Wednesday morning June 13

Thursday morning
Tuesday morning

Preparation

Opening response

Lord, open our lips
and our mouth will proclaim 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

Partners of a glorious hope

Charles Wesley
           
Partners of a glorious hope,
Lift your hearts and voices up!
Nobly let us bear the strife,
Keep the holiness, of life;

Still forget the things behind,
Follow Christ in heart and mind,
To the mark unwearied press,
Seize the crown of righteousness.

Jesus, fill us with thy love,
Never from our souls remove,
Heart to heart unite and bless,
Keep us in thy perfect peace!

In our lives our faith be known,
Faith by holy actions shown;
Faith that mountains can remove,
Faith that always works by love.

Confession of sin

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
very patient, and full of faithful love.
He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin
or repay us according to our wrongdoing.
Because as high as heaven is above the earth,
that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.

As far as east is from west—
that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,
that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.

Let my whole being bless the Lord.
Let everything inside me bless his holy name.

Let my whole being bless the Lord,
and never forget all his good deeds.

The Word of God

Psalm 119:57-80

Refrain:
Lord, I know that your rules are right.

The Lord is my possession.
    I promise to do what you have said.
I’ve sought your favor with all my heart;
    have mercy on me according to your word.
I’ve considered my ways and turned my feet back to your laws.
I hurry to keep your commandments—
    I never put it off!
Though the wicked have surrounded me with their ropes,
    I haven’t forgotten your Instruction.
I get up in the middle of the night to give thanks to you
    because of your righteous rules.
I’m a friend to everyone who honors you
    and to all who keep your precepts.
Lord, the world is full of your faithful love!
    Teach me your statutes!

You have treated your servant well,
    Lord, according to your promise.
Teach me knowledge and good judgment
    because I’ve put my trust in your commandments.
Before I suffered, I took the wrong way,
    but now I do what you say.
You are good and you do good.
    Teach me your statutes!
The arrogant cover me with their lies,
    but I guard your precepts with all my heart.
Their hearts are unfeeling, like blubber,
    but I rejoice in your Instruction.
My suffering was good for me,
    because through it I learned your statutes.
The Instruction you’ve given to me is better
    than thousands of pieces of gold and silver!

Your hands have made me and set me in place.
    Help me understand so I can learn your commandments.
Then those who honor you will see me and be glad
    because I have waited for your promise.
Lord, I know that your rules are right
    and that you rightly made me suffer.
Please let your faithful love comfort me,
    according to what you’ve said to your servant.
Let your compassion come to me so I can live again,
    because your Instruction is my joy!
But let the arrogant be ashamed
    because they oppressed me with lies—
        meanwhile, I will be contemplating your precepts!
Let the people who honor you come back to me;
    let those who know your precepts return to me.
Let my heart be blameless in your statutes
    so that I am not put to shame.

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.

Refrain:
Lord, I know that your rules 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

At that time, Deborah and Barak, Abinoam’s son, sang:

