Thu. morning Sep. 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
Praise To The Lord, The Almighty
Confession of Sin
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from our distress.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son, and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days.
Amen.
Let us give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 143
𝙍: Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth.
Hear my prayer, O LORD:
give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness answer me,
and in Your righteousness.
Enter not into judgment with Your servant,
for in Your sight no one living is righteous.
For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me dwell in darkness,
like those who have long been dead.
Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me;
my heart within me is distressed.
𝙍: Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth.
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your works;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
I stretch forth my hands to You;
my soul thirsts for You like a thirsty land.
Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails!
Hide not Your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
for in You do I trust;
cause me to know the way wherein I should walk,
for I lift up my soul to You.
𝙍: Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth.
Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies;
I flee unto You for refuge.
Teach me to do Your will,
for You are my God;
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.
Revive me, O LORD, for Your name’s sake!
For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your mercy cut off my enemies,
and destroy all those who afflict my soul,
for I am Your servant.
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 I should walk.
Psalm prayer
Jesus, our companion, when we are driven to despair, help us, through the friends and strangers we encounter on our path, to know you as our refuge, our way, our truth, and our life.
Psalm 146
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not put your trust in princes,
nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
The LORD sets free the prisoners.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
the LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow,
but the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD!
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 shall reign forever.
Psalm prayer
Lord of all, our breath and being come from you, yet our earthly end is dust; as you loose the bound and feed the hungry, so bring us in your mercy through the grave and gate of death to the feast of eternal life, where you reign forevermore.
Old Testament reading
2 Samuel 19:24-43
Then Mephibosheth the son of Saul went down to meet the king. He had neither dressed his feet nor trimmed his mustache, nor washed his clothes from the day the king left, until the day he came back in peace. When he came from Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”
He said, “My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, ‘I will saddle the mule for myself in order to ride on it and go with the king,’ because your servant is lame. But he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. Still my lord the king is as the angel of God, so do what seems best to you. For all my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who eat at your table. What right do I have to cry out any more to the king?”
The king said to him, “Why do you still speak of your affairs? I say that you and Ziba shall divide the field.”
Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him even take everything, since my lord the king has come safely to his house.”
Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim in order to see the king across the Jordan. Barzillai was very old, eighty years old. But he sustained the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very rich man. The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me and I will sustain you with me in Jerusalem.”
Barzillai said to the king, “How many days are left in my life that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? I am now eighty years old. Can I discern what is pleasant from what is harmful? Can your servant taste what I eat and what I drink? Can I still hear the voices of men and women who sing? Why, then, should your servant be a burden to my lord the king? Your servant is merely crossing over the Jordan with the king. Why should the king repay me with this reward? Now allow your servant to return, that I may die in my own city with the grave of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Kimham. He will cross over with my lord the king. Do for him what seems best to you.”
The king said, “Kimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him what seems best to you. Whatever you require of me, I will do for you.”
All of the people crossed over the Jordan. And when the king had crossed over, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him and he returned to his own place.
The king passed on to Gilgal, and Kimham went on with him; all of the people of Judah and half of the people of Israel passed on with the king.
Now all of the men of Israel were coming to the king and said to the king, “Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Jordan, and all of the men of David with him?”
All of the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why are you angry over this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king’s expense? Has he given any gift to us?”
And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, “We have ten shares in the king. Therefore we also have more claim on David than you. Why then did you treat us with contempt? Were we not the first to advise bringing back our king?”
But the words of the men of Judah were harsher than the words of the men of Israel.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 12:1-17
About that time King Herod extended his hands to harm certain ones from the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. Seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to arrest Peter also. This happened during the Days of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him before the people after the Passover.
So Peter was kept in prison. But the church prayed to God without ceasing for him.
The very night when Herod would have brought him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. And the guards before the door were securing the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Rise up, quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands.
Then the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put your sandals on.” And he did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” He went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened to them by itself, and they went out and walked down one street, and immediately the angel left him.
When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I certainly know that the Lord has sent His angel and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
Realizing this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. As Peter knocked at the door of the porch, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, from joy she did not open the door, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the door.
They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she insisted that it was really so. So they said, “It is his angel.”
But Peter continued knocking. And when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.
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:
Local government, community leaders
All who provide local services
Those who work with young or elderly people
Schools, colleges, and universities
Emergency and rescue organizations
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, who called your Church to bear witness that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself: help us to proclaim the good news of your love, that all who hear it may be drawn to you; through him who was lifted up on the cross, 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.