Wed. morning Mar. 4
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
Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine
Words: Fanny J. Crosby (1873)
Music: Phoebe P. Knapp (1873)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#570)
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. [Refrain]
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with His goodness, lost in His love. [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 35
𝙍: Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness.
Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
Take hold of shield and buckler,
and rise up to help me!
Draw the spear and javelin
against those who pursue me.
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation.”
Let them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life.
Let them be turned back and confounded
who devise evil against me.
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
and let the angel of the LORD drive them away.
Let their way be dark and slippery,
and let the angel of the LORD pursue them.
𝙍: Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness.
For without cause they have hidden their net for me in a pit,
which they have dug without cause for my life.
Let destruction come upon him unawares,
and let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall in it, to his destruction.
Then my soul shall rejoice in the LORD;
it shall rejoice in His salvation.
All my bones shall say,
“LORD, who is like You,
delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and the needy from him who plunders him?”
𝙍: Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness.
Malicious witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things I do not know.
They repay me evil for good,
to the sorrow of my soul.
But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled my soul with fasting;
and my prayer would return to my own heart.
I paced about as though he were my friend or brother;
I bowed down lamenting,
as one who mourns for his mother.
𝙍: Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness.
But in my adversity they rejoiced and gathered together;
assailants gathered against me, and I did not know it;
they tore me apart without ceasing;
with hypocritical mockers at feasts,
they gnashed at me with their teeth.
Lord, how long will You look on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
my precious life from the lions!
I will give You thanks in the great assembly;
I will praise You in the mighty throng.
𝙍: Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness.
Let not my treacherous enemies
rejoice over me,
nor let those who hate me without cause
wink the eye.
For they do not speak peace,
but they devise deceitful matters
against those who are quiet in the land.
They opened wide their mouths against me,
and said, “Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it.”
This You have seen, O LORD; do not be silent!
O Lord, be not far from me!
Stir up Yourself, and awake for my defense,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me.
𝙍: Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness.
Let them not say in their hearts, “Ah, we have our heart’s desire!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
Let those who rejoice at my calamity be ashamed
and brought to confusion;
let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
who exalt themselves against me.
Let those who favor my vindication
shout for joy and be glad;
let them say continually, “Let the LORD be magnified,
who delights in the peace of His servant.”
Then my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness
and of Your praise all day long.
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: Vindicate me, O LORD, my God, according to Your righteousness.
Psalm prayer
Free us, righteous God, from all oppression, and bring justice to the nations, that all the world may know you as King of kings and Lord of lords, now and forever.
Old Testament reading
Genesis 44:18-34
Then Judah approached him and said, “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’
“You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’ We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my lord.
“Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ We said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down, for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’
“Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. And the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he was torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. And if you take this one also from me and he is harmed, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.’
“Now therefore when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.’
“Now therefore, please let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers. For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would find my father?”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Hebrews 2:10-18
For it was fitting for Him, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the author of their salvation complete through suffering. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of One. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying:
“I will declare Your name to My brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing praise to You.”
And again:
“I will put My trust in Him.”
And again:
“Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.”
So then, as the children share in flesh and blood, He likewise took part in these, so that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were throughout their lives subject to bondage. For surely He does not help the angels, but He helps the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things it was necessary for Him to be made like His brothers, so that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For since He Himself suffered while being tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
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
Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God, you show to those who are in error the light of your truth, that they may return to the way of righteousness: grant to all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion, that they may reject those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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.