- PrayAny of the prayers below4–15 min
- This Sunday’s storyFive short steps3 min
- Ask the table questionAt a meal, with whoever is there1 min
Kept on this device only. It starts fresh each morning, and nothing is lost if you miss a day.
This Sunday’s Gospel · Sunday, October 4
Jesus tells a parable of tenant farmers who beat and kill the owner’s servants and then his son, and the chief priests and Pharisees realize he means them.
Read Matthew 21:33–46
33 “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. 34 When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit. 35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way. 37 But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?” 41 They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?’ 43 “Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing its fruit. 44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them. 46 When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
All the daily prayers
- 15 min Morning Prayer Psalm 63, Matthew 6 — the Sermon on the Mount, the Song of Zechariah
- 4 min Four Minutes Psalm 23, a word from Jesus, the Lord’s Prayer
- 15 min Evening Prayer Psalm 141, Luke 24 — the road to Emmaus, the Song of Mary
- 9 min Night Prayer Confession, Psalm 91, a blessing for the night
- 1 min Prayers through the day On waking, at meals and at bedtime, from the Small Catechism
What each prayer is, and why these hours
Readings for today
These readings prepare for the coming Sunday.
- Psalm Psalm 80:7-15
Read it here
7 Turn us again, God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. 8 You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root, and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God’s cedars. 11 It sent out its branches to the sea, its shoots to the River. 12 Why have you broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? 13 The boar out of the wood ravages it. The wild animals of the field feed on it. 14 Turn again, we beg you, God of Armies. Look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine, 15 the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
- First reading Jeremiah 2:14-22
Read it here
14 Is Israel a slave? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a captive? 15 The young lions have roared at him and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. 16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. 17 “Haven’t you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way? 18 Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? 19 “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, the LORD of Armies. 20 “For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. 21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? 22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord the LORD.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
- Second reading Colossians 2:16-23
Read it here
16 Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, 17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s. 18 Let no one rob you of your prize by self-abasement and worshiping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth. 20 If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances, 21 “Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch” 22 (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org Used by permission.
This Sunday is Sunday, October 4. Its readings are here.