Opening response

Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Hear our voice, O LORD, according to Your loving devotion;
give us life according to Your justice.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy,
to you be praise and glory forever.
In the darkness of our sin,
your light breaks forth like the dawn
and your healing springs up for deliverance.
As we rejoice in the gift of your saving help,
sustain us with your bountiful Spirit
and open our lips to sing your praise.
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

The Sovereign Lord of Hosts Is One

Charles Wesley

The sovereign Lord of hosts is One,
Forever glorified,
The first and last is God alone,
There is no God beside:
Worship divine to him is due,
Who doth the title claim,
The Alpha and Omega too,
The first and last I Am.

The King of saints, the Lord of hosts,
Almighty to redeem,
In him his ransomed people trusts
The One great God supreme:
Jesus, thou art to us made known
Fullness of deity:
There is no other God but One,
No other God but thee.

Confession of sin

When we cry out to the LORD in our trouble,
he will bring us out of 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 loving devotion,
and his wonders to the sons of men.

Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.

cf Psalm 107

Psalm 3

𝙍: You, O LORD, are a shield around me.

O LORD, how my foes have increased!
How many rise up against me!
Many say of me,
“God will not deliver him.” 𝙍

But You, O LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the One who lifts my head.
To the LORD I cry aloud,
and He answers me from His holy mountain.

I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
I will not fear the myriads
set against me on every side. 𝙍

Arise, O LORD!
Save me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
Salvation belongs to the LORD;
may Your blessing be on Your people.

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: You, O LORD, are a shield around me.

Psalm prayer

Shield us, Lord, from all evil,
and lift us from apathy and despair,
that even when we are terrified,
we may trust your power to save;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 7

𝙍: Vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and integrity.

O LORD my God, I take refuge in You;
save me and deliver me from all my pursuers,
or they will shred my soul like a lion
and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

O LORD my God, if I have done this,
if injustice is on my hands,
if I have rewarded my ally with evil,
if I have plundered my foe without cause,
then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me;
may he trample me to the ground
and leave my honor in the dust. 𝙍

Arise, O LORD, in Your anger;
rise up against the fury of my enemies.
Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.
Let the assembled peoples gather around You;
take Your seat over them on high.
The LORD judges the peoples;
vindicate me, O LORD,
according to my righteousness and integrity.
Put an end to the evil of the wicked,
but establish the righteous,
O righteous God who searches hearts and minds. 𝙍

My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge
and a God who feels indignation each day.
If one does not repent,
God will sharpen His sword;
He has bent and strung His bow.
He has prepared His deadly weapons;
He ordains His arrows with fire.

Behold, the wicked man travails with evil;
he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
He has dug a hole and hollowed it out;
he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
His trouble recoils on himself,
and his violence falls on his own head.

I will thank the LORD for His righteousness
and sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

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: Vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and integrity.

Psalm prayer

Lord, your justice turns evil on itself:
move us to examine our hearts
and repent of all duplicity;
for the sake of Jesus Christ,
our Judge and righteous Savior.

Old Testament reading

Jeremiah 3:6-22

Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD.
‘I will no longer look on you with anger,
for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD.
‘I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you have rebelled against the LORD your God.
You have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every green tree
and have not obeyed My voice,’ ”
declares the LORD.

“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion. Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.

At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.

Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance
of all the nations!’
I thought you would call Me ‘Father’
and never turn away from following Me.
But as a woman may betray her husband,
so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”
declares the LORD.

A voice is heard on the barren heights,
the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,
because they have perverted their ways
and forgotten the LORD their God.

“Return, O faithless children,
and I will heal your faithlessness.”

“Here we are. We come to You,
for You are the LORD our God.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

John 4:27-42

Just then His disciples returned and were surprised that He was speaking with a woman. But no one asked Him, “What do You want from her?” or “Why are You talking with her?”

Then the woman left her water jar, went back into the town, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.

Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat something.”

But He told them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

So the disciples asked one another, “Could someone have brought Him food?”

Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest.

Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed two days.

And many more believed because of His message. They said to the woman, “We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world.”

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

𝙍: Give your people knowledge of salvation, O God, through the forgiveness of their sins.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has visited and redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke through His holy prophets,
those of ages past,
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us deliverance from hostile hands,
that we may serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our lives.

And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord
to prepare the way for Him,
to give to His people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,
to shine on those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the path 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.

𝙍: Give your people knowledge of salvation, O God, through the forgiveness of their sins.

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:

Those preparing for baptism and confirmation
Those serving through leadership
Those looking for forgiveness
Those misled by the false gods of this present age
All who are hungry

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Response

In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
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

Trusting in the compassion of God, 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.