Wed. morning Jan. 21
Enjoying Methodist Prayer? Please consider making a one-time or recurring donation.
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Your light springs up for the righteous
and all the peoples have seen your glory.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God, king of the nations, to you be praise and glory forever. From the rising of the sun to its setting, your name is proclaimed in all the world. As the Sun of Righteousness dawns in our hearts, anoint our lips with the seal of your Spirit that we may witness to your gospel and sing your praise in all the earth.
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
Savior, More Than Life to Me
Words: Fanny J. Crosby (1875)
Music: William H. Doane (1899)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#336)
Savior, more than life to me,
I am clinging, clinging close to Thee;
let Thy precious blood applied,
keep me ever, ever near Thy side.
Refrain:
Ev'ry day, ev'ry hour
let me feel thy cleansing pow'r;
may Thy tender love to me
bind me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee.
Through this changing world below,
lead me gently, gently as I go;
trusting Thee, I cannot stray,
I can never, never lose my way. [Refrain]
Let me love Thee more and more,
till this fleeting, fleeting life is o'er;
till my soul is lost in love,
in a brighter, brighter world above. [Refrain]
Confession of Sin
Seek the LORD while He may be found,
call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
cf Isaiah 55
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
Lord God, I have sinned against you; I have done what is evil in your sight. I am sorry and repent. Have mercy on me according to your lovingkindness. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Renew a right spirit within me, and restore unto me the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ my 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.
Blessed be the LORD,
because He has heard the voice of my supplications.
Therefore my heart rejoices,
and with my song I will thank Him.
cf Psalm 28:7,9
Psalm 81
𝙍: O come, let us sing to the LORD.
Sing aloud to God our strength;
make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the pleasant lyre with the harp.
Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,
at the full moon on our feast day.
For this is a statute for Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
He made it a decree in Joseph
when He went throughout the land of Egypt.
𝙍: O come, let us sing to the LORD.
I heard a language that I had not known:
“I removed his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you.
O Israel, if you would listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you;
nor shall you bow down to any foreign god.
I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
𝙍: O come, let us sing to the LORD.
“But My people would not listen to My voice;
Israel would not submit to Me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to walk in their own counsels.
“Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
and Israel would walk in My ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn My hand against their adversaries.
Those who hate the LORD would pretend submission before Him,
but their punishment would endure forever.
I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
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: Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD.
Psalm prayer
Father of mercy, keep us joyful in your salvation and faithful to your covenant; and, as we journey to your kingdom, ever feed us with the bread of life, your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.
Psalm 147:12-20
𝙍: Great is our Lord, and mighty in power.
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders,
and fills you with the finest wheat.
𝙍: Great is our Lord, and mighty in power.
He sends forth His commandment to the earth;
His word runs very swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
He scatters the frost like ashes;
He casts forth His ice like morsels;
who can stand before His cold?
𝙍: Great is our Lord, and mighty in power.
He sends out His word and melts them;
He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
He declares His word to Jacob,
His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
He has not dealt so with any nation;
and as for His judgments, they have not known them.
Praise the LORD!
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: Great is our Lord, and mighty in power.
Psalm prayer
Compassionate God, as you know each star you have created, so you know the secrets of every heart; in your loving mercy bring to your table all who are fearful and broken, all who are wounded and needy, that our hungers may be satisfied in the city of your peace; through Christ who is our peace.
Old Testament reading
Genesis 8:1-14
God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. So God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the water receded. Also the fountains of the deep and the floodgates of heaven were closed, and the rain from the heavens was restrained. The water receded steadily from the earth, and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. The water continually decreased until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains became visible.
Then at the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent forth a raven, which went to and fro until the waters were dried up on the earth. Then he sent out a dove to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark, for the waters were on the surface of all the earth. Then he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. He waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. He waited another seven days and sent out the dove again, but she did not return to him again.
In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dry. In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 24:29-51
“Immediately after the distress of those days,
‘the sun will be darkened,
the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: When its branch becomes tender and grows leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you shall see all these things, you know that it is near, even at the doors. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
“Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Two will be in the field; one will be taken, and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and the other left.
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord will come. But know this, that if the owner of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for in an hour when you least expect, the Son of Man is coming.
“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has made ruler over his household to give them food at the appointed time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master delays his coming,’ and begins to strike his fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not look for him and in an hour he is not aware of and will cut him in pieces and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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 unity of the Church
The peace of the world
The healing of the sick
The revelation of Christ to those from whom his glory is hidden
All who travel
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your heavenly glory; 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
Believing the promises of God, 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 sends us to the nations, give us the power of his Spirit.
Amen.