Sat. morning Oct. 3
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
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
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 76
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
In Judah God is known;
His name is great in Israel.
His abode is in Salem,
His dwelling place in Zion.
There He broke the flaming arrows of the bow,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
You are more glorious and excellent
than the mountains of prey.
The stouthearted were plundered;
they sank into sleep;
and none of the mighty men
could use his hands.
At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both the rider and horse lay stunned.
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
But You indeed are to be feared;
who may stand in Your presence once You are angry?
You caused judgment to be heard from heaven;
the earth feared and was still,
when God arose to judgment,
to save all the meek of the earth.
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
Surely the wrath of man shall praise You;
with the remainder of wrath You will gird Yourself.
Make your vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them;
let all who are around Him
bring tribute to Him who is to be feared.
He will cut off the spirit of princes;
He is feared by the kings of the earth.
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 has established His throne for judgment.
Psalm prayer
Majestic and gracious God, more awesome than the agents of war, more powerful than the wrath of nations, restrain the violence of the peoples, and draw the despised of the earth into the joyful life of your kingdom, where you live and reign forever and ever.
Psalm 79
𝙍: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name.
O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance;
Your holy temple have they defiled;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
The dead bodies of Your servants
have they given to the birds of the heavens as food,
the flesh of Your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
Their blood have they poured out like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
We have become a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and derision to those who are around us.
𝙍: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name.
How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever?
Will Your jealousy burn like fire?
Pour out Your wrath
upon the nations that do not know You,
and upon the kingdoms
that do not call upon Your name.
For they have devoured Jacob,
and laid waste his dwelling place.
𝙍: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name.
Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers;
let Your tender mercies come speedily to us,
for we have been brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us, and provide atonement for our sins,
for Your name’s sake!
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
𝙍: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name.
Let the avenging of the shed blood of Your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
Let the groaning of the prisoners come before You;
according to the greatness of Your power
preserve those who are appointed to die.
And render to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap
the reproach with which they have reproached You, O Lord.
But we, Your people and the sheep of Your pasture,
will give You thanks forever;
we will declare Your praise
to all generations.
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: Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name.
Psalm prayer
When faith is scorned, and love grows cold, then, God of hosts, rebuild your Church on lives of thankfulness and patient prayer; through Christ your eternal Son.
Old Testament reading
2 Kings 4:1-37
Now one of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but a creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves.”
Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”
Then he said, “Go, ask for vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. Then go in, shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour the oil into all these vessels. When each is full, set it aside.”
So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons, and they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”
But he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” And the oil ceased.
Then she went and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and you and your children can live on the rest.”
One day Elisha passed through Shunem, and a noble woman was there who urged him to eat a meal. So whenever he passed through, he stopped there to eat a meal. And she said to her husband, “Behold, I know that he is a holy man of God regularly passing through near us. Let us make a little walled upper room and put for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so when he comes to us he can stay there.”
One day he came by there, and he turned aside to the upper room and lay down. He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him. He said to him, “Say to her, Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king, or to the captain of the army?”
And she answered, “I am living among my people.”
He said, “What may be done for her?”
And Gehazi said, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the entrance. He said, “At this season, when it is time, you will embrace a son.”
And she said, “No, my lord, man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season, at the time that Elisha had told her.
When the child was older, he went out one day to his father with the reapers. He said to his father, “My head, my head!”
And he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, the boy sat on her knees until noon, and died. She went up, and laid him down on the bed of the man of God, shut the door on him, and went out.
Then she called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may run to the man of God and return.”
He said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither New Moon nor Sabbath.”
She said, “It will be all right.”
Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on, and do not hold back for me unless I tell you.” So she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
And when the man of God saw her far off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, over there is the Shunammite woman. Now run to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?”
And she said, “It is all right.”
When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she grabbed his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, Do not give me false hope?”
Then he said to Gehazi, “Prepare yourself, take my staff in your hand, and go. If you find anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him, and lay my staff on the face of the boy.”
Then the boy’s mother said, “As the LORD lives, and as you live, I will not leave without you.” And he got up and followed her.
Gehazi passed through ahead of them and laid the staff on the face of the boy, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The boy is not awake.”
When Elisha came into the house, he saw that the boy was dead, lying on his bed. So he went in, and shut the door on the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. He went up and lay on the child, put his face on his face, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. Then he bent over the child, and the child’s flesh warmed. Then he got down, walked once back and forth in the house, and went up, and bent over him; the boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes.
Then Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her, and she came to him. Then he said, “Pick up your son.” Then she came in, fell at his feet, and bowed down to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 25:13-27
After several days King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to welcome Festus. When they had been there many days, Festus stated Paul’s case to the king, saying, “There is a man left as a prisoner by Felix. When I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him, asking for a sentence against him.
“I answered, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to die before he who is accused meets the accusers face to face and has the opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge brought against him.’ So when they assembled here, without delay I sat on the judgment seat the next day and ordered that the man be brought in. When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such crimes as I had supposed. But they had disagreements with him about their own religion and about a Man named Jesus, who had died, but whom Paul asserted was alive. Being perplexed about such questions, I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there concerning these charges. But when Paul had appealed to be under guard for the decision of Caesar, I ordered that he be secured until I could send him to Caesar.”
Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.”
He said, “Tomorrow you shall hear him.”
The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the hall with the commanders and the leading men of the city. When Festus gave the order, Paul was brought in. Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all the men who are present with us, you see this man, concerning whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death. But when he himself appealed to Caesar, I decided to send him. But I have nothing to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore I have brought him before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place, I might have something to write. For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without signifying the charges against 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
Almighty God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you: pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself, and so bring us at last to your heavenly city where we shall see you face to face; 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.