Lent
To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgivenesses, because we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following his laws which he set before us. Daniel 9:9, 10
Confession of Sin Most merciful God,
I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen
The Lessons
The Lessons
Psalm 89
(1) I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. (2) I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. (3) You said, 'I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, (4) I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.'' Selah
(5) The heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. (6) For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? (7) In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. (8) O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
(9) You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them. (10) You crushed Rahab like one of the slain; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies. (11) The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it. (12) You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
(13) Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted. (14) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. (15) Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. (16) They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.
(17) For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn. (18) Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
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.
(5) The heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. (6) For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? (7) In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. (8) O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
(9) You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them. (10) You crushed Rahab like one of the slain; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies. (11) The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it. (12) You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
(13) Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted. (14) Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. (15) Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. (16) They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.
(17) For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn. (18) Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
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.
Jeremiah 16
(10) When you tell these people all this and they ask you, 'Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?' (11) then say to them, 'It is because your fathers forsook me,' declares the LORD, 'and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. (12) But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me. (13) So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.'
(14) However, the days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when men will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' (15) but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers. (16) But now I will send for many fishermen,' declares the LORD, 'and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. (17) My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.
(18) I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.' (19) O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, 'Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. (20) Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!' (21) Therefore I will teach them-- this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
(14) However, the days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when men will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' (15) but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' For I will restore them to the land I gave their forefathers. (16) But now I will send for many fishermen,' declares the LORD, 'and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. (17) My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.
(18) I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.' (19) O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, 'Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good. (20) Do men make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!' (21) Therefore I will teach them-- this time I will teach them my power and might. Then they will know that my name is the LORD.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Romans 7
(1) Do you not know, brothers-- for I am speaking to men who know the law-- that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? (2) For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. (3) So then, if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress, even though she marries another man. (4) So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.
(5) For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. (6) But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (7) What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.' (8) But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
(9) Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. (10) I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. (11) For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. (12) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
(5) For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. (6) But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (7) What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.' (8) But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.
(9) Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. (10) I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. (11) For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. (12) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
John 6
(1) Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), (2) and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. (3) Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. (4) The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
(5) When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?' (6) He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. (7) Philip answered him, 'Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!' (8) Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up,
(9) Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?' (10) Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. (11) Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. (12) When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.'
(13) So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. (14) After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, 'Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.' (15) Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
(5) When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?' (6) He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. (7) Philip answered him, 'Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!' (8) Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up,
(9) Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?' (10) Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. (11) Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. (12) When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.'
(13) So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. (14) After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, 'Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.' (15) Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
Seasonal Collect: Fourth Sunday in Lent
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
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 and ever. Amen.
Personal Prayers and Reflection
Closing Prayers
The General Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
Conclude with following
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.This concludes the Daily Prayer
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord