After Pentecost | Thursday 08 Jun 2023

+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening:

O God, the protector of all those who trust in you, without
whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply
upon us your mercy, that, with you as our ruler and guide, we
may so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things
eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of your Son
Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

“Lord, see my misery,” she cries.
“The enemy has triumphed.”
(Lamentations 1:9b)

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From Psalms: Psalm 50 || (Who May Abide With You) – The Psalms Project

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OT Reading: Lamentations 1:7-11 (NLT)

1:7 In the midst of her sadness and wandering,
Jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor.
But now she has fallen to her enemy,
and there is no one to help her.
Her enemy struck her down
and laughed as she fell.

Jerusalem has sinned greatly,
so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag.
All who once honored her now despise her,
for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated.
All she can do is groan
and hide her face.

She defiled herself with immorality
and gave no thought to her future.
Now she lies in the gutter
with no one to lift her out.
“Lord, see my misery,” she cries.
“The enemy has triumphed.”

The enemy has plundered her completely,
taking every precious thing she owns.
She has seen foreigners violate her sacred Temple,
the place the Lord had forbidden them to enter.

Her people groan as they search for bread.
They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive.
“O Lord, look,” she mourns,
“and see how I am despised.

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Hear My Cry, Oh Lord – Maranatha Singers

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NT Reading: 2 Peter 2:17-22 (NLT)

2:17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

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No Longer Slaves || – Jonathan David and Melissa Helser | Bethel Music