Opening response

Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Hear our voice, O LORD, according to Your loving devotion;
give us life according to Your justice.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy,
to you be praise and glory forever.
In the darkness of our sin,
your light breaks forth like the dawn
and your healing springs up for deliverance.
As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help,
sustain us with your bountiful Spirit
and open our lips to sing your praise.
Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.

The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence is kept.

As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and forever.
Amen.

Hymn

Ah! What Avails My Strife

Charles Wesley

Ah! what avails my strife,
My wandering to and fro?
Thou hast the words of endless life;
Ah! whither should I go?

Thy condescending grace
To me did freely move;
It calls me still to seek thy face,
And stoops to ask my love.

My worthless heart to gain,
The God of all that breathe,
Was found in fashion as a man,
And died a curséd death.

And can I yet delay
My little all to give?
To tear my soul from earth away,
For Jesus to receive?

Ah! no; I all forsake,
I all to thee resign:
Gracious Redeemer, take, oh, take,
And seal me ever thine!

Confession of sin

O King enthroned on high,
filling the earth with your glory:
holy is your name,
Lord God almighty.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

In our sinfulness we cry to you
to take our guilt away,
and to cleanse our lips to speak your word,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

May the God of all healing and forgiveness
draw us to himself,
and cleanse us from all our sins
that we may behold the glory of his Son,
the Word made flesh,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Psalm 71

𝙍: Be not far from me, O God.

In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In Your justice, rescue and deliver me;
incline Your ear and save me.
Be my rock of refuge,
where I can always go.
Give the command to save me,
for You are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and ruthless.

For You are my hope, O Lord GOD,
my confidence from my youth.
I have leaned on You since birth;
You pulled me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is always for You. 𝙍

I have become a portent to many,
but You are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with Your praise
and with Your splendor all day long.

Do not discard me in my old age;
do not forsake me when my strength fails.
For my enemies speak against me,
and those who lie in wait for my life conspire,
saying, “God has forsaken him;
pursue him and seize him,
for there is no one to rescue him.”

Be not far from me, O God.
Hurry, O my God, to help me.
May the accusers of my soul
be ashamed and consumed;
may those who seek my harm
be covered with scorn and disgrace. 𝙍

But I will always hope
and will praise You more and more.
My mouth will declare Your righteousness
and Your salvation all day long,
though I cannot know their full measure.
I will enter in the strength of the Lord GOD;
I will proclaim Your righteousness—Yours alone. 𝙍

O God, You have taught me from my youth,
and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
until I proclaim Your power to the next generation,
Your might to all who are to come.
Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God,
You who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like You?

Though You have shown me many troubles and misfortunes,
You will revive me once again.
Even from the depths of the earth
You will bring me back up.
You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again. 𝙍

So I will praise You with the harp
for Your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praise to You with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
When I sing praise to You
my lips will shout for joy,
along with my soul,
which You have redeemed.
My tongue will indeed proclaim
Your righteousness all day long,
for those who seek my harm
are disgraced and confounded.

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.

𝙍: Be not far from me, O God.

Psalm prayer

Faithful Lord, living Savior,
in youth and old age,
from the womb to the grave,
may we know your protection
and proclaim your great salvation
to the glory of God the Father.

Old Testament reading

Jeremiah 4:1-18

“If you will return, O Israel,
return to Me,” declares the LORD.
“If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight
and no longer waver,
and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then the nations will be blessed by Him,
and in Him they will glory.”

For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground,
and do not sow among the thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,
and remove the foreskins of your hearts,
O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem.
Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire
and burn with no one to extinguish it,
because of your evil deeds.”

Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:

“Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.
Cry aloud and say,
‘Assemble yourselves
and let us flee to the fortified cities.’
Raise a signal flag toward Zion.
Seek refuge! Do not delay!
For I am bringing disaster from the north,
and terrible destruction.
A lion has gone up from his thicket,
and a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his lair
to lay waste your land.
Your cities will be reduced to ruins
and lie uninhabited.
So put on sackcloth,
mourn and wail,
for the fierce anger of the LORD
has not turned away from us.”

“In that day,” declares the LORD,
“the king and officials will lose their courage.
The priests will tremble in fear,
and the prophets will be astounded.”

Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, how completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while a sword is at our throats.”

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift; a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.”

Behold, he advances like the clouds,
his chariots like the whirlwind.
His horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us, for we are ruined!
Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem,
so that you may be saved.
How long will you harbor
wicked thoughts within you?
For a voice resounds from Dan,
proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
Warn the nations now!
Proclaim to Jerusalem:
“A besieging army comes from a distant land;
they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.
They surround her like men guarding a field,
because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.
“Your ways and deeds
have brought this upon you.
This is your punishment; how bitter it is,
because it pierces to the heart!”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

John 4:43-54

After two days, Jesus left for Galilee. Now He Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown. Yet when He arrived, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all the great things He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had gone there as well.

So once again He came to Cana in Galilee, where He had turned the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.

Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

“Sir,” the official said, “come down before my child dies.”

“Go,” said Jesus. “Your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at His word and departed. And while he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.

So he inquired as to the hour when his son had recovered, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”

Then the father realized that this was the very hour in which Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” And he and all his household believed.

This was now the second sign that Jesus performed after coming from Judea into Galilee.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

𝙍: Shine on us, O God, who dwell in darkness, and guide us into the way of peace.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has visited and redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke through His holy prophets,
those of ages past,
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us deliverance from hostile hands,
that we may serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our lives.

And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord
to prepare the way for Him,
to give to His people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,
to shine on those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the path of peace.

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.

𝙍: Shine on us, O God, who dwell in darkness, and guide us into the way of peace.

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.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He 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,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He 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.

Intercession and thanksgiving

Prayers may be offered for:

the day and its tasks
the world and its needs
the church and her life

Prayers may include the following concerns:

Those preparing for baptism and confirmation
Those serving through leadership
Those looking for forgiveness
Those misled by the false gods of this present age
All who are hungry

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Response

Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through 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

Let us pray with confidence as our Savior has taught us:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
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,
forever. Amen.

Conclusion

May God our Redeemer show us compassion and love.
Amen.