Wed. morning Sep. 9
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
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
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 119:1-32
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
who seek Him with all their heart.
They also do no injustice;
they walk in His ways.
You have commanded us
to keep Your precepts diligently.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Oh that my ways were directed
to keep Your statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed,
when I look upon all Your commandments.
I will praise You with an upright heart,
when I learn Your righteous judgments.
I will keep Your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to Your word.
With my whole heart have I sought You;
let me not wander from Your commandments.
Your word have I hidden in my heart,
that I might not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD;
teach me Your statutes.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
With my lips have I declared
all the ordinances of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts,
and have respect unto Your ways.
I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live
and keep Your word.
Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of Your law.
I am a stranger on the earth;
hide not Your commandments from me.
My soul is consumed with longing
for Your decrees at all times.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
You rebuke the proud, the cursed,
who stray from Your commandments.
Remove from me reproach and contempt,
for I have kept Your testimonies.
Even though princes sit and speak against me,
Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
Your testimonies also are my delight
and my counselors.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
My soul clings to the dust;
revive me according to Your word.
I have declared my ways, and You answered me;
teach me Your statutes.
Make me understand the way of Your precepts,
so shall I meditate on Your wondrous works.
My soul melts for sorrow;
strengthen me according to Your word.
𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Remove from me the way of lying,
and graciously teach me Your law.
I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
Your judgments have I set before me.
I cling to Your testimonies;
O LORD, put me not to shame!
I will run the way of Your commandments,
for You shall enlarge my heart.
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: Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes.
Psalm prayer
Faithful God, let your word be the treasure of our hearts, that we may delight in your truth and walk in the glorious liberty of your Son Jesus Christ.
Old Testament reading
1 Kings 3
Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace, the house of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people were sacrificing at the high places, because no house had yet been built for the name of the LORD. Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, though he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place, and he offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. While he was in Gibeon, the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and He said, “Ask what you want from Me.”
Solomon answered, “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward You. And You have shown him great kindness in giving him a son to sit on his throne this day.
“Now, O LORD, my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, and I am still a little child and do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, so numerous that they cannot be numbered or counted. Give Your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge among so great a people?”
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself wisdom to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you in the past, and there shall never arise another like you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no kings will compare to you all of your days. If you will walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days.” Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream.
Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings and made a feast for all of his servants.
At that time, two women who were prostitutes came and stood before the king. The first woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I bore a child with her in the house. Three days after I gave birth, she also had a child, and we were together. There was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house.
“Then this woman’s child died during the night because she rolled over on it. She got up at midnight and took my son from beside me while your servant slept and laid him at her bosom and laid her dead child at my bosom. When I rose in the morning to feed my child, behold, it was dead. But when I looked closely in the morning light, behold, I recognized that it was not my son whom I bore.”
The other woman said, “No, the living is my son, and the dead is your son.”
And she said, “No, the dead is your son, and the living is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.
Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead,’ and the other says, ‘No, but your son is dead, and my son is the living.’ ”
So the king said, “Bring me a sword.” And they brought a sword before the king. The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”
Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son, and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and do not kill it.”
But the other said, “Let it be neither mine nor yours and divide it.”
Then the king replied, “Give her the living child, and do not slay it. She is its mother.”
All Israel heard of the king’s judgment, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute sound judgment.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 14:8-28
In Lystra there sat a man, crippled in his feet, who had never walked and was lame from birth. He heard Paul speaking, who looked intently at him and perceived that he had faith to be healed and said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And he jumped up and walked.
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the main speaker. The priest of Zeus, who was in front of the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates to offer sacrifices with the crowds.
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing this? We also are men, of like nature with you, preaching to you to turn from these vain things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them, who in times past allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying our hearts with food and gladness.” With these words they scarcely restrained the crowds from sacrificing to them.
Then some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there and persuaded the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing he was dead. But as the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. The next day he departed with Barnabas for Derbe.
When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the minds of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, to go through many afflictions and thus enter the kingdom of God. When they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they believed. Then they passed throughout Pisidia and came to Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia.
From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. When they arrived and had assembled the church, they reported what God had done through them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And there they stayed a long time with the disciples.
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
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.