Sun. morning Jun. 21
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
Now Thank We All Our God
Confession of Sin
Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
Almighty God, patient and of great goodness: I confess to you, I confess with my whole heart my neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments, my wrong doing, thinking, and speaking; the hurts I have done to others, and the good I have left undone. O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you; and raise me to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May the God of love and power forgive us and free us from our sins, heal and strengthen us by his Spirit, and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Psalm 49
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
both low and high,
rich and poor together.
My mouth shall speak wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
I will incline my ear to a parable;
I will reveal my riddle with the music of the harp.
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Why should I fear in the days of evil,
when the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,
those who trust in their wealth
and boast in the abundance of their riches?
None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him,
for the redemption of their souls is costly;
and it shall cease forever,
that he should live on eternally,
and never see the pit.
For he sees that wise men die;
the fool and the stupid perish,
and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves are their perpetual homes,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they call their lands by their own names.
Nevertheless man cannot remain in his splendor;
he is like the beasts that perish.
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
This is the way of those who are foolish,
and of their posterity who approve their sayings.
Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
the upright shall rule over them in the morning;
their form shall waste away in Sheol,
far from their dwelling.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
for He will receive me.
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Do not fear when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house is increased,
for when he dies he will take nothing away;
his glory will not descend after him.
Though while he lives he blesses himself —
for men will praise you when you do well for yourself—
he will go to the generation of his fathers;
they will never see light.
A man who is in his splendor, yet without understanding,
is like the animals that perish.
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 is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Psalm prayer
Save us from envy, God our Redeemer, and deliver us from the chains of wealth, that, ransomed through your Son, we may inherit the crown of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Deuteronomy 11:1-15
You must love the LORD your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments always. Know this day that I am not speaking with your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the LORD your God, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm, and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to all his land, and what He did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD utterly destroyed them, and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place, and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and everything that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel. But your eyes have seen all the great deeds of the LORD which He did.
Therefore you must keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land which you are going to possess; and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land which you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt from where you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot like a vegetable garden, but the land, which you are entering to possess, is a land of hills and valleys and drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the LORD your God cares. The eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year.
It will be, if you will diligently obey My commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain of your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be full.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 27:1-12
When it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan Regiment. Boarding a ship from Adramyttium, we put out to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us.
The next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be given care. From there we put out to sea and sailed under the leeward side of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. Sailing across the sea off of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. We sailed slowly for many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to proceed, we sailed under the leeward side of Crete off Salmone. Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
As much time had been lost and as the voyage was now dangerous, because the Day of Atonement was already over, Paul advised them, saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives.” But the centurion was persuaded more by the captain and the owner of the ship than by what Paul said. Since the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on from there, if somehow we might reach Phoenix, a harbor in Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and winter there.
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 universal church
Bishops, superintendents, and all who lead the church
The leaders of the nations
The natural world and the resources of the earth
All who are in any kind of need
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Loving God, we look to you.
Receive our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
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.