Festival
If the LORD had not been on our side,*
when enemies rose up against us;
Then would they have swallowed us up alive*
in their fierce anger toward us;
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us*
and the torrent gone over us;
Then would the raging waters*
have gone right over us.
Blessed be the LORD!*
he has not given us over to be a prey for their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler;*
the snare is broken, and we have escaped.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,*
the maker of heaven and earth.
The hills stand about Jerusalem;*
so does the LORD stand round about his people,
from this time forth for evermore.
The sceptre of the wicked shall not hold sway over the
land allotted to the just,*
so that the just shall not put their hands to evil.
Show your goodness, O LORD, to those who are good*
and to those who are true of heart.
As for those who turn aside to crooked ways,
the LORD will lead them away with the evildoers;*
but peace be upon Israel.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,*
and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,*
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us,*
and we are glad indeed.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,*
like the watercourses of the Negev.
Those who sowed with tears*
will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,*
"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a
little while the world will no longer see me, but you will
see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you
will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those
who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my
Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you
will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?"
Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word,
and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and
make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not
keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but
is from the Father who sent me.
"I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all
that I have said to you."
The cords of death entangled me;
the grip of the grave took hold of me;*
Then I called upon the name of the LORD:*
Gracious is the LORD and righteous;*
The LORD watches over the innocent;*
Turn again to your rest, O my soul.*
For you have rescued my life from death,*
I will walk in the presence of the LORD*
I believed, even when I said,
"I have been brought very low."*
How shall I repay the LORD*
I will lift up the cup of salvation*
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD*
Precious in the sight of the LORD*
O LORD, I am your servant;*
I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving*
I will fulfill my vows to the LORD*
In the courts of the LORD's house,*
Assemble yourselves and come together, draw near, you
survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge-- those who
carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them
take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared
it of old? Was it not I, the LORD?
There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a
Savior; there is no one besides me. Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no
other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth
in righteousness a word that shall not return: "To me every
knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." Only in the
LORD, it shall be said of me, are
righteousness and strength; all who were incensed against
him shall come to him and be ashamed. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall triumph
and glory.
Happy are they who observe his decrees*
Who never do any wrong,*
You laid down your commandments,*
O, that my ways were made so direct*
Then I should not be put to shame,*
I will thank you with an unfeigned heart,*
I will keep your statutes;*
How shall a young man cleanse his way?*
With my whole heart I seek you;*
I treasure your promise in my heart,*
Blessed are you, O LORD;*
With my lips will I recite*
I have taken greater delight in the way of your decrees*
I will meditate on your commandments*
My delight is in your statutes;*
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
Return, faithless Israel, says the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I
am merciful, says the LORD; I will not
be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have
rebelled against the LORD your God, and
scattered your favors among strangers under every green
tree, and have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD. Return, O faithless children, says the
LORD, for I am your master; I will take
you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring
you to Zion. I will give you shepherds after my own heart,
who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when
you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those
days, says the LORD, they shall no
longer say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind, or be
remembered, or missed; nor shall another one be made. At
that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to
the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem,
and they shall no longer stubbornly follow their own evil
will. In those days the house of Judah shall join the house
of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the
north to the land that I gave your ancestors for a heritage.
But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; for they said to you, "In
the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own
ungodly lusts." It is these worldly people, devoid of the
Spirit, who are causing divisions. But you, beloved, build
yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy
Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal
life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others
by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still
others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their
bodies. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and
to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his
glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through
Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and
authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Your faithfulness remains from one generation to another;*
By your decree these continue to this day,*
If my delight had not been in your law,*
I will never forget your commandments,*
I am yours; O, that you would save me!*
Though the wicked lie in wait for me to destroy me,*
I see that all things come to an end,*
"If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it
hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would
love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world--therefore the world
hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'Servants
are not greater than their master.' If they persecuted me,
they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will
keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on
account of my name, because they do not know him who sent
me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not
have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever
hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them
the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But
now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was
to fulfill the word that is written in their law, 'They
hated me without a cause.'
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the
Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he
will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because
you have been with me from the beginning."
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.
Deuteronomy 31:1-4
When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he
said to them: "I am now one hundred twenty years old. I am no longer
able to get about, and the LORD has told me, 'You
shall not cross over this Jordan.' The LORD your
God himself will cross over before you. He will destroy these nations
before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua also will cross
over before you, as the LORD promised. The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the
kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.
John 14:15-26
Jesus said to the disciples, "If you love me, you will keep
my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he
abides with you, and he will be in you.
Morning Prayer
Psalm 116
I love the LORD, because he has heard the voice of my supplication,*
because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him.
I came to grief and sorrow.
"O LORD, I pray you, save my life."
our God is full of compassion.
I was brought very low, and he helped me.
for the LORD has treated you well.
my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
in the land of the living.
In my distress I said, "No one can be trusted."
for all the good things he has done for me?
and call upon the name of the LORD.
in the presence of all his people.
is the death of his servants.
I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;
you have freed me from my bonds.
and call upon the name of the LORD.
in the presence of all his people,
in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Hallelujah!
Wisdom 5:1-16
or
Isaiah 45:18-25
For thus says the LORD, who created the
heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he
established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it
to be inhabited!): I am the LORD, and
there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of
darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, "Seek me
in chaos." I the LORD speak the truth,
I declare what is right.
Luke 6:12-16
Jesus went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the
night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his
disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named
apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother
Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and
Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Evening Prayer
Psalm 119:1-16
Happy are they whose way is blameless,*
who walk in the law of the LORD!
and seek him with all their hearts!
but always walk in his ways.
that we should fully keep them.
that I might keep your statutes!
when I regard all your commandments.
when I have learned your righteous judgments.
do not utterly forsake me.
By keeping to your words.
let me not stray from your commandments.
that I may not sin against you.
instruct me in your statutes.
all the judgments of your mouth.
than in all manner of riches.
and give attention to your ways.
I will not forget your word.
1 Maccabees 2:42-66
or
Jeremiah 3:11-18
Then the LORD said to me: Faithless
Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah.
Jude 1-4, 17-25
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To
those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and
kept safe for Jesus Christ: May mercy, peace, and love be
yours in abundance. Beloved, while eagerly preparing to
write to you about the salvation we share, I find it
necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the
faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For
certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long
ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who
pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny
our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
The Eucharist
Isaiah 28:14-16
Therefore hear the word of the LORD,
you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. Because you
have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with
Sheol we have an agreement; when the overwhelming scourge
passes through it will not come to us; for we have made lies
our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter";
therefore thus says the Lord GOD, See,
I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a
precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: "One who trusts
will not panic."
Psalm 119:89-96
O LORD, your word is everlasting;*
it stands firm in the heavens.
you established the earth, and it abides.
for all things are your servants.
I should have perished in my affliction.
because by them you give me life.
for I study your commandments.
I will apply my mind to your decrees.
but your commandment has no bounds.
Ephesians 2:19-22
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are
citizens with the saints and also members of the household
of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In
him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a
holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together
spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
John 15:17-27
Jesus said to his disciples, "I am giving you these commands
so that you may love one another.
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