Tuesday morning August 16
Wednesday morning
Monday morning
Preparation
Opening response
Lord, open our lips
and our mouth will proclaim your praise.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God, creator of all,
to you be glory and praise forever.
You founded the earth in the beginning
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
In the fullness of time you made us in your image,
and in these last days you have spoken to us
in your Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
As we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us
let the light of your love always shine in our hearts,
your Spirit ever renew our lives
and your praises ever be on our lips.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.
Hymn
Arm of the Lord, awake, awake!
Charles Wesley
Arm of the Lord, awake, awake!
thine own immortal strength put on;
with terror clothed, hell's kingdom shake
and cast thy foes with fury down.
As in the ancient days appear;
the sacred annals speak thy fame:
be now omnipotently near,
to endless ages still the same.
Thine arm, Lord, is not shortened now;
it lacks not now the power to save;
still present with thy people, thou
bearest them through life's disparted wave.
By death and hell pursued in vain,
to thee the ransomed seed shall come,
shouting, their heavenly Zion gain,
and pass through death triumphant home.
Where pure essential joy is found,
the Lord's redeemed their heads shall raise,
with everlasting gladness crowned,
and filled with love, and lost in praise.
Confession of sin
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
very patient, and full of faithful love.
He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin
or repay us according to our wrongdoing.
Because as high as heaven is above the earth,
that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.
As far as east is from west—
that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.
Let my whole being bless the Lord.
Let everything inside me bless his holy name.
Let my whole being bless the Lord,
and never forget all his good deeds.
The Word of God
Psalm 106
Refrain:
Bless the Lord, the God of Israel, from forever ago to forever from now!
Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
because his faithful love endures forever.
Who could possibly repeat all of the Lord’s mighty acts
or publicly recount all his praise?
The people who uphold justice,
who always do what is right, are truly happy!
Remember me, Lord, with the favor you show your people.
Visit me with your saving help
so I can experience the good things your chosen ones experience,
so I can rejoice in the joy of your nation,
so I can praise along with your possession.
We have sinned—right along with our ancestors.
We’ve done what is wrong.
We’ve acted wickedly.
Our ancestors in Egypt didn’t understand your wondrous works.
They didn’t remember how much faithful love you have.
So they rebelled by the sea—at the Reed Sea.
But God saved them for the sake of his good name,
to make known his mighty power.
God scolded the Reed Sea, and it dried right up;
he led them through the deeps like they were a dry desert.
God saved them from hostile powers;
he redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
But the waters covered over their foes—
not one of them survived!
So our ancestors trusted God’s words;
they sang God’s praise.
But how quickly they forgot what he had done!
They wouldn’t wait for his advice.
They were overcome with craving in the desert;
they tested God in the wastelands.
God gave them what they asked for;
he sent food to satisfy their appetites.
But then they were jealous of Moses in the camp,
jealous too of Aaron, the Lord’s holy one.
So the earth opened up, swallowing Dathan,
and covering over Abiram’s crowd.
Fire blazed throughout that whole group;
flames burned up the wicked.
They made a calf at Horeb,
bowing down to a metal idol.
They traded their glorious God
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
They forgot the God who saved them—
the one who had done great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
awesome deeds at the Reed Sea.
So God determined that he would destroy them—
except for the fact that Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the way, right in front of him,
and turned God’s destructive anger away.
But then they rejected the land that was so desirable.
They didn’t trust God’s promise.
They muttered in their tents
and wouldn’t listen to the Lord’s voice.
So God raised his hand against them,
making them fall in the desert,
scattering their offspring among the nations,
casting them across many lands.
They joined themselves to Baal-peor
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
They made God angry by what they did,
so a plague broke out against them.
Then Phinehas stood up and prayed,
and the plague was contained.
That’s why Phinehas is considered righteous,
generation after generation, forever.
But they angered God at Meribah’s waters,
and things went badly for Moses because of them,
because they made him bitter
so that he spoke rashly with his lips.
They didn’t destroy the nations
as the Lord had ordered them to do.
Instead, they got mixed up with the nations,
learning what they did
and serving those false gods,
which became a trap for them.
They sacrificed their own sons and daughters to demons!
They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their own sons and daughters—
the ones they sacrificed to Canaan’s false gods—
so the land was defiled by the bloodshed.
They made themselves unclean by what they did; they prostituted themselves by their actions.
So the Lord’s anger burned against his people;
he despised his own possession.
God handed them over to the nations;
people who hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were humbled under their power.
God delivered them numerous times,
but they were determined to rebel,
and so they were brought down by their own sin.
But God saw their distress
when he heard their loud cries.
God remembered his covenant for their sake,
and because of how much faithful love he has,
God changed his mind.
God allowed them to receive compassion
from all their captors.
Lord our God, save us!
Gather us back together from among all the nations
so we can give thanks to your holy name
and rejoice in your praise!
