Sat. morning Nov. 22
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
All your saints shall bless you.
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God, ruler and judge of all, to you be praise and glory forever. In the darkness of this age that is passing away, may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy surround our steps as we journey on. May we reflect your glory this day and so be made ready to see your face in the heavenly city where night shall be no more.
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
O For a Thousand Tongues
Music by The Hymnodist: Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart, YouTube Music, Pandora, Boomplay, Deezer
Lyrics by Charles Wesley
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer's praise
The glories of my God and King
The triumphs of his grace
My gracious Master and my God
Assist me to proclaim
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of thy name
Jesus, the name that charms our fears
That bids our sorrows cease
'Tis music in the sinner's ears
'Tis life, and health, and peace
He breaks the power of canceled sin
He sets the prisoner free
His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me
He speaks, and listening to his voice
New life the dead receive
The mournful, broken hearts rejoice
The humble poor believe
Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb
Your loosened tongues employ
Ye blind, behold your savior come
And leap, ye lame, for joy
In Christ, your head, you then shall know
Shall feel your sins forgiven
Anticipate your heaven below
And own that love is 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 78:1-39
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will speak mysteries of old,
which we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell the generation to come
the praises of the LORD,
and His strength and the wonderful works that He has done.
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
For He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which He commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the generation to come might know them,
the children yet to be born,
that they may arise and declare them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep His commandments;
and that they may not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation that did not set its heart aright,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
The Ephraimites, being armed with bows,
turned back in the day of battle.
They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to walk in His law;
they forgot His works
and the wonders that He had shown them.
In the sight of their fathers He performed marvelous wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,
and He made the waters stand up like a heap.
In the daytime He led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a light of fire.
He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them plenty to drink like the depths.
He brought streams also out of the rock
and caused waters to run down like rivers.
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
But they sinned still more against Him
by rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
They tested God in their heart
by asking for the food they craved.
Then they spoke against God, saying,
“Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out
and the streams overflowed.
Can He give bread also?
Will He provide meat for His people?”
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
Therefore the LORD heard this and was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and anger also came up against Israel,
because they did not believe in God
and did not trust in His salvation.
Yet He had commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
and He rained down manna upon them to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
Men ate the bread of angels;
He sent them food in abundance.
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by His power He directed the south wind.
He rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
then He let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
So they ate and were well filled,
for He gave them their own desire.
They were not separated from their desire;
but while their food was still in their mouths,
the wrath of God came upon them,
and He killed the strongest of them
and struck down the young men of Israel.
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
For all this they still sinned,
and did not believe in His wondrous works.
Therefore their days did He consume like a breath,
and their years in terror.
When He killed them, then they sought Him;
they turned back and sought earnestly for God.
They remembered that God was their rock,
and the Most High God their Redeemer.
𝙍: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouths,
and they lied to Him with their tongues;
for their heart was not steadfast toward Him,
nor were they faithful in His covenant.
But He, being full of compassion,
forgave their iniquity
and did not destroy them.
He often restrained His anger,
and did not stir up all His wrath;
for He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes away and does not return.
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: How awesome are Your works, O Lord!
Psalm prayer
God our deliverer, as you led our ancestors through the wilderness, so lead us through the wilderness of this world, that we may be saved through Christ forever.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 13:1-13
The oracle of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
Lift up a banner on the high mountain,
exalt the voice to them,
shake the hand,
that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded My sanctified ones,
I have also called My mighty ones for My anger,
even those who rejoice in My exaltation.
The noise of a multitude in the mountains,
like as of a great people!
A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms
of nations gathered together!
The LORD of Hosts musters
the army for battle.
They come from a far country,
from the end of heaven,
the LORD and the weapons of His indignation,
to destroy the whole land.
Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand!
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore all hands shall be faint,
and every man’s heart shall melt,
and they shall be afraid.
Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman who travails;
they shall be amazed one at another;
their faces shall be as flames.
Behold, the day of the LORD comes,
cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate,
and He shall destroy its sinners out of it.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
shall not give their light;
the sun shall be dark when it rises,
and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease,
and will lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless.
I will make a man more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore, I will shake the heavens,
and the earth shall be shaken out of her place
at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts
and in the day of His fierce anger.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 9:1-17
He entered a boat, crossed over, and came into His own city. And behold, they brought to Him a man sick with paralysis, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you.”
And behold, certain scribes said within themselves, “This Man blasphemes.”
Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, pick up your bed, and go into your house.” And he rose and departed to his house. But when the crowds saw it, they were amazed and glorified God who had given such authority to men.
As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s station. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he rose and followed Him.
While Jesus sat at supper in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
But when Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered, “Can the guests of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and then they will fast.
“No one sews a piece of new cloth into an old garment, for that which is sewn in to fill it up pulls on the garment, and the tear is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins. Or else the wineskins burst, the wine runs out, and the wineskins perish. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
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 saints on earth, that they may live as citizens of heaven
All people, that they may hear and believe the word of God
All who fear the winter months
All sovereigns and political leaders, that they may imitate the righteous rule of Christ
All who grieve or wait with the dying
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
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Uniting our prayers with the whole company of heaven, 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
May Christ, who has opened the kingdom of heaven, bring us to reign with him in glory.
Amen.