Wed. morning Oct. 21
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
Now Thank We All Our God
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;
and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 119:153-176
𝙍: I long for Your salvation, O LORD.
Consider my affliction and deliver me,
for I do not forget Your law.
Plead my cause and redeem me;
give me life according to Your word.
Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they seek not Your statutes.
Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD;
give me life according to Your judgments.
𝙍: I long for Your salvation, O LORD.
Many are my persecutors and my enemies,
yet I do not turn from Your testimonies.
I look at the transgressors and grieve,
because they keep not Your word.
Consider how I love Your precepts;
revive me, O LORD, according to Your lovingkindness.
The entirety of Your word is truth,
and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
𝙍: I long for Your salvation, O LORD.
Princes persecute me without cause,
but my heart stands in awe of Your word.
I rejoice at Your word
like one who finds great spoil.
I hate and abhor lying,
but Your law do I love.
Seven times a day do I praise You,
because of Your righteous judgments.
𝙍: I long for Your salvation, O LORD.
Great peace have those who love Your law;
nothing causes them to stumble.
LORD, I hope for Your salvation,
and I keep Your commandments.
My soul keeps Your testimonies,
and I love them exceedingly.
I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies,
for all my ways are before You.
Let my cry come before You, O LORD;
give me understanding according to Your word.
Let my supplication come before You;
deliver me according to Your word.
My lips will utter praise,
for You teach me Your statutes.
My tongue will speak of Your word,
for all Your commandments are righteousness.
𝙍: I long for Your salvation, O LORD.
Let Your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen Your precepts.
I long for Your salvation, O LORD,
and Your law is my delight.
Let my soul live that it may praise You,
and let Your ordinances help me.
I have gone astray like a lost sheep;
seek out Your servant,
for I forget not Your commandments.
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: I long for Your salvation, O LORD.
Psalm prayer
God of mercy, swift to help us, as our lips pour forth your praise, fill our hearts with the peace you give to those who wait for your salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
2 Kings 23:4-25
The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the LORD all the implements that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. Then he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven. He brought out the Asherah from the house of the LORD to the outside of Jerusalem, to the Kidron Valley. Then he burned it at the Kidron Valley, crushed it to dust, and threw its dust upon the graves of the people. He tore down the houses of the male cult prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah.
He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba. He broke down the high places of the gates at the entry of the gates of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left at the gate of the city. However the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem. Instead they ate unleavened bread among their fellow priests.
He defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so that no man would make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entry of the house of the LORD, by the hall of Nathan-melech the eunuch, which was in the vestibule. The chariots of the sun he burned with fire.
The altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord the king tore down and banished from there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley. The high places east of Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, the king defiled. He broke the standing stones, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their sites with human bones.
Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he tore down. Then he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and he burned the Asherah. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mount. He took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD that the man of God proclaimed, the one who announced these things.
Then he said, “What is this monument that I see?”
The men of the city said to him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.”
He said, “Let him rest. No one shall disturb his bones.” So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria.
Moreover, all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah removed. He did to them just as he had done in Bethel. He slaughtered on the altars all the priests of the high places who were there, and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” For such a Passover had not been kept from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
Moreover, Josiah disposed of the mediums, the soothsayers, the teraphim, the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, so that he established the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. Now there had been no king like him before or after, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 Timothy 3
This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good work. An overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach; not given to drunkenness, not violent, not greedy for money, but patient, not argumentative, not covetous; and one who manages his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to manage his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? He must not be newly converted, so that he does not become prideful and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good reputation among those who are outsiders, so that he does not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Likewise deacons must be honorable, not insincere, not given to much wine, not greedy, keeping the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let them first be tested; then, being found blameless, let them serve as deacons.
Likewise, the women must be honorable, not slanderers, sober, and faithful in all things.
Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well in the office of deacon purchase for themselves good standing and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you shortly, but if I am delayed, you might know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Without question, great is the mystery of godliness:
God was revealed in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit,
seen by angels,
preached to the Gentiles,
believed on in the world,
taken up into glory.
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
God, the giver of life, whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church: by the Spirit's gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ and make us eager to do your will, that we may share with the whole creation the joys of eternal life; 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.