Fri. morning May 29
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
More Love to Thee, O Christ
Words: Elizabeth P. Prentiss (1869)
Music: William H. Doane (1870)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#588)
More love to Thee, O Christ,
More love to Thee!
Hear Thou the prayer I make
On bended knee;
This is my earnest plea:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!
Once earthly joy I craved,
Sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek,
Give what is best;
This all my prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!
Then shall my latest breath
Whisper Thy praise;
This be the parting cry
My heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!
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 142
𝙍: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Your name.
I cry out to the LORD with my voice;
with my voice to the LORD do I make my supplication.
I pour out my complaint before Him;
I declare my trouble before Him.
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
then You knew my path.
In the way wherein I walk,
they have secretly set a snare for me.
Look to the right and see,
for there is no one who acknowledges me;
there is no refuge for me;
no one cares for my soul.
𝙍: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Your name.
I cried out to You, O LORD;
I said, “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”
Attend unto my cry,
for I am brought very low;
deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than me.
Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may give thanks to Your name;
the righteous shall surround me,
for You shall deal bountifully with me.
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: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Your name.
Psalm prayer
God of compassion, you regard the forsaken and give hope to the crushed in spirit; hear those who cry to you in distress and bring your ransomed people to sing your glorious praise, now and forever.
Psalm 144
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Blessed be the LORD my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
my lovingkindness and my fortress,
my high tower and my deliverer,
my shield and He in whom I take refuge,
who subdues my people under me.
LORD, what is man, that You take regard of him?
Or the son of a man, that You are mindful of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
Cast forth lightning and scatter them;
shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.
Stretch Your hand from above;
rescue me and deliver me
out of the great waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks vain words,
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
I will sing a new song to You, O God;
on a harp of ten strings will I sing praises to You,
who gives salvation to kings,
who delivers David His servant from the deadly sword.
Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks lying words
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
May our sons in their youth
be like plants fully grown,
our daughters like pillars,
sculptured to adorn a palace;
may our barns be full,
supplying every kind of produce;
may our sheep bring forth
thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be strong in labor,
may there be no breaking in
or going out;
and may there be no outcry in our streets!
Blessed are the people who are in such a state;
blessed are the people whose God is 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: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Psalm prayer
God our deliverer, stir our weak wills, revive our weary spirits, and give us the courage to strive for the freedom of all your children, to the praise of your glorious name.
Old Testament reading
Joshua 5:2-15
At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites a second time.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at the Hill of the Foreskins called Gibeath Haaraloth.
Now this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the males who came out of Egypt who were men of fighting age had died in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt. All of the people who had come out were circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt were not circumcised. The Israelites had traveled forty years in the wilderness until all the people, the men of fighting age who came out of Egypt, died, because they did not obey the LORD. The LORD had sworn not to let them see the land that He had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet He raised up their descendants in their place. These men Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised. They had not been circumcised along the way. So when the entire people was completely circumcised, they stayed where they were in the camp until they healed.
The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from upon you.” So the name of that place is called Gilgal even to this day.
The Israelites camped in Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains of Jericho. The day after the Passover, they ate of the produce of the land, unleavened bread, and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate from the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna. That year they ate what the land of Canaan yielded.
Now when Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing in front of him with his sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said, “Are You for us, or for our enemies?”
He said, “Neither, for I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” Then Joshua fell with his face to the ground and worshipped. Then he said, “What does my LORD wish to say to His servant?”
The commander of the army of the LORD said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” So Joshua did this.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 10:1-16
After this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of Him into every city and place where He Himself was about to come. He said to them, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no bag, no pouch, no shoes, and greet no one on the road.
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return upon you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they give, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Do not go from house to house.
“When you enter a city and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a city and they do not receive you, go your way out into their streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But I say to you, it will be more tolerable on that Day for Sodom than for that city.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been done for you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be thrust down to Hades.
“He who listens to you listens to Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
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:
Political leaders and the armed forces
Peace and justice in the world
Those who work for reconciliation
All whose lives are devastated by war and civil strife
Prisoners, refugees, and homeless people
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 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.