After Christmas Day | Tuesday 26 Dec 2023: Luke 1:46b-55; 1 Samuel 1:19-28; Hebrews 8:1-13 ~ Jesus brings God’s better promise.

After Christmas Day | Tuesday 26 Dec 2023

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

Opening:

Almighty God,
you have given your only-begotten Son
to take our nature upon him,
and to be born of a pure virgin:
Grant that we, who have been born again
and made your children by adoption and grace,
may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom with you and the same Spirit
be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

“Jesus… brings a better promise from God
that is based on better guarantees.”
(Hebrews 8:6)

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From the Gospels: Luke 1:46b-55 – The Magnificat – Koine

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OT Reading: 1 Samuel 1:19-28 (GW)

1:19 Early in the morning Elkanah and his family got up and worshiped in front of the Lord. Then they returned home to Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel [God Hears], because she said, “I asked the Lord for him.”

Samuel’s Childhood

To keep his vow, Elkanah and his entire household again went to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord. But Hannah didn’t go. She told her husband, “I’ll wait until the boy is weaned. Then I’ll bring him and present him to the Lord, and he’ll stay there permanently.”

“Do what you think is best,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Wait until you’ve weaned him. May the Lord keep his word.” The woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

As soon as she had weaned Samuel, she took him with her. She also brought a three-year-old bull, half a bushel of flour, and a full wineskin. She brought him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh while the boy was ⌞still⌟ a child.

Then the parents butchered the bull and brought the child to Eli. “Sir,” Hannah said, “as sure as you live, I’m the woman who stood here next to you and prayed to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord granted my request. In return, I am giving him to the Lord. He will be dedicated to the Lord for his whole life.”

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Gaudete, Christus est natus – Christmas Carol [Good News Gospel]

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NT Reading: Hebrews 8:1-13 (GW)

Jesus’ Priestly Work Is Superior to Other Priests’ Work

8:1 The main point we want to make is this: We do have this kind of chief priest. This chief priest holds the honored position—the one next to the majestic God [the Father] on the heavenly throne. He serves as priest of the holy place and of the true tent set up by the Lord and not by any human.

Every chief priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, this chief priest had to offer something. If he were on earth, he would not even be a priest. On earth ⌞other⌟ priests offer gifts by following the instructions that Moses gave. They serve at a place that is a pattern, a shadow, of what is in heaven. When Moses was about to make the tent, God warned him, “Be sure to make everything based on the plan I showed you on the mountain.”

Jesus has been given a priestly work that is superior to the Levitical priests’ work. He also brings a better promise from God that is based on better guarantees. If nothing had been wrong with the first promise, no one would look for another one. But God found something wrong with his people and said to them,

“The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new promise to Israel and Judah. It will not be like the promise that I made to their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of Egypt. They rejected that promise, so I ignored them, says the Lord. But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them from the least important to the most important will all know me because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”

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Infant Holy, Infant Lowly | Elevation Worship

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

+ 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.

+ Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed: Kindle, we pray, in the hearts of all people the true love of peace, and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth; that in tranquility your kingdom may go forward, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ O God, our heavenly Father: Pour out your Spirit on your faithful people in the Middle East, that your Son’s life-giving Gospel may be preached to every tribe and nation. Send forth laborers into your harvest; defend them in all dangers and temptations; and hasten the time when the fullness of the Gentiles shall be gathered in, and faithful Israel shall be saved; through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ Lord of Heaven’s Armies, we pray for swift and total victory over all evil in the Holy Land. Set free the hostages, and deliver from bondage every person captivated by the evil death cult terrorizing the Middle East. And finally, grant heavenly wisdom to those guiding Israel militarily, politically, diplomatically, and especially those who will restore Israel spiritually, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch

May God, who has called us out of darkness
into his marvelous light,
bless us and fill us with peace.

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

The Season of Advent | 4th Saturday 23 Dec 2023: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; Judges 13:2-24; John 7:40-52 ~ Jesus Messiah from Bethlehem.

The Season of Advent | 4th Saturday 23 Dec 2023

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

Opening:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance
and prepare the way for our salvation:
Grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise make ready your way,
by turning the hearts of the disobedient
toward the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world,
we may be found a people acceptable in your sight;
for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

“Doesn’t Scripture say that the Messiah
will come from the descendants of David and
from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?”
(John 7:42)

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From Psalms: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26 – | Catholic Music Initiative

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OT Reading: Judges 13:2-24 (GW)

13:2 There was a man from Zorah named Manoah. Manoah was from the family of Dan. His wife was not able to have children. The Messenger of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You’ve never been able to have a child, but now you will become pregnant and have a son. Now you must be careful. Don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean food. You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

The woman went to tell her husband. She said, “A man of God came to me. He had a very frightening appearance like the Messenger of God. So I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. He told me, ‘You’re going to become pregnant and have a son. So don’t drink any wine or liquor or eat any unclean food because the boy will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from the time he is born until he dies.’ ”

Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord, “Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come back to us. Let him teach us what we must do for the boy who will be born.”

