Sat. morning Sep. 26
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
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
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 68
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
Let God arise; let His enemies be scattered;
let those who hate Him flee before Him.
As smoke is driven away,
so drive them away;
as wax melts before the fire,
so let the wicked perish before God.
But let the righteous be glad;
let them rejoice before God;
let them rejoice exceedingly.
Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
extol Him who rides upon the clouds;
His name is the LORD;
rejoice before Him.
A father of the fatherless and a protector of the widows
is God in His holy habitation.
God settles the solitary in a home;
He leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
O God, when You went forth before Your people,
when You marched through the wilderness,
the earth shook;
the heavens also poured down rain
at the presence of God; Sinai itself quaked
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
You, O God, shed abroad a plentiful rain;
You confirmed Your inheritance when it was weary.
Your congregation dwelt in it;
You, O God, provided in Your goodness for the poor.
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
The Lord gave the word;
great was the company of the women who proclaimed it:
“Kings of armies flee; they flee!”
Even she who remains at home divides the spoil.
Though you lie down among the sheepfolds,
you will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver,
and its pinions with yellow gold.
When the Almighty scattered kings in it,
it was white as snow on Mount Zalmon.
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
The mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan;
a mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan.
Why do you look with envy, you mountain of many peaks,
at the mountain which God desires to dwell in?
Yes, the LORD will dwell in it forever.
The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them as at Sinai, in the holy place.
You have ascended on high,
leading captives in your train;
You have received gifts among men,
even from the rebellious,
that the LORD God might dwell there.
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up,
the God of our salvation.
Our God is the God of salvation;
and to God the Lord belongs escape from death.
But God will wound the heads of His enemies,
the hairy head of him who walks in his guilty ways.
The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan;
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
that you may bathe your foot in blood,
and the tongues of your dogs may have their share from your enemies.”
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
They have seen Your processions, O God,
the processions of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.
The singers went in front,
the musicians followed behind;
between them were the young women playing tambourines.
Bless God in the congregations,
the LORD, from the fountain of Israel.
There is little Benjamin leading them,
the princes of Judah in their throng,
the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
Summon Your might, O God;
show Your strength, O God, which You have done for us before.
Because of Your temple at Jerusalem,
kings will bring gifts to You.
Rebuke the animals that live among the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples,
until everyone submits himself with pieces of silver;
scatter the peoples who delight in war.
Envoys will come from Egypt;
Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God.
𝙍: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth;
oh, sing praises to the Lord,
to Him who rides on the highest heavens, which were of old!
Behold, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice.
Ascribe strength to God;
His excellency is over Israel,
and His strength is in the clouds.
O God, You are awesome in Your sanctuary;
the God of Israel is He who gives strength and power to His people.
Blessed be God!
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: Sing to God, sing praises to His name.
Psalm prayer
Blessed are you, gracious God; you make your home among the weak, you deliver us from death, you bring us joy beyond our imagining to the praise of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
1 Kings 19
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
When he saw that she was serious, he arose and ran for his life to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree and asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough! Now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
As he lay and slept under the juniper tree, behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” He looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on coals and a jar of water at his head. And he ate and drank and then lay down again.
The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” He arose and ate and drank and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
He came to a cave and camped there. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”
And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, Lord of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”
He said, “Go and stand on the mountain before the LORD.”
And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind split the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake came, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire came, but the LORD was not in the fire, and after the fire, a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance to the cave.
And behold, a voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”
And he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, Lord of Hosts, because the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.”
The LORD said to him, “Go, return on the road through the Wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Aram. And you shall anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to be king over Israel, and you shall anoint Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah, to be prophet in your place. He who escapes the sword of Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and he who escapes the sword of Jehu will be killed by Elisha. Still, I have preserved seven thousand men in Israel for Myself, all of whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him and he with the twelfth, and Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak on him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.”
And he said to him, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”
So he returned from following him and took a yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes from the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up and went after Elijah and ministered to him.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 21:17-36
When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. 18On the next day Paul went with us to James, and all the elders were present. He greeted them and recounted one by one what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
When they heard this, they glorified the Lord. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been informed concerning you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to observe the customs. What then shall be done? The assembly will certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take these men and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may have their heads shaved. Then all will know that what they were told concerning you is nothing, but that you yourself live in observance of the law. As for the Gentiles who believe, we have written and concluded that they should observe no such thing, except that they abstain from food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from strangled animals, and from blood.”
Then on the next day, Paul took the men and purified himself with them. And he went into the temple, announcing when the days of purification would be complete and an offering would be given for each one of them.
When the seven days were nearly concluded, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man teaching all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place. He even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they supposed Paul had brought into the temple.
Then the whole city was provoked, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. And immediately the doors were shut. While they were trying to kill him, news came up to the commander of the battalion of soldiers that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
Then the commander came and arrested him, and ordered that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another. As he could not learn the truth because of the uproar, he commanded that he be brought into the barracks. When he came onto the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers, because of the violence of the people. For the mob of people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”
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:
Our homes, families, friends, and all whom we love
Those whose time is spent caring for others
Those who are close to death
Those who have lost hope
The worship of the church
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers of your people who call upon you; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill them; 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.