Wed. morning Jun. 17
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
‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
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;
andall that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 119:57-80
𝙍: I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right.
You are my portion, O LORD;
I have promised to keep Your words.
I entreated Your favor with all my heart;
be merciful to me according to Your word.
I considered my ways,
and turned my feet to Your testimonies.
I hurried and delayed not
to keep Your commandments.
𝙍: I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right.
The bands of the wicked have bound me,
but I have not forgotten Your law.
At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
because of Your righteous judgments.
I am a companion of all those who fear You,
and of those who keep Your precepts.
The earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy;
teach me Your statutes.
𝙍: I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right.
You have dealt well with Your servant,
O LORD, according to Your word.
Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
for I believe Your commandments.
Before I was afflicted I went astray,
but now I keep Your word.
You are good and do good;
teach me Your statutes.
𝙍: I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right.
The proud have forged a lie against me,
but I will keep Your precepts with all my heart.
Their heart is insensitive, like fat,
but I delight in Your law.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
that I might learn Your statutes.
The law of Your mouth is better to me
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
𝙍: I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right.
Your hands have made me and fashioned me;
give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
Those who fear You will be glad when they see me,
because I have hoped in Your word.
I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right,
and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
Let, I pray, Your lovingkindness comfort me,
according to Your word unto Your servant.
𝙍: I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right.
Let Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live;
for Your law is my delight.
Let the proud be ashamed, for they wronged me with guile;
but I will meditate on Your precepts.
Let those who fear You turn to me,
those who know Your testimonies.
Let my heart be blameless regarding Your statutes,
so that I may not be ashamed.
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 know, O LORD, that Your judgments are right.
Psalm prayer
God our comforter, send your Holy Spirit to reveal your hidden mercy even in our failures and troubles; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Judges 5
On that day, Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
“When the leaders in Israel lead,
when the people freely volunteer,
bless the LORD!
“Hear, O kings! Listen, O rulers!
I will sing to the LORD;
I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.
“LORD, when You went out from Seir,
when You marched from the land of Edom,
the ground shook and the skies poured,
indeed, the dense clouds poured water.
The mountains quaked before the LORD,
this very Sinai, before the LORD God of Israel.
“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath,
in the days of Jael, main roads were abandoned
and travelers used roundabout paths.
Village life ceased. It ceased
until I, Deborah, arose;
I arose like a mother in Israel.
They were choosing new gods,
and warfare was at the city gates,
but not a shield or spear was to be seen
among forty thousand in Israel.
My heart is with the rulers of Israel
who offered themselves willingly among the people.
Bless the Lord!
“You who ride on white donkeys,
you who sit in judges’ attire,
you who walk on the road,
consider the voice of those who distribute water among the watering places.
There they tell of the righteous deeds of the LORD,
the righteous deeds of villagers in Israel.
“Then the people of the LORD
go down to the gates.
Awake, awake, Deborah!
Awake, awake, sing a song!
Stand up, Barak,
and capture your prisoners, son of Abinoam!
“The survivors
came down to the nobles;
the people of the LORD
came down for me against the mighty.
Some came from Ephraim, whose roots were in Amalek,
following you, Benjamin, with your people.
From Machir rulers came down,
and from Zebulun those who carry the staff of a scribe.
The princes of Issachar were with Deborah,
and Issachar was with Barak;
they were sent into the valley on foot.
Among the clans of Reuben
there was great resolve of heart.
Why do you sit among the sheepfolds
to hear playing of pipes for the flocks?
In the clans of Reuben
there was much searching of heart.
Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
As for Dan, why did he stay with the ships?
Asher stayed by the seacoast
and settled by its bays.
Zebulun is a people who risked their lives to the point of death,
Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
“Kings came to wage war.
The kings of Canaan waged war
in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo;
they took no money as profit.
From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
The torrent of Kishon swept them away,
that ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon.
My soul, march on in strength!
Then horses’ hooves pounded,
the galloping, galloping of his steeds.
Curse Meroz, said the angel of the LORD,
curse its inhabitants,
for they did not come to the aid of the LORD,
to the aid of the LORD against the mighty warriors.
“Most blessed of women is Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
He asked for water, she gave him milk.
In a magnificent bowl she brought cream.
Her hand on a tent peg,
her right hand on a workman’s hammer;
she struck Sisera, she crushed his skull,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay;
between her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell, overpowered.
“The mother of Sisera looked through the window,
and cried out through the lattice,
‘Why is his chariot so late?
Why is the sound of his war chariots so delayed?’
