Thursday morning January 19
Friday morning
Wednesday morning
Preparation
Opening response
Lord, open our lips
and our mouth will proclaim your praise.
Your light springs up for the righteous
and all the peoples have seen your glory.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
king of the nations,
to you be praise and glory forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
your name is proclaimed in all the world.
As the Sun of Righteousness dawns in our hearts
anoint our lips with the seal of your Spirit
that we may witness to your gospel
and sing your praise in all the earth.
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
Angels Your March Oppose
Charles Wesley
Angels your march oppose,
Who still in strength excel,
Your secret, sworn, eternal foes,
Countless, invisible.
With rage that never ends
Their hellish arts they try;
Legions of dire malicious fiends,
And spirits enthroned on high.
From thrones of glory driven
By flaming vengeance hurled
They throng the air, and darken heaven,
And rule this lower world.
But shall believers fear?
But shall believers fly?
Or see the bloody cross appear,
And all their power defy?
Jesus’ tremendous name
Puts all our foes to flight:
Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb,
A Lion is in fight.
By all hell’s host withstood,
We all hell’s host overthrow;
And conquering them, through Jesus’ blood,
We still to conquer go.
Our Captain leads us on;
He beckons from the skies,
And reaches out a starry crown,
And bids us take the prize:
“Be faithful unto death;
Partake my victory;
And thou shalt wear this glorious wreath.
And thou shalt reign with me.”
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 76
God is known in Judah;
his name is great in Israel.
His dwelling place became Salem;
his habitation was Zion.
It was there that he broke the fiery shafts of the bow,
the shield, the sword—even the battle itself!
You are ablaze with light,
mightier than the mountains that give food.
The bravehearted lie plundered.
They sank into deep lethargy.
All the strong troops
couldn’t even lift their hands!
At your rebuke, Jacob’s God,
both chariot and horse were stopped dead-still.
You! You are awesome!
Who can stand before you when you are angry?
You have announced judgment from heaven.
The earth grew afraid and fell silent
when God rose up to establish justice,
when God rose up to save all of the earth’s poor.
Even human rage will turn to your praise
when you dress yourself
with whatever remains of your wrath.
Make promises to the Lord your God and keep them!
Let all around him bring gifts to the awesome one.
He breaks the spirit of princes.
He is terrifying to all the kings of the earth.
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
Majestic and gracious God,
more awesome than the agents of war,
more powerful than the wrath of nations,
restrain the violence of the peoples
and draw the despised of the earth
into the joyful life of your kingdom,
where you live and reign forever and ever.
Psalm 148
Refrain:
O praise the name of the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from heaven!
Praise God on the heights!
Praise God, all of you who are his messengers!
Praise God, all of you who comprise his heavenly forces!
Sun and moon, praise God!
All of you bright stars, praise God!
You highest heaven, praise God!
Do the same, you waters that are above the sky!
Let all of these praise the Lord’s name
because God gave the command and they were created!
God set them in place always and forever.
God made a law that will not be broken.
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all you ocean depths!
Do the same, fire and hail, snow and smoke,
stormy wind that does what God says!
Do the same, you mountains, every single hill,
fruit trees, and every single cedar!
Do the same, you animals—wild or tame—
you creatures that creep along and you birds that fly!
Do the same, you kings of the earth and every single person,
you princes and every single ruler on earth!
Do the same, you young men—young women too!—
you who are old together with you who are young!
Let all of these praise the Lord’s name
because only God’s name is high over all.
Only God’s majesty is over earth and heaven.
God raised the strength of his people,
the praise of all his faithful ones—
that’s the Israelites,
the people who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!
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:
O praise the name of the Lord.
Psalm prayer
O glorious God,
your whole creation sings your marvelous work;
may heaven’s praise so echo in our hearts
that we may be good stewards of the earth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Amos 9
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and the Lord said:
Strike the pillars until the foundations shake,
shatter them on the heads of all the people.
