Epiphany Season | Wednesday 07 Feb 2024

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

Opening:

O Lord, our heavenly Father,
keep your household the Church
continually in true faith and practice,
that we who trust in the hope of your heavenly grace
may always be defended by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever. Amen.

Whenever people with evil spirits saw [Jesus],
they would fall down in front of him
and shout, “You are the Son of God!”
(Mark 3:11)

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From Psalms: Psalm 102 – Poor Bishop Hooper

hear my prayer god and let my cry
of help come to you do not hide
listen closely to me in the day of my distress
my days consumed in smoke my bones they like a furnace

indeed i forget to eat
i can’t sleep my bones cling to my flesh
and mingled with my drink is my weeping
for i have eaten ashes like my bread

my days are like a shadow i wither like the grass
but you abide forever arise in compassion
be gracious now to zion the appointed time has come
your servants surely pity her find pleasure in her stones

indeed i forget to eat
i can’t sleep my bones cling to my flesh
and mingled with my drink is my weeping
for i have eaten ashes like my bread

oh let it be written for those to come
a people yet created may praise the lord
he looked down from his heights he gazed to earth from heaven
to hear the prisoner’s cry set free those doomed to die
so that they might praise him

long ago you made the earth the heavens are your work
even they will perish lord but you will endure
you’ll change them like a garment as robes they’ll pass away
but you are the same but you are the same

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OT Reading: Job 6:1-13 (GW) 

Job Speaks: God Has Attacked Me Without Cause

6:1 Then Job replied ⌞to his friends⌟,

“If only my grief could be weighed,
if only my misery could be laid on the scales with it,
then they would be heavier than the sand of the seas.
I spoke carelessly
because the arrows of the Almighty ⌞have found their target⌟ in me,
and my spirit is drinking their poison.
God’s terrors line up in battle against me.

“Does a wild donkey bray when it’s ⌞eating⌟ grass,
or does an ox make a sound over its hay?
Is tasteless food eaten without salt,
or is there any flavor in the white of an egg?
I refuse to touch such things.
They are disgusting to me.

“How I wish that my prayer would be answered—
that God would give me what I’m hoping for,
that God would ⌞finally⌟ be willing to crush me,
that he would reach out to cut me off.
Then I would still have comfort.
I would be happy despite my endless pain,
because I have not rejected the words of the Holy One.
What strength do I have ⌞left⌟ that I can go on hoping?
What goal do I have that I would want to prolong my life?
Do I have the strength of rocks?
Does my body have the strength of bronze?
Am I not completely helpless?
Haven’t my skills been taken away from me?

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Jewish prayer for the hostages | Pray with us for Israel

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NT Reading: Mark 3:7-12 (GW)

Many People Are Cured

3:7 Jesus left with his disciples for the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and from across the Jordan River, and from around Tyre and Sidon followed him. They came to him because they had heard about everything he was doing. Jesus told his disciples to have a boat ready so that the crowd would not crush him. He had cured so many that everyone with a disease rushed up to him in order to touch him. Whenever people with evil spirits saw him, they would fall down in front of him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” He gave them orders not to tell people who he was.

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I Speak Jesus / Newsboys

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Prayer: ACNA | BCP2019

+ O God of heavenly powers, by the might of your command you drive away from our bodies all sickness and infirmity: Be present in your goodness with your servants (especially in the Middle East), that our weaknesses may be banished and our strength restored; and that, our health being renewed, we may bless your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ Lord of Heaven’s Armies, we pray for swift and total victory over all evil in the Holy Land. Bring home 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 to those who will restore Israel spiritually, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ Heavenly Father, you have promised to hear what we ask in the Name of your Son: Accept and fulfill our petitions, we pray, not as we ask in our ignorance,  nor as we deserve in our sinfulness, but as you know and love us in your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil,
and keep us in eternal life.

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