Wed. morning Mar. 18
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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
Am I a Soldier of the Cross
Words: Isaac Watts (c. 1721)
Music: Thomas A. Arne (1762)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#600)
Am I a soldier of the cross,
a follower of the Lamb,
and shall I fear to own His cause,
or blush to speak His name?
Must I be carried to the skies
on flow'ry beds of ease,
while others fought to win the prize,
and sailed through bloody seas?
Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
to help me on to God?
Sure I must fight, if I would reign;
increase my courage, Lord!
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
supported by Thy word.
Am I a soldier of the cross,
a follower of the Lamb,
and shall I fear to own His cause,
or blush to speak His name?
Confession of Sin
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor recompensed us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward those who fear Him.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 63
𝙍: My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
O God, You are my God;
early will I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You;
my flesh longs for You,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.
So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary,
beholding Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
my lips shall praise You.
Thus will I bless You while I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
𝙍: My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
When I remember You upon my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
for You have been my help.
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings will I rejoice.
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.
𝙍: My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
But those who seek my soul, to destroy it,
shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
They shall fall by the sword;
they shall be prey for jackals.
But the king shall rejoice in God;
everyone who swears by Him shall glory,
for the mouths of those who speak lies shall be stopped.
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: My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
Psalm prayer
To you we come, radiant Lord, the goal of all our desiring, beyond all earthly beauty; gentle protector, strong deliverer, in the night you are our confidence; from first light be our joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 90
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Lord, You have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You return man to the dust
and say, “Return, O sons of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
and like a watch in the night.
You carry them away like a flood;
they fall asleep; in the morning they are like grass that grows anew:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
in the evening it fades and withers.
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
For we are consumed by Your anger;
by Your wrath we are terrified.
You have set our iniquities before You,
our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days pass away under Your wrath;
we finish our years like a whisper.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even, by reason of strength, eighty;
yet their span is but toil and sorrow;
they soon pass away, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
So teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have compassion on Your servants!
Satisfy us in the early morning with Your mercy,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants,
and Your glory to their children.
Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands among us;
yes, establish the work of our hands.
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: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Psalm prayer
Almighty God, our eternal refuge, teach us to live with the knowledge of our death and to rejoice in the promise of your glory, revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Exodus 4:1-23
Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice. For they will say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”
The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
And he said, “A rod.”
He said, “Throw it on the ground.”
And he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent. Then Moses fled from it. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Put forth your hand and take it by the tail.” And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
The LORD said furthermore to him, “Now put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow.
He said, “Put your hand into your bosom again.” So he put his hand into his bosom again, and brought it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.
“If they will not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first sign, then they may believe the voice of the latter sign. But if they will not believe also these two signs or listen to your voice, then you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land, and the water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.”
Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant. But I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”
The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who made the mute, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you must say.”
He said, “O my Lord, send, I pray, by the hand of whomever else You will send.”
The anger of the LORD was inflamed against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you must do. What’s more, he will be your spokesman to the people, and he will be as a mouth for you, and you will be as God to him. You must take this rod in your hand, with which you will perform the signs.”
Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive.”
And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
The LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return to Egypt, for all the men are dead who sought your life.” Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.
The LORD said to Moses, “When you go to return into Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart, so that he shall not let the people go. You shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: Israel is My son, even My firstborn. So I say to you, “Let My son go, that he may serve Me. And if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your firstborn son.” ’ ”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Hebrews 10:1-18
For the law is a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of those things. It could never by the same sacrifices, which they offer continually year after year, perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshippers, once purified, would no longer be conscious of sins? But in those sacrifices there is an annual reminder of sins. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifices and offerings You did not desire,
but a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You have had no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God,’ as it is written of Me
in the volume of the book.”
Previously when He said, “You did not desire sacrifices and offerings. You have had no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin,” which are offered in accordance with the law, then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
But every priest stands daily ministering and repetitively offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He has been waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool. For by one offering He has forever perfected those who are sanctified.
The Holy Spirit also witnesses to us about this. For after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws into their hearts,
and in their minds I will write them,”
then He adds,
“Their sins and lawless deeds
will I remember no more.”
Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
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, hear your people
and answer our prayers.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Merciful Lord, absolve your people from their offenses, that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins which by our frailty we have committed; grant this, heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Savior, 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.