Tue. morning May 26
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God, creator of all, to you be glory and praise forever. You founded the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands. In the fullness of time, you made us in your image, and in these last days you have spoken to us in your Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. As we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us, let the light of your love always shine in our hearts, your Spirit ever renew our lives, and your praises ever be on our lips.
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
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Words: Charles Wesley (1747)
Music: John Zundel (1870)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#88)
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of Heav'n to Earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter ev'ry trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
Into ev'ry troubled breast;
Let us all in thee inherit,
Let us find thy promised rest;
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.
Come, Almighty to deliver;
Let us all thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never,
Never more thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve thee as thy host above,
Pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
Glory in thy perfect love.
Finish, then, thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee;
Changed from glory into glory
Till in Heav'n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise!
Confession of Sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
After a period of reflection
Come, let us return to the Lord and say:
Lord our God, in our sin, we have avoided your call. Our faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. Have mercy on us; deliver us from judgment; bind up our wounds and revive us; in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
cf Hosea 6
May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.
Psalm 132
𝙍: The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
O LORD, remember David
and all his afflictions;
how he swore to the LORD,
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
“Surely I will not enter my house,
nor go up to my bed;
I will not give sleep to my eyes,
or slumber to my eyelids,
until I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
𝙍: The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
we found it in the fields of Jaar.
“Let us go into His dwelling place;
let us worship at His footstool.”
Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place,
You and the ark of Your strength.
Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let Your saints shout for joy.
For the sake of Your servant David,
turn not away the face of Your anointed.
𝙍: The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
The LORD has sworn in truth to David
from which He will not turn back:
“A son of the fruit of your body
will I set upon your throne.
If your sons will keep My covenant
and My testimony which I shall teach them,
their sons also, forevermore,
shall sit upon your throne.”
𝙍: The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
For the LORD has chosen Zion;
He has desired it for His dwelling place:
“This is My resting place forever;
here will I dwell, for I have chosen it.
I will abundantly bless her provisions;
I will satisfy her poor with bread.
Also her priests will I clothe with salvation,
and her saints will shout for joy.
“There will I make the horn of David sprout up;
I have prepared a lamp for My anointed.
His enemies will I clothe with shame,
but upon himself shall his crown flourish.”
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 LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
Psalm prayer
Jesus, Son of David, make us a priestly people; clothe us in righteousness, make us fruitful, and give us hearts to shout for joy in your salvation; we pray in the power of the Spirit.
Psalm 133
𝙍: Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brothers to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down upon the edge of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
descending upon the mountains of Zion;
for there the LORD commanded the blessing,
life forevermore.
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: Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.
Psalm prayer
Grant to your people, good Lord, the spirit of unity, that they may dwell together in your love, and so bear to the world the ointment of your healing and the dew of your blessing; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Joshua 2
Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men out from Shittim to spy, saying, “Go see the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and they came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab. They spent the night there.
The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of Israel came here tonight to spy out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, “Bring out the men who came to you, who have entered your house, for they came to spy out the whole land.”
Now the woman had taken the two men and had hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. The men went out when it was time to shut the gate at dark. I do not know where the men went. Chase after them quickly, for you can overtake them.” Yet she had brought them up to the roof. She hid them in the stalks of flax that she had spread out on the roof. So the men chased after them on the road to the Jordan as far as the fords. They shut the gate as soon as the pursuers went out after them.
Before the spies went to sleep, Rahab went up to them on the roof. She said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, for dread from you has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land melt in terror before you. For we heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. Our hearts melted when we heard these things, and no man had any breath in him because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.
“So now, since I have acted faithfully toward you, please swear to me by the LORD that you will also act faithfully toward my father’s house. Please give me a firm pledge that you will spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all whom they own, and that you will deliver our lives from death.”
The men said to her, “Our lives for yours; if you do not report us, then when the LORD gives us the land, we will act faithfully and kindly with you.”
Then Rahab lowered them by a rope through the window, for her home was set into the wall where she lived. She said to them, “Go to the hill country so that the pursuers do not find you. Hide there three days until the pursuers return. After that, you can go on your way.”
The men said to her, “We will be guiltless concerning this oath that you have made us swear. Behold, when we come into the land, you tie this red cord to the window through which you let us down. You must bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all who belong to your father’s household into your home. Anyone who comes out of the doors of your house into the street is responsible for his own blood, and we will be innocent. Yet for anyone who stays with you inside the house, we are responsible for his blood if someone should lay a hand on him. But if you tell about this business of ours, then we will be released from the oath that you have made us swear.”
She said, “Let it be so, according to your words.”
Then she sent them off, and they departed. Then she tied the red cord in the window.
They went and came to the hill country. They stayed there three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had sought them all along the way but had not found them. So the two men returned. They descended from the hill country. They crossed the river, came to Joshua son of Nun, and told him all that they had discovered. They said to Joshua, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands! Indeed, all the inhabitants of the land melt in terror before us.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 9:28-36
About eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James and went up onto a mountain to pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His countenance was altered, and His clothing was white and glistening. And behold, two men were talking with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure which He was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep. But waking thoroughly, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. As they departed from Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three sanctuaries: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not knowing what he said.
While he was speaking, a cloud came and overshadowed them. And they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent and told no one in those days anything they had seen.
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:
All who are sick in body, mind, or spirit
Those in the midst of famine or disaster
Victims of abuse and violence, intolerance, and prejudice
Those who are bereaved
All who work in the medical and healing professions
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
O Lord, from whom all good things come: grant to us your humble servants, that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that are good, and by your merciful guiding may perform 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
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
The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life.
Amen.