Thu. morning Feb. 19
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Hear my voice according to your lovingkindness.
O LORD, give me life according to your judgment.
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
I Will Make the Darkness Light
Words and Music: Charles P. Jones (1916)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#476)
I will make the darkness light before thee,
what is wrong I’ll make it right before thee,
all thy battles I will fight before thee,
and the high place I’ll bring down.
With an everlasting love I’ll love thee,
though with trials deep and sore I’ll prove thee,
but there’s nothing that can hurt or move thee,
and the high place I’ll bring down.
I will make the darkness light before thee,
I will make the crooked straight before thee,
I will spread my wings protecting o’er thee,
and the high place I’ll bring down.
When thou walkest by the way I’ll lead thee,
on the fatness of the land I’ll feed thee,
and a mansion in the sky I’ll deed thee,
and the high place I’ll bring down.
Confession of Sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
After a period of reflection
Come, let us return to the Lord and say:
Lord our God, in our sin, we have avoided your call. Our faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. Have mercy on us; deliver us from judgment; bind up our wounds and revive us; in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
cf Hosea 6
May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.
Psalm 77
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
My voice rises to God, thus will I cry aloud;
my voice rises to God, thus will He hear me.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
in the night my hand was stretched out without ceasing;
my soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered God, and was troubled;
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
I have considered the days of old,
the years long ago.
I call to remembrance my song in the night;
I meditate within my heart,
and my spirit ponders:
“Will the Lord reject forever?
Will He be favorable no more?
Has His mercy ceased forever?
Have His promises failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger withheld His tender mercies?”
Then I said, “This is my grief;
but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
I will remember the works of the LORD;
surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will meditate on all Your work
and muse on Your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy;
what god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,
the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
The waters saw You, O God;
the waters saw You, they were afraid;
the depths also trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
Your arrows flashed back and forth.
The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
the lightnings lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea,
Your path through the great waters;
yet Your footsteps were unseen.
You led Your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
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: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
Psalm prayer
God our shepherd, you led us and saved us in times of old; do not forget your people in their troubles, but raise up your power to sustain the poor and helpless; for the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Genesis 39
Now Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.
The LORD was with Joseph, so that he became a prosperous man. He was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper. Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. So he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put under his charge. From the time that he had made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house on account of Joseph. So the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had in the house and in the field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and he had no concerns regarding anything except the food he ate.
Now Joseph was handsome and well-built. After a time, his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Lie with me.”
But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my charge. There is none greater in this house than I. He has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” She spoke to Joseph every day, but he did not listen to her about lying with her or being with her.
But it happened one day that Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there. She caught him by his clothing, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his clothing in her hand and fled and got outside.
When she saw that he had left his clothing in her hand and had fled outside, she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, “See, he has brought in a Hebrew among us to humiliate us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. When he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his clothing with me, fled, and got outside.”
She laid up his clothing next to her until his master came home. She spoke to him using these words, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me. When I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his clothing with me and fled outside.”
When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” he became enraged. Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined.
So he was there in the prison. But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. The keeper of the prison committed all the prisoners that were in the prison to the charge of Joseph. So whatever they did there, he was the one responsible for it. The keeper of the prison did not concern himself with anything that was under Joseph’s charge because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it prosper.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Galatians 2:11-21
But when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him face to face, because he stood condemned. Before certain men came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the other Jews, likewise, joined together in hypocrisy with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, why do you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
We are Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners, yet we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, rather than by the works of the law. For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
If, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found to be sinners, is Christ therefore the minister of sin? God forbid! For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
For through the law I am dead to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in my body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ died in vain.
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:
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, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may receive from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; 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, 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 God our Redeemer show us compassion and love.
Amen.