After Pentecost| Wednesday – 17 Aug 2022
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
Keep your Church, O Lord,
by your perpetual mercy; and because without you
the frailty of our nature causes us to fall,
keep us from all things hurtful, and lead us
to all things profitable for our salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
for ever and ever. Amen.
[Jesus] said to them, “The Scriptures declare,
‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’
but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
(Luke 19:46)
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Psalms Reading: Psalm 74 – Poor Bishop Hooper – Psalm 74 (EveryPsalm)
lord why do you cast us off
why does your anger burn
lord the very mount you dwelt
lies everlasting in ruin
remember remember the ones you purchased long ago
remember remember zion your stronghold
like axes on the trees
see your house there burning burning
no longer prophets voice
no more signs for seeing
remember remember the ones you purchased long ago
remember remember zion your stronghold
why do you hold your hand
there in the fold it stays
come destroy our enemies
how long o god will we wait
remember remember the ones you purchased long ago
remember remember zion your stronghold
remember remember you crushed the creatures of the deep
remember remember yours is the day night summer spring
remember remember oppressors stand in mocking
remember remember don’t give your dove to wild beasts
arise oh god defend your cause
arise oh god again again again
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OT Reading: Isaiah 27:1-13 (NLT)
27:1 In that day the Lord will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan, the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent. He will kill the dragon of the sea.
“In that day,
sing about the fruitful vineyard.
I, the Lord, will watch over it,
watering it carefully.
Day and night I will watch so no one can harm it.
My anger will be gone.
If I find briers and thorns growing,
I will attack them;
I will burn them up—
unless they turn to me for help.
Let them make peace with me;
yes, let them make peace with me.”
The time is coming when Jacob’s descendants will take root.
Israel will bud and blossom
and fill the whole earth with fruit!
Has the Lord struck Israel
as he struck her enemies?
Has he punished her
as he punished them?
No, but he exiled Israel to call her to account.
She was exiled from her land
as though blown away in a storm from the east.
The Lord did this to purge Israel’s wickedness,
to take away all her sin.
As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust.
No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.
The fortified towns will be silent and empty,
the houses abandoned, the streets overgrown with weeds.
Calves will graze there,
chewing on twigs and branches.
The people are like the dead branches of a tree,
broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots.
Israel is a foolish and stupid nation,
for its people have turned away from God.
Therefore, the one who made them
will show them no pity or mercy.
Yet the time will come when the Lord will gather them together like handpicked grain. One by one he will gather them—from the Euphrates River in the east to the Brook of Egypt in the west. In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the Lord on his holy mountain.
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Fruitful vineyard ~ Godfrey Birtill
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NT Reading: Luke 19:45-48 (NLT)
Jesus Clears the Temple
19:45 Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.
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House of Prayer ~ Eddie James
Melody Royal
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+ Gracious Father, we pray for your holy catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.
+ O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the faithful: Sanctify our local assemblies by your abiding presence. Bless those who minister in holy things. Enlighten the minds of your people more and more with the light of the everlasting Gospel. Bring erring souls to the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ; and those who are walking in the way of life, keep steadfast to the end. Give patience to the sick and afflicted, and renew them in body and soul. Guard those who are strong and prosperous from forgetting you. Increase in us your many gifts of grace, and make us all fruitful in good works. This we ask, O blessed Spirit, whom with the Father and the Son we worship and glorify, one God, world without end. Amen.
Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch
Give us grace, O Lord,
not only to hear your Word with our ears,
but also to receive it into our hearts
and to show it forth in our lives;
for the glory of your great name.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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