Verse for the week: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” Isaiah 43.1
Prayer for the week: “O most loving Father, you want
us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing except losing you, and to lay
all our cares on you, knowing that you care for us. Protect us from faithless fears and worldly
anxieties, and grant that no clouds in this mortal life may hide from us the
light of your immortal love shown to us in your Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.” (Prayer for Trust, LBW #204,
Minister’s Ed., p. 111).
Bible reading for the day: Psalm 1 (Psalm 1 serves as
a preamble to the entire collection of 150 songs. It contrasts the way of the
righteous and of the wicked. There is not a single prescriptive or imperative
verb in the entire psalm. Every verb is indicative, every verse is descriptive.)
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of
the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the
wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the
righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Prayer (based on the TRIP* method): Gracious and
almighty Father, there is indeed a river whose streams make glad and enliven;
this river is Christ Jesus himself. Christ alone is the way of the righteous.
Thank you that it is your will to plant us in him. In season and out, deliver
me and my congregation from claiming a righteousness of our own… keep us
planted in him who is our righteousness; through the same, Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Hymn: follow this link to a beloved classic that
gives further voice to today’s conversation with the Lord: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyavAoOlsIo
“I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord…”
What does this mean?
I believe that Jesus Christ — true God, begotten of the
Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary — is my Lord.
He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, and has freed me from sin,
death, and the power of the devil, not with silver and gold, but with his holy
and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He has done all this
in order that I might be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him
in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as he is risen
from the dead and lives and reigns for all eternity. This is most certainly
true! (from The Small Catechism,
by Martin Luther ©Reclaim Resources, Sola Publishing, 2011)
Benediction: Now to him who by the power at work
within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or
imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)
T: thanksgiving
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