After Pentecost | Thursday 28 Sep 2023
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O Lord, you have taught us
that without love, all our deeds are worth nothing:
Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts
that most excellent gift of charity,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you;
grant this 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.
God alone, who gave the law,
is the Judge.
(James 4:12)
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From Psalms: Psalm 78 – “Do Not Forget” (Marie-Chantale Noel)
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OT Reading: Isaiah 48:17-21 (NLT)
48:17 This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow.
Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—
too many to count!
There would have been no need for your destruction,
or for cutting off your family name.”
Yet even now, be free from your captivity!
Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.
Sing out this message!
Shout it to the ends of the earth!
The Lord has redeemed his servants,
the people of Israel.
They were not thirsty
when he led them through the desert.
He divided the rock,
and water gushed out for them to drink.
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“Water From the Rock” – Jonathan Ruch
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NT Reading: James 4:11-16 (NLT)
Warning against Judging Others
4:11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
Warning about Self-Confidence
4:13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.
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I Know that My Redeemer Liveth – SE Samonte
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+ O God, grant that we may desire you, and desiring you seek you, and seeking you find you, and finding you be satisfied in you for ever. Amen. (Francis Xavier)
+ O God, of your goodness, give me yourself, for you are enough for me. I can ask for nothing less that is completely to your honor, and if I do ask anything less, I shall always be in want. Only in you I have all. Amen. (Julian of Norwich)
Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch
Grant us the confidence, Lord
to step out in faith and become
the people we are meant to be.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 