Shane Raynor 6/14/26 Shane Raynor 6/14/26

Mon. morning Jun. 15

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

Be Still My Soul

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 44

𝙍: Arise, O God, and be our help.

We have heard with our ears, O God;
our fathers have told us
what deeds You performed in their days,
in the days of old:
You drove out the nations with Your hand,
but them You planted;
You afflicted the peoples,
but them You set free.
For they did not take possession of the land by their own sword,
nor did their own arm save them;
but it was Your right hand, and Your arm,
and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them.

𝙍: Arise, O God, and be our help.

You are my King, O God;
command victories for Jacob.
Through You we will push down our enemies;
through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
For I will not trust in my bow,
nor can my sword save me.
But You have saved us from our enemies,
and have put to shame those who hate us.
In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to Your name forever.

𝙍: Arise, O God, and be our help.

But You have rejected us and put us to shame,
and you do not go out with our armies.
You make us turn back from the enemy,
and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
You have given us up like sheep for slaughter,
and have scattered us among the nations.
You sell Your people for a low price,
and do not increase Your wealth by their sale.

You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and a derision to those around us.
You make us a byword among the nations,
a shaking of the head among the peoples.

𝙍: Arise, O God, and be our help.

My disgrace is continually before me,
and shame has covered my face
at the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
at the presence of the enemy and avenger.

All this has come upon us;
yet we have not forgotten You,
nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from Your way;
Yet You have broken us in the place of jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.

If we had forgotten the name of our God
or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

𝙍: Arise, O God, and be our help.

Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Arise! Do not cast us off forever!
Why do You hide Your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and our oppression?

For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our body clings to the ground.
Arise, be our help.
Redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness!

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: Arise, O God, and be our help.

Psalm prayer

In the darkness of unknowing, when your love seems absent, draw near to us, O God, in Christ forsaken, in Christ risen, our Redeemer and our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Judges 2

The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I promised your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, but you must not make a pact with the inhabitants of this land, and you must tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done? So now I say, ‘I will not drive them out before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’ ”

When the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the Israelites, the people raised their voices and wept aloud. They named that place Bokim and sacrificed to the LORD there.

When Joshua dismissed the people, each Israelite went to his inheritance to possess the land. So the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works that the LORD had done for Israel.

Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten. They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

That entire generation passed away, and after them grew up a generation who did not know the LORD or the deeds that He had done for Israel.

The Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. They abandoned the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed after other gods, the gods of the peoples around them. They worshipped them and provoked the LORD to anger. They abandoned the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of those who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they were no longer able to stand against their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring disaster, as the LORD had said and as He had sworn to them. They were in great distress.

Then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them from the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they would not listen to their judges, for they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshipped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD. They did not do as their fathers had done. When the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge, for their groaning before their oppressors and tormentors grieved the LORD. When the judge died, the people turned back and acted more wickedly than their fathers, pursuing other gods to serve and worship them. They would not give up their practices and obstinate ways.

The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has violated My covenant that I commanded their fathers and has not heeded My voice, I will no longer drive out from before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, so that through them I may test Israel and see whether or not they will keep the ways of the LORD, to walk in them as their fathers did.” So the LORD left those nations, not hurrying to drive them out; and He did not deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Luke 13:1-9

There were present at that time some who told Him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all men living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Then He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came and looked for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the vinedresser of his vineyard, ‘Now these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it deplete the soil?’

“He answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you shall cut it down.’ ”

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 media and the arts
Farming and fishing
Commerce and industry
Those whose work is unfulfilling, stressful, or fraught with danger
All who are unemployed

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

Lord, you have taught us that all our doings without love are worth nothing: send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you. Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ's sake, 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.

Shane Raynor 6/13/26 Shane Raynor 6/13/26

Sun. morning Jun. 14

Opening response

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

Prayer of thanksgiving

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

I Am Thine, O Lord

Confession of Sin

Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

Almighty God, patient and of great goodness: I confess to you, I confess with my whole heart my neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments, my wrong doing, thinking, and speaking; the hurts I have done to others, and the good I have left undone. O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you; and raise me to newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

May the God of love and power forgive us and free us from our sins, heal and strengthen us by his Spirit, and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Psalm 45

𝙍: Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed.

My heart is overflowing with a goodly theme;
I recite my special song to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a skillful scribe.

You are fairer than the sons of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
Gird your sword upon your thigh, O Mighty One,
with your glory and your majesty.
In your majesty ride prosperously
because of truth, meekness, and righteousness;
let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.
Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.

𝙍: Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed.

Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever.
The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of justice.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness more than your companions.
All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
Out of the ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad.
Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

𝙍: Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed.

Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
forget your own people and your father’s house,
and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
The daughter of Tyre will be there with a gift;
the richest of the people will seek your favor.
The royal daughter is all glorious within her chamber;
her clothing is plaited gold.
She shall be brought to the king in embroidered robes;
the virgins, her companions who follow her,
shall be brought to you.
With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;
they shall enter the king’s palace.

In the place of ancestors shall be your sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.

I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.

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: Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed.

