Thu. morning Jul. 2
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
Amazing Grace
Confession of Sin
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from our distress.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son, and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days.
Amen.
Let us give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 90
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Lord, You have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You return man to the dust
and say, “Return, O sons of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
and like a watch in the night.
You carry them away like a flood;
they fall asleep; in the morning they are like grass that grows anew:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
in the evening it fades and withers.
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
For we are consumed by Your anger;
by Your wrath we are terrified.
You have set our iniquities before You,
our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days pass away under Your wrath;
we finish our years like a whisper.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even, by reason of strength, eighty;
yet their span is but toil and sorrow;
they soon pass away, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
So teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have compassion on Your servants!
Satisfy us in the early morning with Your mercy,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants,
and Your glory to their children.
Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands among us;
yes, establish the work of our hands.
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: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Psalm prayer
Almighty God, our eternal refuge, teach us to live with the knowledge of our death and to rejoice in the promise of your glory, revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 92
𝙍: You, O LORD, are on high forever.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High,
to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
and Your faithfulness in the night,
with the ten-stringed lute and with the harp,
and on the lyre with a solemn sound.
For You, O LORD, have made me glad through Your work;
I will sing joyfully at the works of Your hands.
O LORD, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep!
𝙍: You, O LORD, are on high forever.
A brutish man does not know,
nor does a fool understand this:
that though the wicked spring up like grass
and though all the workers of iniquity flourish,
they will be destroyed forever:
But You, O LORD, are on high forever.
For behold, Your enemies, O LORD,
for behold, Your enemies shall perish;
all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
But You have exalted my horn like the horn of the wild ox;
You have anointed me with fresh oil.
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies,
and my ears have heard the doom of my wicked adversaries.
𝙍: You, O LORD, are on high forever.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in old age;
they shall be healthy and flourishing,
to declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
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: You, O LORD, are on high forever.
Psalm Prayer
Give us the music of your praise, Lord, morning, noon, and night, that our lives may be fruitful and our lips confess you as the true and only God.
Old Testament reading
Judges 16:4-31
After this Samson loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. The Philistine rulers came up to her and said, “Trick him! Find out about how his strength is so great and how we can overcome him, bind him, and humiliate him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver coins. ”
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me how your strength is so great and how you could be bound in order to be subdued.”
Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man.”
So the Philistine rulers brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. They lay in wait in her inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” Then he split apart the bowstrings like a single thread is split apart at the touch of fire. So the source of his strength did not become known.
Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have deceived me. You have told me lies. Now, please tell me how you can be bound.”
He said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have never been used, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man.”
So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them. Then she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” For men were lying in wait, remaining in the room. But he split apart the ropes on his arms like a thread.
Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me. You have told me lies. Tell how you can be bound.”
He said to her, “If you weave seven locks of my hair into the fabric on the loom and fasten it with the pin, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man.” So Delilah lulled him to sleep and wove seven locks of his hair into the fabric on the loom. She fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” He awakened from his sleep and tore away from the loom pin and the fabric.
She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me how your strength is so great.” Every day she nagged him with her words and pleaded with him until he was tired to death.
So he told her all his secrets and said to her, “No razor has touched my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I were shaven, my strength would leave me, and I would become weak and be like all other men.”
Delilah saw that he had told her all his secrets, so she sent for the Philistine rulers, saying, “Come up this time, for he has told me all his secrets.” So the Philistine rulers came up to her and brought the money in their hands. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep on her knees and called for a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. Then she began to humiliate him, and his strength left him.
She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.”
Then he awakened from his sleep and thought, “I will go out as before and shake myself free of them.” He did not know that the LORD had left him.
The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza, bound him with bronze chains, and he ground grain in prison. Yet after it had been shaven, the hair on his head began to grow back.
The Philistine rulers gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate. They said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”
The people saw him and praised their god, for they said,
“Our god has given into our hands
our enemy,
the one who ruined our land
and killed many of us.”
When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, so he can entertain us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them.
They placed him between the pillars. Samson said to the young man who held his hand, “Let me rest and touch the pillars on which the temple is set, then I can lean against them.” The temple was full of men and women, and all the Philistine rulers were there. There were about three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain. Samson called out to the LORD, “Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Please strengthen me just this once, God, so that I may get full revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes!” Then Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the temple was set and leaned against them, one with his right hand and one with his left. Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed with all his strength, and the temple fell upon the rulers and all the people who were in it. At his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
Then his brothers and all his family came down, carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the grave of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel for twenty years.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 18:31-43
Taking the twelve, He said, “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished, for He will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and put Him to death, and on the third day He will rise again.”
They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend what was spoken.
As He was drawing near Jericho, a certain blind man sat along the way begging. Hearing a crowd passing by, he asked what it meant. They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.
He cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Those who went in front rebuked him, so that he would keep quiet. But he cried out much more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Jesus stood and commanded him to be brought to Him. When he came near, He asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
He said, “Lord, grant that I may receive my sight.”
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Him, glorifying God. When all the people saw it, they gave praise to 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
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that with you as our ruler and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not our hold on things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, 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.