Fri. morning Sep. 11
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
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
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 17
𝙍: Deliver me, O LORD, by your hand.
Hear a just cause, O LORD,
attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer
that is not from deceitful lips.
Let my vindication come from Your presence;
let Your eyes behold the things that are right.
You have tried my heart; You have visited me by night;
You have tested me and found nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
Concerning the works of men,
by the word of Your lips
I have avoided
the paths of the violent.
Keep my steps in Your paths,
that my footsteps may not slip.
𝙍: Deliver me, O LORD, by your hand.
I have called upon You, for You will answer me, O God;
incline Your ear to me, and hear my words.
Wondrously show Your lovingkindness by Your right hand,
O Savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries.
Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
hide me in the shadow of Your wings,
from the wicked who oppress me,
from my deadly enemies who surround me.
𝙍: Deliver me, O LORD, by your hand.
They close their hard hearts;
with their mouths they speak proudly.
They have now surrounded us in our steps;
they have set their eyes to cast me to the ground,
like a lion eager to rip its prey,
and like a young lion lurking in secret places.
𝙍: Deliver me, O LORD, by your hand.
Arise, O LORD! Confront him, cast him down!
Deliver my soul from the wicked by Your sword,
from men by Your hand, O LORD,
from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their belly with Your treasure;
they are satisfied with children,
and they leave their abundance to their infants.
As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness;
I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.
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: Deliver me, O LORD, by your hand.
Psalm prayer
Generous Lord, deliver us from all envious thoughts, and when we are tempted by the desire for wealth, let us see your face; for your abundance is enough to clothe our lack; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 19
𝙍: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
and night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor are there words
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice has gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them He has set a tent for the sun,
which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
𝙍: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
converting the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the statutes of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the decrees of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
yes, than much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is Your servant warned,
and in keeping them there is great reward.
𝙍: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I will be upright,
and I will be innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.
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 commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Psalm prayer
Christ, the sun of righteousness, rise in our hearts this day, enfold us in the brightness of your love and bear us at the last to heaven’s horizon; for your love’s sake.
Old Testament reading
1 Kings 6:1, 11-28
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv (which is the second month), he began to build the house of the LORD.
Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying, “Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My judgments and keep all My commandments and walk in them, then I will carry out My word with you, which I spoke to David your father, and I will dwell among the people of Israel and will not forsake My people Israel.”
So Solomon built the house and finished it. He built the interior walls of the house with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. He lined twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls, with boards of cedar, and he lined them within, even the inner sanctuary and the Most Holy Place. The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. The cedar of the house within had carvings of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar. There was no stone seen.
He prepared the inner sanctuary in the inner part of the house in order to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid the altar of cedar. So Solomon overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold, and he made a partition with gold chains in front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold. He overlaid the whole house with gold as well as the whole altar that was by the inner sanctuary.
Within the inner sanctuary, he made two cherubim from olive wood, each ten cubits high. One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing was also five cubits. From the furthest part of the one wing to the furthest part of the other was ten cubits. The other cherub was ten cubits. Both the cherubim were the same shape and size. The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. He set the cherubim within the inner sanctuary, and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall, and their wings touched one another in the middle of the house. He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 15:22-35
Then it pleased the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men from among them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas called Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers. They wrote this letter by their hand:
The apostles and the elders and the brothers,
To the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
Greetings.
Since we have heard that some of us, whom we did not commission, have gone out and have troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law,” it seemed good to us, being assembled in unity, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will also speak to you, saying the same things. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to put on you no greater burden than these necessary things: Abstain from food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from strangled animals, and from blood. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.
Farewell.
So when they were dismissed, they went down to Antioch. And when they had assembled the congregation, they delivered the letter. When they had read it, they rejoiced over the exhortation. Judas and Silas, being prophets themselves, exhorted the brothers with many words and strengthened them. After they had remained there for a time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to the apostles. But it seemed good to Silas to remain there. And Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
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:
Political leaders 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 God, whose only Son has opened for us a new and living way into your presence: give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and in truth; 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.