Sat. morning May 2

Opening response

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

In your resurrection, O Christ,
let heaven and earth rejoice. Alleluia. 

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation, to you be praise and glory forever. As once you ransomed your people from Egypt and led them to freedom in the promised land, so now you have delivered us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of your risen Son. May we, the first fruits of your new creation, rejoice in this new day you have made, and praise you for your mighty acts.

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

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Words: Robert Robinson (1758)
Music: Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part II (1813)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#37)

Come, thou Fount of every blessing;
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above;
praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of God’s unchanging love!

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.

Confession of Sin

O King enthroned on high, filling the earth with your glory: holy is your name, Lord God Almighty.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

In our sinfulness, we cry to you to take our guilt away, and to cleanse our lips to speak your word, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May the God of all healing and forgiveness draw us to himself, and cleanse us from all our sins that we may behold the glory of his Son, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Psalm 34

𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.

I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise will continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the LORD;
the humble will hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt His name together.

I sought the LORD, and He answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and became radiant,
and their faces were not ashamed.

𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.

This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.
Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints,
for those who fear Him have no want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.

𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.

Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life,
and loves many days that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.

𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and His ears are open to their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the contrite of spirit.

𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He protects all his bones;
not one of them is broken.

Evil will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The LORD redeems the life of His servants,
and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

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: Taste and see that the LORD is good.

Psalm prayer

Send your holy angels to watch over us, O God, that on our lips will be found your truth and in our hearts your love; so we may ever taste your goodness in the land of the living; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Exodus 40:17-38

In the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. Moses erected the tabernacle and fastened its sockets, and set up its boards, and inserted its bars, and erected its pillars. Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

He took the testimony and put it into the ark, attached the poles to the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screening, and screened the ark of the testimony, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Then he put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the veil. He set the bread in order on it before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

And he put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. He lighted the lamps before the LORD, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Then he put the gold altar in the tent of meeting before the veil. And he burned fragrant incense on it, just as the LORD commanded Moses. Then he set up the curtain at the entrance of the tabernacle.

He put the altar of burnt offering by the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

Then he set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. It was there Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. Whenever they went into the tent of meeting, and whenever they came near the altar, they washed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

He erected the courtyard all around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the curtain of the courtyard gate. So Moses finished the work.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

When the cloud was lifted up from over the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not lifted up, then they did not set out until the day that it was lifted. For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Luke 4:31-37

Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. They were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority.

In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave us alone! What have You to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”

Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him and did not hurt him.

They were all amazed and said among themselves, “What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” And His fame went out to every place in the surrounding countryside.

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 people of God, that they may proclaim the risen Lord
God’s creation, that the peoples of the earth may meet their responsibility to care
Those in despair and darkness, that they may find the hope and light of Christ
Those in fear of death, that they may find faith through the resurrection
Prisoners and captives

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Response

Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life: raise us, who trust in him, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, that we may seek those things which are above, where he reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Rejoicing in God’s new creation, 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 the risen Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.
Amen.