Wednesday morning February 19
Thursday morning
Tuesday morning
Preparation
Opening response
Lord, open our lips
and our mouth will proclaim your praise.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, creator of all,
to you be praise and glory forever.
As your dawn renews the face of the earth
bringing light and life to all creation,
may we rejoice in this day you have made;
as we wake refreshed from the depths of sleep,
open our eyes to behold your presence
and strengthen our hands to do your will,
that the world may rejoice and give you 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
Author of Faith, Eternal Word
Charles Wesley
Author of faith, eternal Word,
Whose Spirit breathes the active flame;
Faith, like its finisher and Lord,
Today, as yesterday, the same.
To thee our humble hearts aspire,
And ask the gift unspeakable;
Increase in us the kindled fire,
In us the work of faith fulfill.
By faith we know Thee strong to save;
Save us, a present Savior Thou!
Whatever we hope, by faith we have
Future and past subsisting now.
To him that in thy name believes
Eternal life with thee is given;
Into himself he all receives,
Pardon and holiness and heaven.
The things unknown to feeble sense,
Unseen by reason’s glimmering ray,
With strong, commanding evidence
Their heavenly origin display.
Faith lends its realizing light,
The clouds disperse, the shadows fly;
The invisible appears in sight,
And God is seen by mortal eye.
Confession of sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord,
and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your being, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
After a period of reflection
Come, let us return to the Lord and say:
Lord our God,
in our sin we have avoided your call.
Our love for you is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
Have mercy on us;
deliver us from judgment;
bind up our wounds and revive us;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
cf Hosea 6
May almighty God,
who sent his Son into the world to save sinners,
bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.
The Word of God
Psalm 119:57-80
Refrain:
Lord, I know that your rules are right.
The Lord is my possession.
I promise to do what you have said.
I’ve sought your favor with all my heart;
have mercy on me according to your word.
I’ve considered my ways and turned my feet back to your laws.
I hurry to keep your commandments—
I never put it off!
Though the wicked have surrounded me with their ropes,
I haven’t forgotten your Instruction.
I get up in the middle of the night to give thanks to you
because of your righteous rules.
I’m a friend to everyone who honors you
and to all who keep your precepts.
Lord, the world is full of your faithful love!
Teach me your statutes!
You have treated your servant well,
Lord, according to your promise.
Teach me knowledge and good judgment
because I’ve put my trust in your commandments.
Before I suffered, I took the wrong way,
but now I do what you say.
You are good and you do good.
Teach me your statutes!
The arrogant cover me with their lies,
but I guard your precepts with all my heart.
Their hearts are unfeeling, like blubber,
but I rejoice in your Instruction.
My suffering was good for me,
because through it I learned your statutes.
The Instruction you’ve given to me is better
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver!
Your hands have made me and set me in place.
Help me understand so I can learn your commandments.
Then those who honor you will see me and be glad
because I have waited for your promise.
Lord, I know that your rules are right
and that you rightly made me suffer.
Please let your faithful love comfort me,
according to what you’ve said to your servant.
Let your compassion come to me so I can live again,
because your Instruction is my joy!
But let the arrogant be ashamed
because they oppressed me with lies—
meanwhile, I will be contemplating your precepts!
Let the people who honor you come back to me;
let those who know your precepts return to me.
Let my heart be blameless in your statutes
so that I am not put to shame.
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, I know that your rules are right.
Psalm prayer
God our comforter,
send your Holy Spirit
to reveal your hidden mercy
even in our failures and troubles;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Genesis 31:25-32:2
Laban reached Jacob after Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains. So Laban and his brothers also pitched theirs in the mountains of Gilead. Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken off with my daughters as if they were prisoners of war. Why did you leave secretly, deceiving me, and not letting me know? I would’ve sent you off with a celebration, with songs and tambourines and harps. You didn’t even let me kiss my sons and my daughters good-bye. Now you’ve acted like a fool, and I have the power to punish you. However, your father’s God told me yesterday, ‘Be careful and don’t say anything hastily to Jacob one way or the other.’ You’ve rushed off now because you missed your father’s household so much, but why did you steal my gods?”
