Sat. morning May 16
Opening response
O Lord, open our lips,
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.
Send your Holy Spirit upon us,
and clothe us with power from on high. Alleluia.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, creator God, to you be praise and glory forever. As your Spirit moved over the face of the waters
bringing light and life to your creation, pour out your Spirit on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your presence.
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
The Sands of Time Are Sinking
Words: Anne R. Cousin (1857)
Music: Chrétien Urhan (1734)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#622)
The sands of time are sinking;
the dawn of heaven breaks;
the summer morn I've sighed for,
the fair sweet morn awakes;
dark, dark has been the midnight,
but dayspring is at hand,
and glory, glory dwelleth
in Emmanuel's land.
O Christ, He is the fountain,
the deep, sweet well of love!
The streams on earth I've tasted;
more deep I'll drink above:
there to an ocean fullness
His mercy doth expand,
and glory, glory dwelleth
in Emmanuel's land.
The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory,
but on my King of grace;
not at the crown He giveth,
but on His pierced hands;
the Lamb is all the glory
of Emmanuel's land.
Confession of Sin
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Silence may be kept.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.
Amen.
Psalm 21
𝙍: The king trusts in the LORD.
The king will rejoice in Your strength, O LORD,
and in Your salvation how greatly will he rejoice!
You have given him his heart’s desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips.
For You meet him with the blessings of goodness;
You set a crown of pure gold on his head.
He asked life of You, and You gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
𝙍: The king trusts in the LORD.
His glory is great in Your salvation;
honor and majesty You bestow on him.
For You have made him most blessed forever;
You have made him glad with the joy of Your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD,
and by the lovingkindness of the Most High
he shall not be moved.
𝙍: The king trusts in the LORD.
Your hand will find out all Your enemies;
Your right hand will find out those who hate You.
You will make them like a fiery furnace
in the time of Your anger;
the LORD will swallow them up in His wrath,
and the fire will consume them.
You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their descendants from among the sons of men.
𝙍: The king trusts in the LORD.
For they intended evil against You;
they devised a plot which they are not able to perform.
Therefore You will put them to flight;
You will aim Your bows at their faces.
Be exalted, O LORD, in Your strength!
We will sing and praise Your power.
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: The king trusts in the LORD.
Psalm prayer
Crown us, God, but with humility, and robe us with compassion, that, as you call us into the kingdom of your Son, we may strive to overcome all evil by the power of good, and so walk gently on the earth with you, our God, forever.
Psalm 47
𝙍: Sing praises to God, sing praises.
Clap your hands, all you people!
Shout to God with a voice of triumph.
For the LORD Most High is awesome;
He is a great King over all the earth.
He subdued peoples under us,
and nations under our feet.
He chose our heritage for us,
the excellency of Jacob whom He loves.
𝙍: Sing praises to God, sing praises.
God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth;
sing praises with understanding.
𝙍: Sing praises to God, sing praises.
God reigns over the nations;
God sits on His holy throne.
The princes of the peoples have assembled
as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.
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: Sing praises to God, sing praises.
Psalm prayer
As Christ was raised by your glory, Father, so may we be raised to new life and rejoice to be called your children, both now and forever.
Old Testament reading
Numbers 21:4-9
They journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, and the soul of the people was very discouraged because of the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread or water, and our soul loathes this worthless manna.”
So the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many Israelites died. So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, and He will take away the serpents from us.” And Moses prayed for the people.
The LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and put it on a pole, and it will be, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, will live.” Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, and if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked at the bronze serpent he lived.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 7:18-35
The disciples of John told him of all these things. 19John, calling for two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the One who is coming, or shall we look for another?”
When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the One who is coming, or shall we look for another?’ ”
In that same hour He cured many of their infirmities and afflictions and evil spirits. And to many who were blind He gave sight. So Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. Blessed is he who does not fall away on account of Me.”
When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the crowd concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Behold, those who are splendidly clothed and live luxuriously are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and much more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written:
‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
who shall prepare Your way before You.’
I say to you, among those who are born of women there is no greater prophet than John the Baptist. Yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
All the people who heard Him, including the tax collectors, acknowledged God as righteous, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God for themselves, not having been baptized by John.
Then the Lord said, “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to each other, saying:
‘We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we mourned to you,
and you did not weep.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine. But you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking. But you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is acknowledged as righteous by all her children.”
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:
God’s royal priesthood, for empowerment by the Spirit
Those who wait on God, that they may find renewal
All people, that they may acknowledge the kingdom of the ascended Christ
The earth, for productivity and for fruitful harvests
All who are struggling with broken relationships
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
O God the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: we beseech you, leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Savior Christ is gone before, who is alive and 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 Spirit kindle in us the fire of God’s love.
Amen.