Thu. morning May 28
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
Christian! Dost Thou See Them
Words: Andrew of Crete (660-732); trans. John M. Neale (1818-1866)
Music: John B. Dykes (1823-1876)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#475)
Christian! dost thou see them
on the holy ground,
how the pow'rs of darkness
rage thy steps around?
Christian! up and smite them,
counting gain but loss,
in the strength that cometh
by the holy cross.
Christian! dost thou feel them,
how they work within,
striving, tempting, luring,
goading into sin?
Christian! never tremble;
never be downcast;
gird thee for the battle;
watch, and pray, and fast!
Christian! dost thou hear them,
how they speak thee fair?
"Always fast and vigil?
Always watch and prayer?"
Christian! answer boldly,
"While I breath, I pray!"
Peace shall follow battle,
night shall end in day.
"Well I know thy trouble,
O my servant true;
thou art very weary–
I was weary too;
but that toil shall make thee
some day all Mine own,
and the end of sorrow
shall be near My throne."
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 143
𝙍: Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth.
Hear my prayer, O LORD:
give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness answer me,
and in Your righteousness.
Enter not into judgment with Your servant,
for in Your sight no one living is righteous.
For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me dwell in darkness,
like those who have long been dead.
Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me;
my heart within me is distressed.
𝙍: Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth.
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your works;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
I stretch forth my hands to You;
my soul thirsts for You like a thirsty land.
Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails!
Hide not Your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
for in You do I trust;
cause me to know the way wherein I should walk,
for I lift up my soul to You.
𝙍: Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth.
Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies;
I flee unto You for refuge.
Teach me to do Your will,
for You are my God;
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Revive me, O LORD, for Your name’s sake!
For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your mercy cut off my enemies,
and destroy all those who afflict my soul,
for I am Your servant.
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: Teach me, O LORD, the way I should walk.
Psalm prayer
Jesus, our companion, when we are driven to despair, help us, through the friends and strangers we encounter on our path, to know you as our refuge, our way, our truth, and our life.
Psalm 146
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not put your trust in princes,
nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
The LORD sets free the prisoners.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
the LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow,
but the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD!
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 shall reign forever.
Psalm prayer
Lord of all, our breath and being come from you, yet our earthly end is dust; as you loose the bound and feed the hungry, so bring us in your mercy through the grave and gate of death to the feast of eternal life, where you reign forevermore.
Old Testament reading
Joshua 4:1-5:1
When the entire people had completed crossing over the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Take twelve men from among the people, one man per tribe. Command them: ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the feet of the priests are standing; bring them over with you, and set them in the place you will camp tonight.’ ”
So Joshua summoned the twelve men he had appointed from among the Israelites, one man per tribe. Then Joshua said to them, “Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift up a stone upon your shoulder, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites, so that this will be a sign among you. When your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ you will answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones will be a memorial for the Israelites continually.”
Then the Israelites did as Joshua commanded and picked up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had spoken to Joshua. They crossed over with them to the settlement and set them there. Joshua also set twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing. The stones are there to this day.
The priests who were carrying the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the LORD had commanded Joshua to say to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people quickly crossed over. When all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over in battle formation in front of the Israelites, according to what Moses had said to them. About forty thousand battle-ready men crossed over before the LORD for battle on the plains of Jericho.
On that day, the LORD honored Joshua in the sight of all Israel. They feared him as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life.
The LORD spoke to Joshua, “Command the priests carrying the ark of the testimony: ‘Come up out of the Jordan!’ ”
So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan!”
Then when the priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the middle of the Jordan and the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.
Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped at Gilgal, on the eastern border of Jericho. Joshua set up in Gilgal those twelve stones that they took from the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “When your children someday ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall explain to your children, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground!’ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea when He dried it up before us until we crossed over, so that all the peoples of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, and you would fear the Lord your God always.”
When all the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and of the Canaanites by the sea to the east heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites while they crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any breath in them because of the Israelites.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 9:51-62
When the time came for Him to be received up, He was steadfastly set to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers ahead of Him. They went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make things ready for Him, but they did not receive Him, because He was set to go to Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.
As they went along the way, a man said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests. But the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”
He said to another man, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
Yet another said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go bid farewell to those at my house.”
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back at things is fit for the kingdom of God.”
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:
Local government, community leaders
All who provide local services
Those who work with young or elderly people
Schools, colleges, and universities
Emergency and rescue organizations
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.