Fri. morning Jul. 10
Image: Unsplash
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
I Surrender all
Confession of Sin
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Silence may be kept.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.
Amen.
Psalm 139
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
O LORD, You have searched me
and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You perceive my thought from afar.
You winnow my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You beset me behind and before,
and laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Where shall I go from Your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there shall Your hand lead me
and Your right hand take hold of me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall befall me,
even the night about me shall be my light.”
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You
and the night shines as the day,
for darkness and light are alike with You.
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are Your works,
and that my soul knows right well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
when I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
And in Your book were they all written,
the days created for me, when as yet there were none of them.
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would be in number more than the sand.
When I awake,
I am still with You.
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, O bloodthirsty men!
For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those, O LORD, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me, and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
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: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Psalm prayer
Creator God, may every breath we take be for your glory, may every footstep show you as our way, that, trusting in your presence in this world, we may, beyond this life, still be with you where you are alive and reign forever and ever.
Old Testament reading
1 Samuel 3:1-4:1
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days. There was no vision coming forth.
2At that time, Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow weak that he could not see), 3and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD where the ark of God was.
4Then the LORD called to Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” 5He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called to me.”
And he said, “I did not call. Return, lie down again.” And he went and lay down.
6The LORD called Samuel again. So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”
And he answered, “I did not call, my son. Return, lie down again.”
7Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD been revealed to him.
8The Lord again called Samuel a third time. So he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.”
Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling to the boy. 9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down. And it will be, if He calls you, that you will say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant listens.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10The LORD came and stood, and He called as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel.”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant listens.”
11The LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am doing something in Israel which will make both ears ring of everyone who hears it. 12In that day I will bring about against Eli everything which I have spoken with regard to his house, from beginning to end. 13For I told him that I will judge his house forever, for the guilt which he knew, because his sons are cursed, and he did not rebuke them. 14Therefore, I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for with sacrifice or offering forever.”
15Samuel lay until the morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Now Samuel feared to report the vision to Eli. 16Then Eli called Samuel, and said, “Samuel, my son.”
And he answered, “Here I am.”
17He said, “What is the thing that the LORD has spoken to you? Do not hide it from me. Thus may God do so to you, and more also, if you hide from me a word out of all the things that He spoke to you.” 18Samuel told him everything, and did not hide from him a thing. And he said, “It is the LORD; let Him do what is good in His eyes.”
19And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and did not let any of his words fall to the ground. 20All Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was proven to be a prophet of the LORD. 21And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh. For the LORD revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 20:20-26
They watched Him and sent out spies who pretended to be righteous men, that they might seize Him in His words to hand Him over to the power and authority of the governor. So they asked Him, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach rightly. And You do not show partiality, but You truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
He perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Why do you test Me? Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?”
They said, “Caesar’s.”
He said to them, “Then render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
They could not catch Him in His words before the people. And they marveled at His answer and were silent.
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:
National leaders, public officials and the armed forces
Peace and justice in the world
Those who work for reconciliation
All whose lives are devastated by war and civil strife
Prisoners, refugees and homeless people
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord of life
In your mercy, hear us.
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.