Sun. morning Aug. 23

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

For the Beauty of the Earth

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 104:1-25

𝙍: I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

O LORD my God, You are very great!
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
covering Yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a curtain.
He lays the beams of His upper chambers on the waters;
He makes the clouds His chariot;
He walks upon the wings of the wind;
He makes His angels spirits,
His ministers a flaming fire.

𝙍: I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.

You laid the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At Your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
The mountains rose;
the valleys sank down
to the place which You established for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass over,
that they may not return to cover the earth.

𝙍: I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.

You send the springs into the valleys;
they flow between the hills.
They give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
By them the birds of the heavens have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
You water the mountains from Your upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.

𝙍: I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and vegetation for the cultivation of man,
that he may bring forth food from the earth,
and wine that makes glad the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread which strengthens man’s heart.
The trees of the LORD are full of sap,
the cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
where the birds make their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

𝙍: I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.

He made the moon for the seasons;
the sun knows its place for setting.
You make darkness, and it is night,
in which all the beasts of the forest creep about.
The young lions roar after their prey,
and seek their food from God.
When the sun rises, they gather together
and lie down in their dens.
Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.

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: I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.

Psalm prayer

Creator God, send your Holy Spirit to renew this living world, that the whole creation, in its groaning and striving, may know your loving purpose and come to reflect your glory; in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

JONAH 2

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish. He said:

“I called to the LORD out of my distress,
and He answered me.
Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and You heard my voice.
You cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me.
All Your billows and Your waves
passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am cast away
from Your sight;
yet I will look again
to Your holy temple.’
The waters encompassed me; even to my soul
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped around my head.
I went down to the foundations of the mountains;
the earth with its bars was around me forever;
yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O LORD my God.

“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered the LORD;
and my prayer came to You,
into Your holy temple.

“Those who follow vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.
But I will sacrifice to You
with the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the LORD!”

Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon dry land.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Revelation 1

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him to show to His servants things which must soon take place. He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bears record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.

John,

To the seven churches which are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, He is coming with clouds,
and every eye will see Him,
even those who pierced Him.
And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him.
Even so, Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

I, John, both your brother and companion in the persecution and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the isle that is called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice like a trumpet, saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and “What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks was one like a Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and with a golden sash wrapped around the chest. The hair on His head was white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters. He had in His right hand seven stars, and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. His appearance was like the sun shining brightly.

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though I were dead. Then He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, though I was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

“Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.

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 and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
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.