When hair is long in Israel,
    when people willingly offer themselves—bless the Lord!
Hear, kings!
    Listen, rulers!
I, to the Lord,
    I will sing.
I will make music to the Lord,
    Israel’s God.
Lord, when you set out from Seir,
    when you marched out from Edom’s fields, the land shook,
    the sky poured down,
    the clouds poured down water.
The mountains quaked
    before the Lord, the one from Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.
In the days of Shamgar, Anath’s son,
    in the days of Jael, caravans ceased.
Those traveling by road
    kept to the backroads.
Villagers disappeared;
    they disappeared in Israel,
        until you, Deborah, arose,
        until you arose as a mother in Israel.
When they chose new gods,
    then war came to the city gates.
Yet there wasn’t a shield or spear to be seen
    among forty thousand in Israel!
My heart is with Israel’s commanders,
    who willingly offered themselves among the people—bless the Lord!
You who ride white donkeys,
    who sit on saddle blankets,
    who walk along the road: tell of it.
To the sound of instruments at the watering places,
    there they repeat the Lord’s victories,
        his villagers’ victories in Israel.
Then the Lord’s people marched down to the city gates.
    “Wake up, wake up, Deborah!
    Wake up, wake up, sing a song!
Arise, Barak!
    Capture your prisoners,
        Abinoam’s son!”
Then those who remained marched down against royalty;
    the Lord’s people marched down against warriors.
From Ephraim they set out into the valley,
    after you, Benjamin, with your people!
From Machir commanders marched down,
    and from Zebulun those carrying the official’s staff.
The leaders of Issachar came along with Deborah;
    Issachar was attached to Barak,
    and was sent into the valley behind him.
Among the clans of Reuben
    there was deep soul-searching.
“Why did you stay back among the sheep pens,
    listening to the music for the flocks?”
For the clans of Reuben
    there was deep soul-searching.
Gilead stayed on the other side of the Jordan,
    and Dan, why did he remain with the ships?
Asher stayed by the seacoast,
    camping at his harbors.
Zebulun is a people that readily risked death;
    Naphtali too in the high countryside.
Kings came and made war;
    the kings of Canaan fought
        at Taanach by Megiddo’s waters,
        but they captured no spoils of silver.
The stars fought from the sky;
    from their orbits they fought against Sisera.
The Kishon River swept them away;
    the advancing river, the Kishon River.
    March on, my life, with might!
Then the horses’ hooves pounded
    with the galloping, galloping of their stallions.
“Curse Meroz,” says the Lord’s messenger,
    “curse its inhabitants bitterly,
    because they didn’t come to the Lord’s aid,
    to the Lord’s aid against the warriors.”
May Jael be blessed above all women;
    may the wife of Heber the Kenite
    be blessed above all tent-dwelling women.
He asked for water, and she provided milk;
    she presented him cream in a majestic bowl.
She reached out her hand for the stake,
    her strong hand for the worker’s hammer.
She struck Sisera;
    she crushed his head;
    she shattered and pierced his skull.
At her feet he sank, fell, and lay flat;
    at her feet he sank, he fell;
    where he sank, there he fell—dead.
Through the window she watched,
    Sisera’s mother looked longingly through the lattice.
“Why is his chariot taking so long to come?
    Why are the hoofbeats of his chariot horses delayed?”
Her wisest attendants answer;
    indeed, she replies to herself:
“Wouldn’t they be finding and dividing the loot?
    A girl or two for each warrior;
    loot of colored cloths for Sisera;
    loot of colored, embroidered cloths;
    two colored, embroidered cloths
    as loot for every neck.”
May all your enemies perish like this, Lord!
    But may your allies be like the sun, rising in its strength.
And the land was peaceful for forty years.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
Luke 13:22-35

Jesus traveled through cities and villages, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem.  Someone said to him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

Jesus said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. Many, I tell you, will try to enter and won’t be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ He will respond, ‘I don’t know you or where you are from. Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, but you yourselves will be thrown out. People will come from east and west, north and south, and sit down to eat in God’s kingdom. Look! Those who are last will be first and those who are first will be last.”

At that time, some Pharisees approached Jesus and said, “Go! Get away from here, because Herod wants to kill you.”

Jesus said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m throwing out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work. However, it’s necessary for me to travel today, tomorrow, and the next day because it’s impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who were sent to you! How often I have wanted to gather your people just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you didn’t want that. 35  Look, your house is abandoned. I tell you, you won’t see me until the time comes when you say, Blessings on the one who comes in the Lord’s name.”

Silence may be kept.

Gospel canticle
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Refrain:
You have shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and remembered your holy covenant.

Bless the Lord God of Israel
because he has come to help and has delivered his people.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us in his servant David’s house,
just as he said through the mouths of his holy prophets long ago.
He has brought salvation from our enemies
and from the power of all those who hate us.
He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and remembered his holy covenant,
the solemn pledge he made to our ancestor Abraham.
He has granted that we would be rescued
from the power of our enemies
so that we could serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness in God’s eyes,
for as long as we live.
You, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
You will tell his people how to be saved
through the forgiveness of their sins.
Because of our God’s deep compassion,
the dawn from heaven will break upon us,
to give light to those who are sitting in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide us on the path of peace.”

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.

Refrain:
You have shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and remembered your holy covenant.

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,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
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,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and 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.

Prayers

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 in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.

Conclusion

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