Psalm prayer

Lord our God, bring your bride, your holy Church, with joy to the marriage feast of heaven, and unite us with your anointed Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Deuteronomy 10:12-11:1

Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

Behold, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the LORD your God, also the earth with all that is in it. The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all people, as it is today. Therefore, circumcise your heart, and do not be stubborn anymore. For the LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the fearsome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe. He executes the judgment of the orphan and the widow and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. Therefore, love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You must fear the LORD your God. You must serve Him and cling to Him, and swear by His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and fearsome things which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy people, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

You must love the LORD your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments always.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Acts 23:12-35

At daybreak some of the Jews conspired under oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who had conspired. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under oath not to eat until we have killed Paul. So now, with the Sanhedrin, tell the commander to bring him down to you tomorrow, pretending to inquire further concerning him. We are ready to kill him before he arrives.”

But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of the treachery, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.

Then Paul called one of the centurions over and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent for me and asked me to bring you this young man who has something to tell you.”

Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside privately, and asked him, “What is it you have to tell me?”

The boy said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Sanhedrin, pretending to inquire further concerning him. Do not trust them. More than forty men, who have bound themselves with an oath to neither eat nor drink until they have killed him, are waiting for him. And now they are ready, waiting for your promise.”

The commander dismissed the young man and ordered him, “Tell no one that you have reported these things to me.”

Then he summoned two centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred infantrymen, seventy mounted soldiers, and two hundred light infantrymen with spears to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night. And provide mounts so Paul may ride and take him safely to Felix the governor.”

He wrote a letter that went like this:

Claudius Lysias,

To His Excellency Governor Felix:

Greetings.

This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. When I learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with soldiers and rescued him. Since I wanted to learn what crime they alleged, I took him to their Sanhedrin. I found him being accused of controversial matters about their law, but charged with nothing worthy of death or imprisonment. When it was revealed to me that there was a plot against the man, at once I sent him to you and ordered the accusers to state before you their charges against him.

Farewell.

So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul by night to Antipatris. The next day they let the cavalry depart with him and they returned to the barracks. When they arrived in Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also to him. Upon reading the letter, the governor asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also arrive.” And he ordered that he be guarded in Herod’s Praetorium.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

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 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 universal church
Bishops, superintendents, and all who lead the church
The leaders of the nations
The natural world and the resources of the earth
All who are in any kind of need

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

Response

Loving God, we look to you.
Receive our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Savior taught us, so we pray

Conclusion

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life.
Amen.

Shane Raynor 6/12/26 Shane Raynor 6/12/26

Sat. morning Jun. 13

Opening response

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

Prayer of thanksgiving

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

How Firm a Foundation

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 41

𝙍: LORD, be merciful to me.

Blessed is he who considers the poor;
the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.
The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive,
and he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed;
in his illness, You will restore him to health.

I said, “LORD, be merciful to me;
heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

𝙍: LORD, be merciful to me.

My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
And if he comes to see me, he speaks vain words;
his heart gathers iniquity to itself;
when he goes out, he tells it.

All who hate me whisper together against me;
against me they devise my hurt.
They say, “An evil disease clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will not rise again.”
Even my own familiar friend,
in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread,
has lifted up the heel against me.

𝙍: LORD, be merciful to me.

But You, O LORD, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them.
By this I know that You are well pleased with me:
because my enemy does not triumph over me.
As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
and set me in Your presence forever.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.

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: LORD, be merciful to me.

Psalm prayer

God our deliverer, raise up the poor and comfort the betrayed, through the one who for our sakes became poor and whose betrayal brought our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 42

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
so my soul pants for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they continually say to me,
“Where is your God?”
When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul within me.
For I would go with the throng of people,
and lead them in procession to the house of God,
with the voice of joy and praise,
a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God,
for I shall again praise Him
for the help of His presence.

O my God, my soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember You
from the land of Jordan,
and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the thunder of Your waterfalls;
all Your waves and Your billows
have gone over me.

The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
and in the night His song will be with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

I will say to God, my rock,
“Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As a shattering of my bones,
my enemies reproach me,
while they say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
for I shall again praise Him,
my salvation and my God.

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.

Psalm prayer

Come, creator Spirit, source of life; sustain us when our hearts are heavy and our wells have run dry, for you are the Father’s gift, with him who is our living water, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 43

Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly people;
deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
For You are the God of my refuge;
why have You cast me off?
Why do I walk about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?
Oh send out Your light and Your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to Your holy hill
and to Your dwelling.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and with the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
for I shall again praise Him,
my salvation and my God.

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.

Psalm prayer

Come, Holy Spirit, light and truth; bring us to the altar of life, and renew our joy and gladness in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Joshua 24:29-33

After these events took place, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten. They buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath Serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the deeds that the LORD had done for Israel.

They buried the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought out of Egypt, in Shechem in the part of the field that Jacob bought from the descendants of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which was in the hill country of Ephraim.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Luke 12:49-59

“I have come to send fire upon the earth and wish that it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how pressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For there will be from now on five divided in one house, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, and mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Then He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rise out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it is. And when a south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You can discern the appearance of the sky and of the earth. But why do you not know how to discern this time?

“Why even among yourselves do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, as you are on the way, diligently try to settle matters with him, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the officer, and the officer will throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not come out from there until you have paid the very last penny.”

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

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 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:

Our homes, families, friends, and all whom we love
Those whose time is spent caring for others
Those who are close to death
Those who have lost hope
The worship of the church

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

O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in the keeping of your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; 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

Conclusion

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life.
Amen.