Jacob responded to Laban, “I was afraid and convinced myself that you would take your daughters away from me. Whomever you find with your divine images won’t live. Identify whatever I have that is yours, in front of your brothers, and take it.” Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them. Laban went into Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and her two servants’ tent and didn’t find them.
So he left Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s. Now Rachel had taken the divine images and put them into the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them. Laban felt around in the whole tent but couldn’t find them. Rachel said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry with me because I can’t get up for you; I’m having my period.” He searched but couldn’t find the divine images.
Jacob was angry and complained to Laban, “What have I done wrong and what’s my crime that you’ve tracked me down like this? You’ve now felt through all of my baggage, and what have you found from your household’s belongings? Put it in front of our relatives, and let them decide between us. For these twenty years I’ve been with you, your female sheep and goats haven’t miscarried, and I haven’t eaten your flock’s rams. When animals were killed, I didn’t bring them to you but took the loss myself. You demanded compensation from me for any animals poached during the day or night. The dry heat consumed me during the day, and the frost at night; I couldn’t sleep. I’ve now spent twenty years in your household. I worked for fourteen years for your two daughters and for six years for your flock, and you changed my pay ten times. If the God of my father—the God of Abraham and the awesome one of Isaac—hadn’t been with me, you’d have no doubt sent me away without anything. God saw my harsh treatment and my hard work and reprimanded you yesterday.”
Laban responded and told Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. Everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and about their sons? Come, let’s make a treaty, you and me, and let something be our witness.”
So Jacob took a stone, set it up as a sacred pillar, and said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones, made a mound, and ate there near the mound. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
Laban said, “This mound is our witness today,” and, therefore, he too named it Galeed. He also named it Mizpah, because he said, “The Lord will observe both of us when we are separated from each other. If you treat my daughters badly and if you marry other women, though we aren’t there, know that God observed our witness.”
Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this mound and here is the sacred pillar that I’ve set up for us. This mound and the sacred pillar are witnesses that I won’t travel beyond this mound and that you won’t travel beyond this mound and this pillar to do harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor will keep order between us.” So Jacob gave his word in the name of the awesome one of his father Isaac. Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and invited his relatives to a meal. They ate together and spent the night on the mountain. Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his sons and daughters, blessed them, and left to go back to his own place.
Jacob went on his way, and God’s messengers approached him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp,” and he named that sacred place Mahanaim.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Titus 1
From Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I’m sent to bring about the faith of God’s chosen people and a knowledge of the truth that agrees with godliness.
Their faith and this knowledge are based on the hope of eternal life that God, who doesn’t lie, promised before time began. God revealed his message at the appropriate time through preaching, and I was trusted with preaching this message by the command of God our savior.
To Titus, my true child in a common faith.
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.
The reason I left you behind in Crete was to organize whatever needs to be done and to appoint elders in each city, as I told you. Elders should be without fault. They should be faithful to their spouse, and have faithful children who can’t be accused of self-indulgence or rebelliousness. This is because supervisors should be without fault as God’s managers: they shouldn’t be stubborn, irritable, addicted to alcohol, a bully, or greedy. Instead, they should show hospitality, love what is good, and be reasonable, ethical, godly, and self-controlled. They must pay attention to the reliable message as it has been taught to them so that they can encourage people with healthy instruction and refute those who speak against it.
In fact, there are many who are rebellious people, loudmouths, and deceivers, especially some of those who are Jewish believers. They must be silenced because they upset entire households. They teach what they shouldn’t to make money dishonestly. Someone who is one of their own prophets said, “People from Crete are always liars, wild animals, and lazy gluttons.” This statement is true. Because of this, correct them firmly, so that they can be healthy in their faith. They shouldn’t pay attention to Jewish myths and commands from people who reject the truth. Everything is clean to those who are clean, but nothing is clean to those who are corrupt and without faith. Instead, their mind and conscience are corrupted. They claim to know God, but they deny God by the things that they do. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Refrain:
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:
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 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:
The social services
All who work in the criminal justice system
Victims and perpetrators of crime
The work of aid agencies throughout the world
Those living in poverty or under oppression
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
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.