Bless the Lord, the God of Israel,
from forever ago to forever from now!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
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 will be forever. Amen.
Refrain:
Bless the Lord, the God of Israel, from forever ago to forever from now!
Psalm prayer
Holy God,
when our memories blot out your kindness
and we ignore your patient love,
remember us, remake us,
and give to us poor sinners
the rich inheritance of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
2 Samuel 12:1-25
So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When Nathan arrived he said, “There were two men in the same city, one rich, one poor. The rich man had a lot of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing—just one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised that lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It would eat from his food and drink from his cup—even sleep in his arms! It was like a daughter to him.
“Now a traveler came to visit the rich man, but he wasn’t willing to take anything from his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had arrived. Instead, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for the visitor.”
David got very angry at the man, and he said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the one who did this is demonic! He must restore the ewe lamb seven times over because he did this and because he had no compassion.”
“You are that man!” Nathan told David. “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I anointed you king over Israel and delivered you from Saul’s power. I gave your master’s house to you, and gave his wives into your embrace. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. If that was too little, I would have given even more. Why have you despised the Lord’s word by doing what is evil in his eyes? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and taken his wife as your own. You used the Ammonites to kill him. Because of that, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own, the sword will never leave your own house.
“This is what the Lord says: I am making trouble come against you from inside your own family. Before your very eyes I will take your wives away and give them to your friend, and he will have sex with your wives in broad daylight. You did what you did secretly, but I will do what I am doing before all Israel in the light of day.”
“I’ve sinned against the Lord!” David said to Nathan.
“The Lord has removed your sin,” Nathan replied to David. “You won’t die. However, because you have utterly disrespected the Lord by doing this, the son born to you will definitely die.” Then Nathan went home.
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became very sick. David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground. The senior servants of his house approached him to lift him up off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn’t eat with them either.
On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died. “David wouldn’t listen to us when we talked to him while the child was still alive,” they said. “How can we tell him the child has died? He’ll do something terrible!”
But when David saw his servants whispering, he realized the child had died.
“Is the child dead?” David asked his servants.
“Yes,” they said, “he is dead.”
Then David rose from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the Lord’s house and bowed down. Then he entered his own house. He requested food, which was brought to him, and he ate.
“Why are you acting this way?” his servants asked. “When the child was alive, you fasted and cried and kept watch, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!”
David replied, “While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The Lord may have mercy on me and let the child live. But he is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I am going where he is, but he won’t come back to me.”
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had sex with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The Lord loved him and sent word by the prophet Nathan to name him Jedidiah because of the Lord’s grace.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 9:1-19
Meanwhile, Saul was still spewing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest, seeking letters to the synagogues in Damascus. If he found persons who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, these letters would authorize him to take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. During the journey, as he approached Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven encircled him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice asking him, “Saul, Saul, why are you harassing me?”
Saul asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
“I am Jesus, whom you are harassing,” came the reply. “Now get up and enter the city. You will be told what you must do.”
Those traveling with him stood there speechless; they heard the voice but saw no one. After they picked Saul up from the ground, he opened his eyes but he couldn’t see. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind and neither ate nor drank anything.
In Damascus there was a certain disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
He answered, “Yes, Lord.”
The Lord instructed him, “Go to Judas’ house on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias enter and put his hands on him to restore his sight.”
Ananias countered, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man. People say he has done horrible things to your holy people in Jerusalem. He’s here with authority from the chief priests to arrest everyone who calls on your name.”
The Lord replied, “Go! This man is the agent I have chosen to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Ananias went to the house. He placed his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord sent me—Jesus, who appeared to you on the way as you were coming here. He sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Instantly, flakes fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. After eating, he regained his strength.
He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days.
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Refrain:
Lord, you have raised up a mighty savior for us in your servant David’s house.
Bless the Lord God of Israel
because he has come to help and has delivered his people.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us in his servant David’s house,
just as he said through the mouths of his holy prophets long ago.
He has brought salvation from our enemies
and from the power of all those who hate us.
He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and remembered his holy covenant,
the solemn pledge he made to our ancestor Abraham.
He has granted that we would be rescued
from the power of our enemies
so that we could serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness in God’s eyes,
for as long as we live.
You, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
You will tell his people how to be saved
through the forgiveness of their sins.
Because of our God’s deep compassion,
the dawn from heaven will break upon us,
to give light to those who are sitting in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide us on the path of peace.”
Luke 1:68-79
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen.
Refrain:
Lord, you have raised up a mighty savior for us in your servant David’s house.
Brief silence.
The Apostle’s Creed
Let us unite in this historic confession of the Christian faith:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers
Intercession and thanksgiving
Prayers are offered
for the day and its tasks
for the world and its needs
for the Church and her life
Response
Lord, hear your people
and answer our prayers.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
As our Savior taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.
Conclusion
The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life.
Amen.