Opening response

Lord, open our lips.
Our mouth will declare your praise.

Hear our voice according to your loving kindness.
Revive us, LORD, according to your ordinances.

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

Help, Gracious Lord, My Deep Distress

Charles Wesley

Help, gracious Lord, my deep distress
To thee with anguish I reveal,
Who every sickness, and disease
Dost still among thy people heal.

O wouldst thou undertake for me,
Exert thy healing art divine!
My complicated malady
Mocks every other help but thine.

A secret, slow, internal fire
Consumes my soul with lingering pains,
The restless fever of desire
Throughout my fallen nature reigns.

Jesus, this eagerness of praise,
This raging thirst of creature-good,
Allay with thy refreshing grace,
Extinguish with thy balmy blood.

See the poor patient at thy feet,
And now the gracious wonder show:
I long thy healing touch to meet,
I gasp thy pardoning love to know.

Now, Savior, now the fever chide,
The virtue of thy name exert,
The fierceness of desire and pride
Rebuke, and bid my sin depart.

Soon as thy hand the balm applies,
My dying soul from sin set free
With instantaneous health shall rise,
And gladly serve thy saints and thee;

The servant of thy church below,
With all who know their sins forgiven,
Pardoned I in thy peace shall go,
And walk, and run, and fly to heaven.

Confession of sin

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Silence may be kept.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in
eternal life.
Amen.

Psalm 22

Refrain:
You are holy,
you who inhabit the praises of Israel.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer;
in the night season, and am not silent.
But you are holy,
you who inhabit the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in you.
They trusted, and you delivered them.
They cried to you, and were delivered.
They trusted in you, and were not disappointed.
But I am a worm, and no man;
a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
All those who see me mock me.
They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,
“He trusts in the LORD.
Let him deliver him.
Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”
But you brought me out of the womb.
You made me trust while at my mother’s breasts.
I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb.
You are my God since my mother bore me.
Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near.
For there is no one to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me.
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
They open their mouths wide against me,
lions tearing prey and roaring.
I am poured out like water.
All my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax.
It is melted within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded me.
A company of evildoers have enclosed me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
I can count all of my bones.
They look and stare at me.
They divide my garments amongst them.
They cast lots for my clothing.

But don’t be far off, LORD.
You are my help. Hurry to help me!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth!
Yes, you have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my brothers.
Amongst the assembly, I will praise you.
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him!
Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,
neither has he hidden his face from him;
but when he cried to him, he heard.

My praise of you comes in the great assembly.
I will pay my vows before those who fear him.
The humble shall eat and be satisfied.
They shall praise the LORD who seek after him.
Let your hearts live forever.
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD.
All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
For the kingdom is the LORD’s.
He is the ruler over the nations.
All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship.
All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him,
even he who can’t keep his soul alive.
Posterity shall serve him.
Future generations shall be told about the Lord.
They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born,
for he has done it.

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 are holy,
you who inhabit the praises of Israel.

Psalm prayer

Restless with grief and fear,
the abandoned turn to you:
in every hour of trial,
good Lord, deliver us,
O God most holy, God most strong,
whose wisdom is the cross of Christ.

Old Testament reading

Jeremiah 6:22-30

The LORD says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation will be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth. They take hold of bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, everyone set in array, as a man to the battle, against you, daughter of Zion.”

We have heard its report. Our hands become feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pains as of a woman in labour. Don’t go out into the field or walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and terror are on every side. Daughter of my people, clothe yourself with sackcloth, and wallow in ashes! Mourn, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the destroyer will suddenly come on us.

“I have made you a tester of metals and a fortress amongst my people, that you may know and try their way. They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are bronze and iron. All of them deal corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed in the fire. In vain they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away. Men will call them rejected silver, because the LORD has rejected them.”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

John 6:16-27

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. They entered into the boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them. The sea was tossed by a great wind blowing. When therefore they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were afraid. But he said to them, “It is I. Don’t be afraid.” They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat. Immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

On the next day, the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except the one in which his disciples had embarked, and that Jesus hadn’t entered with his disciples into the boat, but his disciples had gone away alone. However, boats from Tiberias came near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus wasn’t there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people;
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
(as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show mercy toward our fathers,
to remember his holy covenant,
the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,
to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
should serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the dawn from on high will visit us,
to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death;
to guide our feet into the way 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.

Refrain:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled.

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.

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

Lord of life
In your mercy, hear us.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
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

Trusting in the compassion of God, 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

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