Wed. morning Jul. 8
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
Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus
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 110
𝙍: The LORD reigns; He is clothed with majesty.
The LORD said to my lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
until I make your enemies
your footstool.”
The LORD will send your mighty scepter out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
Your people will follow you
in the day of your battle;
on the holy mountains,
at the dawn of the morning,
the dew of your youth belongs to you.
𝙍: The LORD reigns; He is clothed with majesty.
The LORD has sworn
and will not change His mind,
“You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
The Lord is at your right hand;
He will execute kings in the day of His wrath.
𝙍: The LORD reigns; He is clothed with majesty.
He will judge among the nations; He will fill them with dead bodies;
He will execute the heads over many countries.
He will drink from the brook by the wayside;
therefore He will lift up His head.
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 reigns; He is clothed with majesty.
Psalm prayer
Lord Jesus, divine Son and eternal priest, inspire us with the confidence of your final conquest of evil, and grant that daily on our way we may drink of the brook of your eternal life, and so find courage against all adversities; for your mercy’s sake.
Psalm 111
𝙍: The LORD is gracious and compassionate.
Praise the LORD!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who have pleasure in them.
Honorable and majestic is His work,
and His righteousness endures forever.
He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
𝙍: The LORD is gracious and compassionate.
He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will ever be mindful of His covenant.
He has shown His people the power of His works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of His hands are truth and justice;
all His precepts are trustworthy.
𝙍: The LORD is gracious and compassionate.
They stand forever and ever,
and are performed in truth and uprightness.
He has sent redemption to His people;
He has commanded His covenant forever;
holy and awesome is His name.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
a good understanding have all those who do His commands.
His praise endures forever!
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 gracious and compassionate.
Psalm prayer
Gracious God, you are full of compassion; may we who long for your kingdom to come rejoice to do your will and acknowledge your power alone to save; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 112
𝙍: The righteous will be remembered forever.
Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who delights greatly in His commandments.
His descendants will be mighty on the earth;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches will be in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
Unto the upright arises light in the darkness;
he is gracious, compassionate, and righteous.
𝙍: The righteous will be remembered forever.
It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;
he will guide his affairs with justice.
For he will never be moved;
the righteous will be remembered forever.
He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
𝙍: The righteous will be remembered forever.
His heart is established; he will not be afraid,
until he looks in triumph on his enemies.
He has given freely; he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be exalted with honor.
The wicked will see it and be angry;
he will gnash his teeth and melt away;
the desire of the wicked will 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: The righteous will be remembered forever.
Psalm prayer
Generous God, save us from the meanness that calculates its interest and hoards its earthly gain; as we have freely received, so may we freely give; in the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
1 Samuel 2:12-26
Now the sons of Eli were corrupt. They did not know the LORD. The priest’s custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the flesh was cooking with a three-pronged fork in his hand. And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot, and all that the fork brought up the priest took for himself. This they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Even before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast. For he will not take boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
If any man said to him, “Let them first burn the fat and then take as much as you wish,” then he would answer him, “No, but you will give it to me now, and if not, I will take it by force.”
Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD. For the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.
But Samuel ministered before the LORD, as a boy, wearing a linen ephod. Now his mother would make him a little coat and brought it to him every year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “The LORD give you offspring from this woman for the sake of the request which was made to the LORD.” Then they would return to their home. The LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before the LORD.
Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, even that they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. He said to them, “Why are you doing these things? For I am hearing of your evil dealings from all these people. No, my sons! Truly, it is not a good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading. If one man sins against another, God will judge him, but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” But they did not listen to the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them.
Now the boy Samuel was growing both in stature and favor with the LORD and also with men.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 20:1-8
One day, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up to Him, and said to Him, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Who is he who gave You this authority?”
He answered them, “I will also ask you one thing. Answer Me: Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”
They debated with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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 social services
All who work in the criminal justice system
Victims and perpetrators of crime
The work of aid agencies throughout the world
Those living in poverty or under oppression
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified: hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people, that in their vocation and ministry they may serve you in holiness and truth to the glory of your name; through our Lord and Savior 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
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.