Opening Sentence
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
Morning Prayer
I give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected me through the night from all danger and harm. I ask you to preserve and keep me, this day also, from all sin and evil, that in all my thoughts, words, and deeds I may serve and please you. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all that is mine. Let your holy angels have charge of me, that the wicked one have no power over me. Amen
Confession and Forgiveness
Eternal God our creator, in you we live and move and have our being. Look upon us, your children, the work of your hands. Forgive us all our offenses, and cleanse us from proud thoughts and empty desires. By your grace draw us near to you, our refuge and our strength; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Old Testament Lesson
The Old Testament Lesson for today is taken from 1 Samuel 1:21-2:11
The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, "As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the LORD, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time." Her husband Elkanah said to her, "Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only-- may the LORD establish his word." So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh; and the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, "Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me the petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD." She left him there for the LORD. Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory. "There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world. "He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might does one prevail. The LORD! His adversaries shall be shattered; the Most High will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed." Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, while the boy remained to minister to the LORD, in the presence of the priest Eli.
The Epistle Lesson
The Epistle Lesson for today is taken from Acts 1:15-26
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, "Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus-- for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry." (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) "For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it' and 'Let another take his position of overseer.' So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us-- one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection." So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
The Holy Gospel Lesson
The Holy Gospel is written in Luke 20:19-26
When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?" They said, "The emperor's." He said to them, "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent.
Morning Psalms
Psalm 78:1-39 Attendite, popule
1 Hear my teaching, O my people; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
3 That which we have heard and known, and what our forefathers have told us, we will not hide from their children.
4 We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the LORD, and the wonderful works he has done.
5 He gave his decrees to Jacob and established a law for Israel, which he commanded them to teach their children;
6 That the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn; that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
7 So that they might put their trust in God, and not forget the deeds of God, but keep his commandments;
8 And not be like their forefathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, turned back in the day of battle;
10 They did not keep the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 They forgot what he had done, and the wonders he had shown them.
12 He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split open the sea and let them pass through; he made the waters stand up like walls.
14 He led them with a cloud by day, and all the night through with a glow of fire.
15 He split the hard rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as from the great deep.
16 He brought streams out of the cliff, and the waters gushed out like rivers.
17 But they went on sinning against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
18 They tested God in their hearts, demanding food for their craving.
19 They railed against God and said, "Can God set a table in the wilderness?
20 True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed; but is he able to give bread or to provide meat for his people?"
21 When the LORD heard this, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, and his anger mounted against Israel;
22 For they had no faith in God, nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
23 So he commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them grain from heaven.
25 So mortals ate the bread of angels; he provided for them food enough.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens and led out the south wind by his might.
27 He rained down flesh upon them like dust and wingéd birds like the sand of the sea.
28 He let it fall in the midst of their camp and round about their dwellings.
29 So they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
30 But they did not stop their craving, though the food was still in their mouths.
31 So God's anger mounted against them; he slew their strongest men and laid low the youth of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they went on sinning and had no faith in his wonderful works.
33 So he brought their days to an end like a breath and their years in sudden terror.
34 Whenever he slew them, they would seek him, and repent, and diligently search for God.
35 They would remember that God was their rock, and the Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouths and lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him, and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins and did not destroy them; many times he held back his anger and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that goes forth and does not return.
Evening Psalms
Psalm 78:40-72 Quoties exacerbaverunt
40 How often the people disobeyed him in the wilderness and offended him in the desert!
41 Again and again they tempted God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They did not remember his power in the day when he ransomed them from the enemy;
43 How he wrought his signs in Egypt and his omens in the field of Zoan.
44 He turned their rivers into blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
45 He sent swarms of flies among them, which ate them up, and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He gave their crops to the caterpillar, the fruit of their toil to the locust.
47 He killed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.
48 He delivered their cattle to hailstones and their livestock to hot thunderbolts.
49 He poured out upon them his blazing anger: fury, indignation, and distress, a troop of destroying angels.
50 He gave full rein to his anger; he did not spare their souls from death; but delivered their lives to the plague.
51 He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.
52 He led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them to safety, and they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them to his holy land, the mountain his right hand had won.
55 He drove out the Canaanites before them and apportioned an inheritance to them by lot; he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 But they tested the Most High God, and defied him, and did not keep his commandments.
57 They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers; they were undependable like a warped bow.
58 They grieved him with their hill-altars they provoked his displeasure with their idols.
59 When God heard this, he was angry and utterly rejected Israel.
60 He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, the tabernacle where he had lived among his people.
61 He delivered the ark into captivity, his glory into the adversary's hand.
62 He gave his people to the sword and was angered against his inheritance.
63 The fire consumed their young men; there were no wedding songs for their maidens.
64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
65 Then the LORD woke as though from sleep, like a warrior refreshed with wine.
66 He struck his enemies on the backside and put them to perpetual shame.
67 He rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
68 He chose instead the tribe of Judah and Mount Zion, which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven, like the earth which he founded for ever.
70 He chose David his servant, and took him away from the sheepfolds.
71 He brought him from following the ewes, to be a shepherd over Jacob his people and over Israel his inheritance.
72 So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen
Prayer of the Day
Lord, I ask you to inspire me to encourage others by what I say and do today. God and Father of all people, never let me look down on others or make anyone feel inferior.
Lord, show me how to live today with genuine concern for others. In expressing my care, may I show people that they are valued, loved and appreciated for who they are. Amen
A Prayer for Peace
O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
A Prayer for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen
Alleluia! Christ has risen.
Christ has risen indeed. Alleluia!
Christ has risen indeed. Alleluia!
Now unto him that is able to keep me from falling, and to present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.
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