Thu morning Mar. 12
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
Power in the Blood
Words and Music: Lewis E. Jones (1899)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#487)
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Would you o'er evil a victory win?
There's wonderful power in the blood.
Refrain:
There is power, power, wonder-working power
in the blood of the Lamb;
there is power, power, wonder-working power
in the precious blood of the Lamb.
Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide.
There's wonderful power in the blood. [Refrain]
Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow;
there's wonderful power in the blood. [Refrain]
Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood.
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There's wonderful power in the blood. [Refrain]
Confession of Sin
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from our distress.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son, and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days.
Amen.
Let us give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 56
𝙍: In God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
Be gracious to me, O God, for man would trample on me;
fighting all day long he oppresses me.
My enemies would trample on me all day long,
for there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
When I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
𝙍: In God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
All day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
when they wait for my life.
For their wickedness will they escape?
In Your anger cast down the peoples, O God.
You keep count of my wanderings;
put my tears in Your bottle;
are they not in Your book?
𝙍: In God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call;
this I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
My vows to You are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to You;
for You have delivered my soul from death,
and kept my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of the living.
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 God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
Psalm prayer
Faithful God, your deliverance is nearer than we know; free us from fear and help us to find courage in your Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 57
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For in You my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of Your wings will I take refuge,
until these calamities pass by.
I will cry out to God Most High,
to God who performs all things for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
He will reproach him who tramples on me.
God will send forth His mercy and His truth.
My soul is among lions;
I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire,
whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let Your glory be above all the earth.
They have prepared a net for my steps;
my soul is bowed down;
they have dug a pit before me,
but they have fallen into it themselves.
My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise.
Awake, my glory!
Awake, psaltery and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
For Your mercy is great unto the heavens,
and Your truth unto the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
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.
Psalm prayer
Tender God, gentle protector in time of trouble, pierce the gloom of despair and give us, with all your people, the song of freedom and the shout of praise; in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Genesis 49:33-50:26
When Jacob finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Forty days were required for him, for such is the time required for those who are embalmed. Then the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
When the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh, saying, ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die. Bury me in my tomb which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore please let me go up and bury my father, and then I will return.’ ”
Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”
Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh went up with him too, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, all the house of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household. They left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. Both the chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very great company.
When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they mourned with a great and very sorrowful lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
So his sons did with him just as he had commanded them. For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us and will certainly pay us back for all the wrong we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “I beg you, forgive the transgressions of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please forgive the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many lives. So now, do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. Also, the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. God will surely come to you and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Hebrews 7:1-10
For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. To him Abraham also gave one-tenth of everything. In the first place, his name is translated “king of righteousness,” and then also he is king of Salem, which means “king of peace.” Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he continually remains a priest. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave one-tenth of the spoils. Surely the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a command to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, from their brothers, though they also come from the seed of Abraham. But this man, whose descent is not numbered among them, received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Without question, the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case mortal men receive tithes, but in the other he of whom it is witnessed that he is alive receives them. One might say that Levi also, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met Abraham.
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
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God, whose beloved Son did not ascend to joy without first enduring pain, and did not enter into glory before being crucified: Grant us mercy, that as we follow the way of the cross, we may discover it to be the path of true life and lasting peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives 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.