Her wise attendants answered her,
indeed, she replied to herself,
‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoils:
a girl or two for each man;
dyed garments as plunder for Sisera,
dyed and embroidered garments,
two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’
“May all Your enemies perish like this, O LORD!
But may those who love Him rise like the sun
when it rises in full strength.”
Then the land was at peace for forty years.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 13:22-35
Then He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Someone said to Him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?”
He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. Once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’
“Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’
“But He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know you, or where you come from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’
“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south and will sit down to dine in the kingdom of God. And behold, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
On the same day certain Pharisees came, saying to Him, “Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You.”
He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons. And I perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I shall be perfected.’ Nevertheless I must travel today and tomorrow and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing! Behold, your house is forsaken. Truly I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’
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
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.
Tue. morning Jun. 16
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
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
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 48
𝙍: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God, in His holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation,
the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
the city of the great King.
Within her citadels God is known
as a refuge.
𝙍: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
For behold, the kings assembled;
they passed by together.
They saw it, and so they were astounded;
they were troubled; they took to flight.
Trembling took hold of them there,
and pain, as of a woman in labor,
as when You break the ships of Tarshish
with an east wind.
As we have heard,
so have we seen
in the city of the Lord of Hosts,
in the city of our God;
God will establish it forever.
𝙍: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God,
in the midst of Your temple.
According to Your name, O God,
so is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
Let Mount Zion rejoice;
let the daughters of Judah be glad,
because of Your judgments.
Walk about Zion, and go all around her;
count her towers;
mark well her bulwarks;
go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
that this is God, our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide forever.
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: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
Psalm Prayer
Father of lights, raise us with Christ to your eternal city, that, with kings and nations, we may wait in the midst of your temple and see your glory forever and ever.
Psalm 52
𝙍: I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
Your tongue devises destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
and lying rather than speaking what is right.
You love all devouring words,
O you deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you away and pluck you from your home,
and uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous will see and fear,
and will laugh at him, saying,
“Behold, the man
who did not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
and sought refuge in his wickedness.”
But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
I will give You thanks forever for what You have done.
In the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name,
for it is good.
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 trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
Psalm prayer
Faithful and steadfast God, nourish your people in this wicked world, and, through prayer and the Scriptures, give us our daily bread; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Judges 4:1-23
When Ehud was dead, the Israelites once more did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. The LORD sold them into the hands of King Jabin of Canaan, who ruled in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera. He lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. The Israelites cried out to the LORD, for Sisera had nine hundred iron chariots and had forcefully oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
Now Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophetess. She judged Israel at that time. She would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. The Israelites would go up to her for her to render judgment. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD God of Israel commands you, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun with you. I will draw Sisera, the commander of the army of Jabin, with his chariots and large army to you at the River Kishon and give him into your hands.’ ”
Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go, but if you will not go with me, then I will not go.”
She said, “I will indeed go with you. However, the way you are going will gain you no glory, for the LORD will deliver Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. Ten thousand men went up on foot with him, and Deborah went up with him also.
Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, who were descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He pitched his tent at the oak in Zaanannim, near Kedesh.
Then they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. So Sisera summoned all his nine hundred iron chariots and all the people with him, from Harosheth Haggoyim to the River Kishon.
Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get up, for this is the day that the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him. The LORD routed Sisera and all of his chariots and all of his army with the edge of the sword in front of Barak. Sisera dismounted his chariot and fled on foot.
Barak chased after the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim. The whole army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. Not a single man survived. Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord. Turn aside to me. Do not be afraid.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.
He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a leather milk container, gave it to him to drink, and covered him.
He said to her, “Stand in the entrance to the tent, and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ then you say, ‘No.’ ”
Then Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand and went quietly to him, for he was fast asleep and tired. She drove the tent peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground, so he died.
And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said, “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.” When he came in, there was Sisera fallen dead with a tent peg in his temple.
So God humbled King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites that day.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 13:10-21
He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years and was bent over and could not straighten herself up. When Jesus saw her, He called her and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” Then He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God.
But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and said to the people, “There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come and be healed on those days, but not on the Sabbath day.”
The Lord then answered him and said, “You hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? Then should not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound these eighteen years, be loosed from this bondage on the Sabbath?”
When He said this, all His adversaries were ashamed. And all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”
Again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in sixty pounds of meal until all of it was leavened.”
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:
All who are sick in body, mind, or spirit
Those in the midst of famine or disaster
Victims of abuse and violence, intolerance, and prejudice
Those who are bereaved
All who work in the medical and healing professions
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.
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.