God did what Manoah asked. The Messenger of God came back to his wife while she was sitting out in the fields. But her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman ran quickly to tell her husband. She said, “The man who came to me the other day has just appeared to me ⌞again⌟.”

Manoah immediately followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”

“Yes,” he answered.

Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, how should the boy live and what should he do?”

The Messenger of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife must be careful to do everything I told her to do. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevines, drink any wine or liquor, or eat any unclean food. She must be careful to do everything I commanded.”

Manoah said to the Messenger of the Lord, “Please stay while we prepare a young goat for you to eat.”

But the Messenger of the Lord responded, “If I stay here, I will not eat any of your food. But if you make a burnt offering, sacrifice it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the Messenger of the Lord.)

Then Manoah asked the Messenger of the Lord, “What is your name? When your words come true, we will honor you.”

The Messenger of the Lord asked him, “Why do you ask for my name? It’s a name that works miracles.”

So Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and sacrificed them to the Lord on a rock he used as an altar. While Manoah and his wife watched, the Lord did something miraculous. As the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Messenger of the Lord went up in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they immediately bowed down with their faces touching the ground.

The Messenger of the Lord didn’t appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that this had been the Messenger of the Lord. So Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die because we have seen God.”

But Manoah’s wife replied, “If the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He would not have let us see or hear all these things just now.”

So the woman had a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him.

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The Blessing Israel Passages | Erez Dan – Director and Producer, Daniel Berkove – Exec. Producer

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NT Reading: John 7:40-52 (GW)

7:40 After some of the crowd heard Jesus say these words, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet.” Other people said, “This man is the Messiah.” Still other people asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Doesn’t Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the descendants of David and from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?” So the people were divided because of Jesus. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but they couldn’t.

When the temple guards returned, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Jesus?”

The temple guards answered, “No human has ever spoken like this man.”

The Pharisees asked the temple guards, “Have you been deceived too? Has any ruler or any Pharisee believed in him? This crowd is cursed because it doesn’t know Moses’ Teachings.”

One of those Pharisees was Nicodemus, who had previously visited Jesus. Nicodemus asked them, “Do Moses’ Teachings enable us to judge a person without first hearing that person’s side of the story? We can’t judge a person without finding out what that person has done.”

They asked Nicodemus, “Are you saying this because you’re from Galilee? Study ⌞the Scriptures⌟, and you’ll see that no prophet comes from Galilee.”

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O Little Town of Bethlehem – Lyric Video (Chanticleer)

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

+ Hasten, O Father, the coming of your kingdom; and grant that we your servants, who now live by faith, may with joy behold your Son at his coming in glorious majesty; even Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch

May the Lord, when he comes,
find us watching and waiting.

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

The Season of Advent | 4th Friday 22 Dec 2023: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; 2 Samuel 6:12-19; Hebrews 1:5-14 ~ The Son reigns with justice.

The Season of Advent | 4th Friday 22 Dec 2023

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

Opening:

God said about his Son,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.

(Hebrews 1:8)

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From Psalms: Psalm 89 – Via Christus Choir

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OT Reading: 2 Samuel 6:12-19 (GW)

6:12 King David was told, “The Lord has blessed Obed Edom’s home and everything he owns because of the ark of God.” Then David joyfully went to get the ark of God from Obed Edom’s house and bring it to the City of David. When those who carried the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.

Wearing a linen ephod, David danced in the Lord’s presence with all his might. He and the entire nation of Israel brought the ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the sounding of rams’ horns. When the ark of the Lord came to the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked out of a window and saw King David leaping and dancing in the Lord’s presence, so she despised him.

The men carrying the ark set it in its place inside the tent David had put up for it. David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in the Lord’s presence. When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Armies. He also distributed to all the people—to the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women—one loaf of bread, one date cake, and one raisin cake. Then all the people went home.

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Dance Like David Danced | New Creation Worship, Singapore

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NT Reading: Hebrews 1:5-14 (GW)

1:5 God never said to any of his angels,

“You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.”

And God never said to any of his angels,

“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son.”

When God was about to send his firstborn Son into the world, he said,

“All of God’s angels must worship him.”

God said about the angels,

“He makes his messengers winds.
He makes his servants flames of fire.”

But God said about his Son,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong.
That is why God, your God,
anointed you, rather than your companions, with the oil of joy.”

God also said,

“Lord, in the beginning you laid the foundation of the earth.
With your own hands you made the heavens.
They will come to an end, but you will live forever.
They will all wear out like clothes.
They will be taken off like a coat.
You will change them like clothes.
But you remain the same, and your life will never end.

But God never said to any of the angels,

“Take the honored position—the one next to me on the heavenly throne
until I put your enemies under your control.”

What are all the angels? They are spirits sent to serve those who are going to receive salvation.

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The King Shall Come – Heart Beats

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch

May the Lord, when he comes,
find us watching and waiting.