With the sword, I will kill the last of them;
not one of them will flee,
not one of them will escape.
If they dig through into the underworld,
from there my hand will take them.
If they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
I will search for them there and remove them.
If they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
I will give an order to the sea serpent, and it will bite them.
If they are forced from their homes before their enemies,
there I will give an order to the sword, and it will kill them.
I will fix my eyes on them
for harm and not for good.
The Lord, God of heavenly forces,
touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it are sick to death.
All of it rises up like the Nile
and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt.
It is the Lord who builds his upper rooms in the heavens
and establishes his residence upon the earth;
who summons the waters of the sea,
and pours them out upon the face of the earth—
the Lord is his name.
Aren’t you like the Cushites to me,
people of Israel?
says the Lord.
Haven’t I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?
Look, the Lord God is eyeing the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
However, I won’t destroy fully the house of Jacob,
says the Lord.
Look, I am giving orders,
and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one sifts dirt with a screen,
but no pebble will fall to the ground.
All the sinners of my people will die by the sword,
those who say,
“Evil won’t overtake or meet us.”
On that day I will raise up
the meeting tent of David that has fallen,
and repair its broken places.
I will raise up its ruins,
and I will rebuild it like a long time ago;
so that they may possess what is left of Edom,
as well as all the nations who are called by my name,
says the Lord who will do this.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord,
when the one who plows
will overtake the one who gathers,
when the one who crushes grapes
will overtake the one who sows the seed.
The mountains will drip wine,
and all the hills will flow with it.
I will improve the circumstances of my people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
and they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I will plant them upon their land,
and they will never again be plucked up
out of the land that I have given them,
says the Lord your God.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 Corinthians 7:25-40
I don’t have a command from the Lord about people who have never been married, but I’ll give you my opinion as someone you can trust because of the Lord’s mercy. So I think this advice is good because of the present crisis: Stay as you are. If you are married, don’t get a divorce. If you are divorced, don’t try to find a spouse. But if you do marry, you haven’t sinned; and if someone who hasn’t been married gets married, they haven’t sinned. But married people will have a hard time, and I’m trying to spare you that. This is what I’m saying, brothers and sisters: The time has drawn short. From now on, those who have wives should be like people who don’t have them. Those who are sad should be like people who aren’t crying. Those who are happy should be like people who aren’t happy. Those who buy something should be like people who don’t have possessions. Those who use the world should be like people who aren’t preoccupied with it, because this world in its present form is passing away.
I want you to be free from concerns. A man who isn’t married is concerned about the Lord’s concerns—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the world’s concerns—how he can please his wife. His attention is divided. A woman who isn’t married or who is a virgin is concerned about the Lord’s concerns so that she can be dedicated to God in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the world’s concerns—how she can please her husband. I’m saying this for your own advantage. It’s not to restrict you but rather to promote effective and consistent service to the Lord without distraction.
If someone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward an unmarried woman whom he knows, and if he has strong feelings and it seems like the right thing to do, he should do what he wants—he’s not sinning—they should get married. But if a man stands firm in his decision, and doesn’t feel the pressure, but has his own will under control, he does right if he decides in his own heart not to marry the woman. Therefore, the one who marries the unmarried woman does right, and the one who doesn’t get married will do even better. A woman is obligated to stay in her marriage as long as her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry whomever she wants, only it should be a believer in the Lord. But in my opinion, she will be happier if she stays the way she is. And I think that I have God’s Spirit too.
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Refrain:
This is the Christ, the Chosen of God, the one who will bring healing to the nations.
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:
This is the Christ, the Chosen of God, the one who will bring healing to the nations.
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 unity of the church
The peace of the world
The healing of the sick
The revelation of Christ to those from whom his glory is hidden
All who travel
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
Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
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
Believing the promises of God, 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
May Christ, who sends us to the nations, give us the power of his Spirit.
Amen.