Wed. morning Aug. 12
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 Creatures of Our God and King
Confession of Sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
After a period of reflection
Come, let us return to the Lord and say:
Lord our God, in our sin, we have avoided your call. Our faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. Have mercy on us; deliver us from judgment; bind up our wounds and revive us; in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
cf Hosea 6
May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.
Psalm 77
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
My voice rises to God, thus will I cry aloud;
my voice rises to God, thus will He hear me.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord;
in the night my hand was stretched out without ceasing;
my soul refused to be comforted.
I remembered God, and was troubled;
I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed.
You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
I have considered the days of old,
the years long ago.
I call to remembrance my song in the night;
I meditate within my heart,
and my spirit ponders:
“Will the Lord reject forever?
Will He be favorable no more?
Has His mercy ceased forever?
Have His promises failed for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has He in anger withheld His tender mercies?”
Then I said, “This is my grief;
but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
I will remember the works of the LORD;
surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will meditate on all Your work
and muse on Your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy;
what god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,
the sons of Jacob and Joseph.
𝙍: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
The waters saw You, O God;
the waters saw You, they were afraid;
the depths also trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
Your arrows flashed back and forth.
The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;
the lightnings lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea,
Your path through the great waters;
yet Your footsteps were unseen.
You led Your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
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: In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.
Psalm prayer
God our shepherd, you led us and saved us in times of old; do not forget your people in their troubles, but raise up your power to sustain the poor and helpless; for the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
1 Samuel 28:3-25
Now Samuel died and all Israel mourned him, and they buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and the necromancers from the land.
Then the Philistines gathered themselves together. And they came and camped in Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they camped in Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams, or by lots, or by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.”
And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor.”
So Saul disguised himself, put on other clothes, and he went with two of his men. And they came to the woman by night and he said, “Please divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whom I will name to you.”
The woman said to him, “Listen, you know what Saul has done, how he has eliminated the mediums and necromancers from the land. Now why are you laying a trap for my life to cause my death?”
Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, “As the LORD lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.”
Then said the woman, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”
And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.”
The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?”
And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a divine being ascending out of the earth.”
He said to her, “What is his appearance?”
And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a robe.”
And Saul perceived that it was Samuel. And he knelt with his face to the ground and bowed himself.
Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you roused me to bring me up?”
And Saul answered, “I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me any longer by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have called you that you might make known to me what I should do.”
Then said Samuel, “Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? The LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. The LORD has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, David. As you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out His fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. And moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
Saul immediately fell full length upon the ground because he greatly feared the words of Samuel. Also there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all day and all night.
The woman came to Saul and saw that he was terrified. And she said to him, “Behold, your handmaid has obeyed your voice. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. Now therefore you also, please obey the voice of your maidservant and let me set before you a piece of bread, and eat so that you may have strength when you go on your way.”
But he refused and said, “I will not eat.”
But his servants, and also the woman, urged him and he listened to them. So he arose from the ground and sat on the bed.
Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she hurried and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it. She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they arose and went away that night.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 4:13-31
When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were untrained and uneducated men, they marveled. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against it. So when they had commanded them to go outside of the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that an acknowledged miracle has been done through them is revealed to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But lest it spread further among the people, let us warn them no more to speak to anyone in this name.”
Then they called them and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot help but declare what we have seen and heard.”
When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people. For all glorified God for what was done, for the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was over forty years old.
On being released, they went to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they lifted their voices in unity to God and prayed, “Lord, You are God, who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, and who by the mouth of Your servant David said:
‘Why did the nations rage,
and the people devise vain things?
The kings of the earth came,
and the rulers were assembled together
against the Lord
and against His Christ.’
Indeed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were assembled together against Your holy Son Jesus whom You have anointed, to do what Your hand and Your counsel had foreordained to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant that Your servants may speak Your word with great boldness, by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be performed in the name of Your holy Son Jesus.”
When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
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, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please you; 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.