Wed. morning Feb. 4
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare 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.
WORSHIP Song
“23” from Young David
Confession of Sin
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from our distress.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son, and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days.
Amen.
Let us give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 119:1-32
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with all their heart.
They also do no injustice;
they walk in His ways.
You have commanded us
to keep Your precepts diligently.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Oh that my ways were directed
to keep Your statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed,
when I look upon all Your commandments.
I will praise You with an upright heart,
when I learn Your righteous judgments.
I will keep Your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to Your word.
With my whole heart have I sought You;
let me not wander from Your commandments.
Your word have I hidden in my heart,
that I might not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD;
teach me Your statutes.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
With my lips have I declared
all the ordinances of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts,
and have respect unto Your ways.
I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live
and keep Your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of Your law.
I am a stranger on the earth;
hide not Your commandments from me.
My soul is consumed with longing
for Your decrees at all times.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
You rebuke the proud, the cursed,
who stray from Your commandments.
Remove from me reproach and contempt,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
Even though princes sit and speak against me,
Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
Your testimonies also are my delight
and my counselors.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
My soul clings to the dust;
revive me according to Your word.
I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
teach me Your statutes.
Make me understand the way of Your precepts,
so shall I meditate on Your wondrous works.
My soul melts for sorrow;
strengthen me according to Your word.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Remove from me the way of lying,
and graciously teach me Your law.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
Your judgments have I set before me.
I cling to Your testimonies;
O LORD, put me not to shame!
I will run the way of Your commandments,
for You shall enlarge my heart.
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: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Psalm prayer
Faithful God, let your word be the treasure of our hearts, that we may delight in your truth and walk in the glorious liberty of your Son Jesus Christ.
Old Testament reading
Genesis 19:1-3, 12-29
Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them he rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. Then he said, “Here, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet; and then you may rise early and go on your way.”
They said, “No, we will stay in the open square all night.”
But he strongly insisted, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, take them out of this place! For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has grown great before the presence of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Otherwise you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.”
And while he lingered, the men took hold of his and his wife’s hands, along with the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and brought him out and set him outside the city. When they had brought them out, one of them said to them, “Escape for your lives! Do not look behind you or stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you be destroyed.”
Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! Behold, your servant has found grace in your eyes, and you have shown your mercy, which you have shown to me by saving my life. However, I cannot escape to the mountain. Otherwise some evil will overtake me, and I will die. Behold, this city is close enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please, let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my life will be saved.”
He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request in this matter also. I will not overthrow this city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
The sun had risen over the land when Lot entered Zoar. Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was from the LORD out of heaven. So He overthrew those cities, all the valley, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he stood before the LORD. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 27:45-56
Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Some of those who stood there heard it and said, “This Man is calling for Elijah.”
Immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with wine, and put it on a stick, and gave it to Him to drink. The rest said, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
And Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, released His spirit.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from the top to the bottom. And the ground shook, and the rocks split apart. The graves also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had died were raised, and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the Holy City and appeared to many.
When the centurion and those with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they feared greatly and said, “Truly He was the Son of God!”
Many women who were there watching from afar followed Jesus from Galilee, serving Him, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
Silence may be kept.
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Luke 1:68-79
Blessed be the Lord 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 of long ago,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath which He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
might serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
for you will go before the presence of the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people
by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise from on high has visited us;
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in 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.
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:
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
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
God our creator, who in the beginning commanded the light to shine out of darkness: we pray that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ may dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, shine into the hearts of all your people, and reveal the knowledge of your glory in the face 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, 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
The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life.
Amen.