Book of Common Prayer
(A psalm by David for the music leader.)
A Prayer for Help
1 I patiently waited, Lord,
for you to hear my prayer.
You listened 2 and pulled me
from a lonely pit
full of mud and mire.
You let me stand on a rock
with my feet firm,
3 and you gave me a new song,
a song of praise to you.
Many will see this,
and they will honor and trust
you, the Lord God.
4 You bless all of those
who trust you, Lord,
and refuse to worship idols
or follow false gods.
5 You, Lord God, have done
many wonderful things,
and you have planned
marvelous things for us.
No one is like you!
I would never be able to tell
all you have done.
6 (A) Sacrifices and offerings
are not what please you;
gifts and payment for sin
are not what you demand.
But you made me willing
to listen and obey.
7 And so, I said, “I am here
to do what is written
about me in the book,
where it says,
8 ‘I enjoy pleasing you.
Your Law is in my heart.’ ”
9 When your people worshiped,
you know I told them,
“Our Lord always helps!”
10 When all your people met,
I did not keep silent.
I said, “Our Lord is kind.
He is faithful and caring,
and he saves us.”
11 You, Lord, never fail
to have pity on me;
your love and faithfulness
always keep me secure.
12 I have more troubles
than I can count.
My sins are all around me,
and I can't find my way.
My sins outnumber
the hairs on my head,
and I feel weak.
13 Please show that you care
and come to my rescue.
Hurry and help me!
14 Disgrace and confuse
all who want me dead;
turn away and disgrace
all who want to hurt me.
15 Embarrass and shame
everyone who says,
“Just look at you now!”
16 Our Lord, let your worshipers
rejoice and be glad.
They love you for saving them,
so let them always say,
“The Lord is wonderful!”
17 I am poor and needy,
but, Lord God,
you care about me,
and you come to my rescue.
Please hurry and help.
(For the music leader. Use with stringed instruments. A special psalm that David wrote when the people of Ziph went to Saul and said, “David is hiding here with us.”)
Trusting God in Times of Trouble
1 (A) Save me, God, by your power
and prove that I am right.
2 Listen to my prayer
and hear what I say.
3 Cruel strangers have attacked
and want me dead.
Not one of them cares
about you.
4 You will help me, Lord God,
and keep me from falling;
5 you will punish my enemies
for their evil deeds.
Be my faithful friend
and destroy them.
6 I will bring a gift
and offer a sacrifice
to you, Lord.
I will praise your name
because you are good.
7 You have rescued me
from all my troubles,
and my own eyes have seen
my enemies fall.
(For the music leader. A psalm by David when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had been with Bathsheba.)
A Prayer for Forgiveness
1 (A) You are kind, God!
Please have pity on me.
You are always merciful!
Please wipe away my sins.
2 Wash me clean from all
of my sin and guilt.
3 I know about my sins,
and I cannot forget
the burden of my guilt.
4 (B) You are really the one
I have sinned against;
I have disobeyed you
and have done wrong.
So it is right and fair for you
to correct and punish me.
5 I have sinned and done wrong
since the day I was born.
6 But you want complete honesty,
so teach me true wisdom.
7 Wash me with hyssop[a]
until I am clean
and whiter than snow.
8 Let me be happy and joyful!
You crushed my bones,
now let them celebrate.
9 Turn your eyes from my sin
and cover my guilt.
10 Create pure thoughts in me
and make me faithful again.
11 Don't chase me away from you
or take your Holy Spirit
away from me.
12 Make me as happy as you did
when you saved me;
make me want to obey!
13 I will teach sinners your Law,
and they will return to you.
14 Keep me from any deadly sin.
Only you can save me!
Then I will shout and sing
about your power to save.
15 Help me to speak,
and I will praise you, Lord.
16 Offerings and sacrifices
are not what you want.
17 The way to please you
is to be truly sorry
deep in our hearts.
This is the kind of sacrifice
you won't refuse.
18 Please be willing, Lord,
to help the city of Zion
and to rebuild its walls.
19 Then you will be pleased
with the proper sacrifices,
and we will offer bulls
on your altar once again.
15 Abraham, from now on your wife's name will be Sarah instead of Sarai. 16 I will bless her, and you will have a son by her. She will become the mother of nations, and some of her descendants will even be kings.
17 Abraham bowed with his face to the ground and thought, “I am almost 100 years old. How can I become a father? And Sarah is 90. How can she have a child?” So he started laughing. 18 Then he asked God, “Why not let Ishmael[a] inherit what you have promised me?”
19 But God answered:
No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac,[b] and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.
20 However, I have heard what you asked me to do for Ishmael, and so I will also bless him with many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make his family a great nation. 21 But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.
22 God finished speaking to Abraham and then left.
23-27 On that same day Abraham obeyed God by circumcising Ishmael. Abraham was also circumcised, and so were all the other men and boys in his household, including his servants and slaves. He was 99 years old at the time, and his son Ishmael was 13.
11 (A) The priests do their work each day, and they keep on offering sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 (B) But Christ offered himself as a sacrifice that is good forever. Now he is sitting at God's right side,[a] 13 and he will stay there until his enemies are put under his power. 14 By his one sacrifice he has forever set free from sin the people he brings to God.
15 The Holy Spirit also speaks of this by telling us that the Lord said,
16 (C) “When the time comes,
I will make an agreement
with them.
I will write my laws
on their minds and hearts.
17 (D) Then I will forget
about their sins
and no longer remember
their evil deeds.”
18 When sins are forgiven, there is no more need to offer sacrifices.
Encouragement and Warning
19 My friends, the blood of Jesus gives us courage to enter the most holy place 20 by a new way that leads to life! And this way takes us through the curtain that is Christ himself.
21 We have a great high priest who is in charge of God's house. 22 (E) So let's come near God with pure hearts and a confidence that comes from having faith. Let's keep our hearts pure, our consciences free from evil, and our bodies washed with clean water. 23 We must hold tightly to the hope we say is ours. After all, we can trust the one who made the agreement with us. 24 We should keep on encouraging each other to be thoughtful and to do helpful things. 25 Some people have given up the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord's coming is getting closer.
Feeding Five Thousand
(Matthew 14.13-21; Mark 6.30-44; Luke 9.10-17)
6 Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also known as Lake Tiberias. 2 A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him. 3-4 It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down.[a]
5 When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?” 6 He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “Don't you know that it would take almost a year's wages[b] just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?”
8 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples. He spoke up and said, 9 “There is a boy here who has five small loaves[c] of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people?”
10 The ground was covered with grass, and Jesus told his disciples to tell everyone to sit down. About 5,000 men were in the crowd. 11 Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he passed the bread to the people, and he did the same with the fish, until everyone had plenty to eat.
12 The people ate all they wanted, and Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, so that nothing would be wasted. 13 The disciples gathered them up and filled twelve large baskets with what was left over from the five barley loaves.
14 After the people had seen Jesus work this miracle,[d] they began saying, “This must be the Prophet[e] who is to come into the world!” 15 Jesus realized that they would try to force him to be their king. So he went up on a mountain, where he could be alone.
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