Wed. morning Jun. 10
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
Crown Him with Many Crowns
Confession of Sin
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor recompensed us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward those who fear Him.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
andall that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 34
𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise will continually be in my mouth.
My soul will make its boast in the LORD;
the humble will hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt His name together.
I sought the LORD, and He answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and became radiant,
and their faces were not ashamed.
𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.
This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.
Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.
Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints,
for those who fear Him have no want.
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the LORD will not lack any good thing.
𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Who is the man who desires life,
and loves many days that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil,
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and His ears are open to their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to the broken-hearted,
and saves the contrite of spirit.
𝙍: Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He protects all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
Evil will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
The LORD redeems the life of His servants,
and none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
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: Taste and see that the LORD is good.
Psalm prayer
Send your holy angels to watch over us, O God, that on our lips will be found your truth and in our hearts your love; so we may ever taste your goodness in the land of the living; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Joshua 22:9-34
So the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in the land of Canaan to go to the land of Gilead, the land of their possession, according to the word of the LORD through Moses.
The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh came near the Jordan in the land of Canaan and built a very large altar by the Jordan. The Israelites heard someone say, “Behold, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar by the land of Canaan by the Jordan on the Israelite side.” When the Israelites heard this, they assembled the whole congregation of the Israelites at Shiloh to go up against them in war.
Then the Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, to the sons of Reuben, to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, and with him ten chiefs, one chief each for each father’s household of every tribe of Israel; and each one of them was the head of his father’s house among the thousands of Israel.
They came to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them, “The whole congregation of the LORD says, ‘What is this trespass you have committed against the God of Israel? Today you have turned from following the LORD by building yourselves an altar to rebel against Him! Is the sin of Peor, from which we have still not purified ourselves even today, not enough for us, which brought a plague upon the congregation of the LORD that today you have turned away from following the LORD?
“ ‘If today you are rebelling against the LORD, then tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel! If indeed your own land is unclean, then cross over to the land of the LORD where the tabernacle of the LORD stands and take land among us. Yet do not rebel against the LORD or rebel against us by building an altar other than the altar of the LORD our God. Did not Achan son of Zerah commit a trespass in the things under the ban, and wrath fall on all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity.’ ”
Then the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the Israelite clans, “The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, He knows, and may Israel know—if we have acted in rebellion or disloyalty against the LORD, do not spare us today. If we have built an altar to turn away from following the LORD, to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings or make peace offerings upon it, may the LORD Himself demand an account.
“We did this deed because we were worried that in the future your descendants might say, ‘What have you to do with the LORD God of Israel? The LORD made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no share in the LORD!’ In this way your descendants might make our descendants to stop worshipping the LORD.
“So we said to each other, ‘Let us build this altar, not for burnt offering or sacrifice, but as a witness for us, for you, and for the generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before Him with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and peace offerings, and in the future your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, “You have no share in the LORD!” ’
“Therefore we said, ‘In the future, if they say this to us or to our descendants, we will say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the LORD, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but as a witness between you and us.” ’
“God forbid that we should rebel against the LORD by turning from following the LORD today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices other than the altar of the LORD God that stands before His tabernacle!”
When Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the congregation, and the heads of the Israelite clans who were with him heard what the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh said, it pleased them. Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is in our midst because you did not violate your obligations to the LORD in this matter. Indeed, you have delivered the Israelites from the judgment of the LORD.”
Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from meeting the descendants of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan. They brought back a report. This report was good in the eyes of the Israelites, and the Israelites blessed God. They decided not to make war against the descendants of Reuben and Gad to ruin the land in which they lived.
The descendants of Reuben and Gad named the altar Witness, “For it is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 12:22-31
Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor for your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor barns. Yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds? Who of you by worrying can add one cubit to his height? If you then cannot do what is least, why are you anxious about the other things?
“Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither spin nor weave. Yet I say to you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you will eat or what you will drink, nor be of an anxious mind. For the nations of the world seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be given to you.
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
Lord, hear your people
and answer our prayers.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in the keeping of your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; 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.