Sunday morning October 2

Monday morning
Saturday 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.

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

Hail! Jesus Hail! Our Great High Priest

Charles Wesley
           
Hail! Jesus hail! Our great High Priest,
Entered into thy glorious rest,
That holy, happy place above;
Thou hast the conquest more than gained
The everlasting bliss obtained
For all who trust thy dying love.

The blood of goats and bullocks slain
Could never purge our guilty stain,
Could never for our sins atone;
But thou thine own most precious blood,
Hast shed to make us priests to God,
And seat us with thee on thy throne.

Not without blood, thou prayest above,
The marks of thy expiring love,
God on thy hands engraven sees!
He hears thy blood for mercy cry,
And sends his Spirit from the sky,
And seals our everlasting peace.

Thankful we now the earnest take,
The pledge thou wilt at last come back,
And openly thy servants own;
To us, who long to see thee here,
Thou shalt a second time appear,
And bear us to thy glorious throne.

Confession of sin

Seek the Lord when he can still be found;
call him while he is yet near.
Let the wicked abandon their ways
and the sinful their schemes.
Let them return to the Lord so that he may have mercy on them,
to our God, because he is generous with forgiveness.

cf Isaiah 55

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

Lord God,
we have sinned against you;
we have committed evil in your sight.
We are sorry and repent.
Have mercy on us according to your faithful love.
Wash us completely clean of our guilt; purify us from our sin.
Put a new, faithful spirit deep inside us,
and return the joy of your salvation to us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

cf Psalm 51

May the Father of all mercies
cleanse us from our sins,
and restore us in his image
to the praise and glory of his name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Bless the Lord,
because he has listened to our request for mercy.
Therefore our hearts will rejoice
and we will thank him with our song.

cf Psalm 28:7,9

The Word of God

Psalm 141

Refrain: 
Set a guard over my mouth, Lord.

I cry out to you, Lord: Come to me—quickly!
    Listen to my voice when I cry out to you!
Let my prayer stand before you like incense;
    let my uplifted hands be like the evening offering.

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
    keep close watch over the door that is my lips.
Don’t let my heart turn aside to evil things
        so that I don’t do wicked things with evildoers,
        so I don’t taste their delicacies.

Instead, let the righteous discipline me;
    let the faithful correct me!
Let my head never reject that kind of fine oil,
    because my prayers are always against the deeds of the wicked.

Their leaders will fall from jagged cliffs,
    but my words will be heard because they are pleasing.
Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave,
    just like when the ground is broken up and plowed.

But my eyes are on you, my Lord God.
    I take refuge in you; don’t let me die!
Protect me from the trap they’ve set for me;
    protect me from the snares of the evildoers.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets—all together!—
    but let me make it through safely.

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: 
Set a guard over my mouth, Lord.

Psalm prayer

Lord God, our protector and guide,
who made us knowing both good and evil,
help us to desire all that is good,
that the offering of our lives may be acceptable to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading
Isaiah 49:13-23

Sing, heavens! Rejoice, earth!
    Break out, mountains, with a song.
The Lord has comforted his people,
    and taken pity on those who suffer.

But Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me;
    my Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    fail to pity the child of her womb?
        Even these may forget,
        but I won’t forget you.
Look, on my palms I’ve inscribed you;
    your walls are before me continually.
Your builders come quickly;
    those who destroy and demolish you will depart from you.
Look up all around and see:
    they are all gathered;
    they come to you.
As surely as I live, says the Lord,
    you will put them all on like ornaments,
    bind them on like a bride.
As for your ruins and desolate places
    and destroyed land—
    you will soon be crowded with settlers,
    and those who swallowed you will be far away.
You will again hear the children who were born bereaved say,
    “The place is too crowded for me;
    make room for me to settle.”
And you will think to yourself,
    Who bore me these?
    I was bereaved and desolate, exiled and sent off.
So who raised these?
    I was left behind, I was alone;
    where were these?
The Lord God says:
Look, I will raise my hand to the nations,
    and to the peoples I will lift up my signal.
They will bring your sons in their arms,
    and will carry your daughters on their shoulders.
Kings will be your attendants,
    and their queens your nursemaids.
With faces to the ground they will bow down to you;
    they will lick the dust from your feet.
You will know that I am the Lord;
    the one who hopes in me won’t be ashamed.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
Luke 12:1-12

When a crowd of thousands upon thousands had gathered so that they were crushing each other, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples: “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees—I mean, the mismatch between their hearts and lives. Nothing is hidden that won’t be revealed, and nothing is secret that won’t be brought out into the open. Therefore, whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and whatever you have whispered in the rooms deep inside the house will be announced from the rooftops.

“I tell you, my friends, don’t be terrified by those who can kill the body but after that can do nothing more. I’ll show you whom you should fear: fear the one who, after you have been killed, has the authority to throw you into hell. Indeed, I tell you, that’s the one you should fear. Aren’t five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them is overlooked by God. Even the hairs on your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

“I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before humans, the Human One will acknowledge before God’s angels. But the one who rejects me before others will be rejected before God’s angels. Anyone who speaks a word against the Human One will be forgiven, but whoever insults the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, rulers, and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what you should say. The Holy Spirit will tell you at that very moment what you must say.

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 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 universal church
Bishops, superintendents and all who lead the church
The leaders of the nations
The natural world and the resources of the earth
All who are in any kind of need

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

Response

Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
      of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
      what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill them;
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

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.