Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
2 For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.” Psalm 47.1-2
Prayer for the week: Dear heavenly Father, preserve your beloved, rebellious children from loving
the sound of our own words. Each day, keep the promise of our baptism: pluck us
from the soil of ourselves and plant us by the stream of living water who is
Christ crucified and raised for our forgiveness, life, and salvation; through
the same, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Bible reading for the day: Jeremiah 1.1-10 (Jeremiah
prophesied in Jerusalem from 627-580 BC, during the time of Josiah and the last
kings of Judah. His family, descendants of the deposed priestly line of
Abiathar (I Kings 2.26-27) lived in Anathoth, a small town only three miles
from Jerusalem. He interacted frequently with kings and other leaders. The Lord
used Jeremiah’s mouth to denounce Judah’s apostasy, idolatry, rejection of the
law, breaking of the covenant, and dependence on the temple; in particular, he
declared that putting their trust in the temple gave them false security and
was a form of idolatry.)
1The words of Jeremiah, the son
of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of
Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of
the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of
Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It
came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of
Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth
month.
4 Now the word of
the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in
the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6 Then I said, “Ah,
Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a
youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”
9 Then
the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And
the Lord said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, I have set you this day over nations and
over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
Prayer for the day: Gracious and almighty Father, thank
you for sending your word to pluck sinners like us from the soil of ourselves
and plant our trust in Christ alone. This is no imagined or hypothetical work;
you destroy and overthrow, you build and plant actual people in real time and
place. And so, with your church I humbly pray against myself and yet for myself
and others: thy kingdom come dear Father, thy kingdom… through Jesus Christ,
your Son, 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=vBjM47zICos&ab_channel=MartijndeGroot
“Thy kingdom come…”
What does this mean?
God’s kingdom comes indeed without our praying for it, but we ask in
this petition that it may come also to us.
When does this happen? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father
gives us his Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy Word and
live a godly life on earth now and in heaven forever. (from The Small
Catechism, Martin Luther)
Benediction: For the Lord takes pleasure
in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation. Psalm 149.4
*This is now
our congregation’s 99th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading
from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.
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