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

The Season of Advent | 4th Thursday 21 Dec 2023: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; 2 Samuel 6:1-11; Hebrews 1:1-4 ~ God has spoken to us through his Son.

The Season of Advent | 4th Thursday 21 Dec 2023

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

Opening:

“In these last days [God]
has spoken to us through his Son.
(Hebrews 1:2)

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From Psalms: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26 – “For Ever I Will Sing the Goodness of the Lord” [JesComTV]

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OT Reading: 2 Samuel 6:1-11 (GW)

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6:1 David again assembled all the best soldiers in Israel, 30,000 men. He and all the people with him left Baalah in Judah to bring God’s ark ⌞to Jerusalem⌟. (The ark is called by the name of the Lord of Armies, who is enthroned over the angels.) David and his men put God’s ark on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s home on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were guiding the new cart. They brought it from Abinadab’s home, with Ahio walking ahead of the ark. David and the entire nation of Israel were celebrating in the Lord’s presence with all kinds of instruments made from cypress wood and with lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

But when they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out for the ark of God and grabbed it. The Lord became angry with Uzzah, so God killed him there for his lack of respect. He died beside the ark of God.

David was angry because the Lord had struck Uzzah so violently. (That place is still called Perez Uzzah [The Striking of Uzzah] today.) David was afraid of the Lord that day. “How can the ark of the Lord come to my ⌞city⌟?” he asked. So David wouldn’t bring the ark of the Lord with him to the City of David. Instead, he rerouted it to the home of Obed Edom, who was from Gath. The ark of the Lord stayed at the home of Obed Edom from Gath for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his whole family.

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David Danced – Middle-Eastern Duet Worship Song in Arabic & English

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NT Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4 (GW)

God Has Spoken to Us Through His Son

1:1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors at many different times and in many different ways through the prophets. In these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. God made his Son responsible for everything. His Son is the one through whom God made the universe. His Son is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of God’s being. He holds everything together through his powerful words. After he had cleansed people from their sins, he now holds the honored position—the one next to the majestic God [the Father] on the heavenly throne.

God’s Son Is Superior to the Angels

1:4 The Son has become greater than the angels since he has been given a name that is superior to theirs.

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Mary Did You Know? | From Nazareth | Hebrew – Arabic – English

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch

May the Lord, when he comes,
find us watching and waiting.

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

The Season of Advent | 3rd Wednesday 20 Dec 2023: Psalm 125; Malachi 3:16-4:6; Mark 9:9-13 ~ The Sun of Righteousness will bring healing.

The Season of Advent | 3rd Wednesday 20 Dec 2023

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

Opening:

““The Sun of Righteousness
will rise with healing in his wings
for you people who fear my name.”
(Malachi 4:2)

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From Psalms: Psalm 125 – Poor Bishop Hooper

those who trust in the lord
are like mount zion
which cannot be shaken
but endures forever

as the mountains surround jerusalem
so the lord surrounds his people
forever

for the hand of wickedness
will not rule the land of the righteous
lest the hand of righteous man
turn away toward wickedness

do good oh lord to those who are
those who are good

but those who turn to crooked ways
the lord will lead lead away

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OT Reading: Malachi 3:16-4:6 (GW)

316 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord paid attention and listened. A book was written in his presence to be a reminder to those who feared the Lord and respected his name.

“They will be mine,” says the Lord of Armies. “On that day I will make them my special possession. I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him. Then you will again see the difference between righteous people and wicked people, between the one who serves God and the one who doesn’t serve him.

The Day of the Lord Brings Judgment

4:1 “Certainly the day is coming! It will burn like a furnace. All arrogant people and all evildoers will be ⌞like⌟ straw. The day that is coming will burn them up completely,” says the Lord of Armies. “It won’t leave a single root or branch.

“The Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings for you people who fear my name. You will go out and leap like calves let out of a stall. You will trample on wicked people, because on the day I act they will be ashes under the soles of your feet,” says the Lord of Armies.

Remember What God Has Done and Will Do

4:4 “Remember the teachings of my servant Moses, the rules and regulations that I gave to him at Horeb for all Israel.

“I’m going to send you the prophet Elijah before that very terrifying day of the Lord comes. He will change parents’ attitudes toward their children and children’s attitudes toward their parents. If not, I will come and reclaim my land by destroying you.”

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Days Of Elijah – Paul Wilbur

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NT Reading: Mark 9:9-13 (GW)

9:9 On their way down the mountain, Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen. They were to wait until the Son of Man had come back to life. They kept in mind what he said but argued among themselves what he meant by “come back to life.” So they asked him, “Don’t the experts in Moses’ Teachings say that Elijah must come first?”

Jesus said to them, “Elijah is coming first and will put everything in order again. But in what sense was it written that the Son of Man must suffer a lot and be treated shamefully? Indeed, I can guarantee that Elijah has come. Yet, people treated him as they pleased, as Scripture says about him.”

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Worship over Jerusalem in Arabic-Hebrew-English – “Lord of Glory” – Malachi 4:2 “Sun of Righteousness”