“Order of Worship” α
–RED TEXT indicates links to content with the exception of any prayers from The Worship Sourcebook.
§ WE ARE LED INTO GOD’S PRESENCE
Through prayer, let’s draw near to our heavenly Father through His only Son Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, approaching the throne of grace with confidence that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need:
Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for
our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness,
that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ
your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and for ever. Amen. (Friday in Easter Week — Book of Common Prayer 224)
§ WE LISTEN TO GOD’S WORD
Reading the Word – ISAIAH 29 (LISTEN HERE)
From Bible Gateway:
Woe to David’s City
29:1 Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David settled!
Add year to year
and let your cycle of festivals go on.
2 Yet I will besiege Ariel;
she will mourn and lament,
she will be to me like an altar hearth.[a]
3 I will encamp against you on all sides;
I will encircle you with towers
and set up my siege works against you.
4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground;
your speech will mumble out of the dust.
Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth;
out of the dust your speech will whisper.
5 But your many enemies will become like fine dust,
the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6 the Lord Almighty will come
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
7 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream,
with a vision in the night—
8 as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
but awakens hungry still;
as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
but awakens faint and thirsty still.
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be stunned and amazed,
blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not from wine,
stagger, but not from beer.
10 The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:
He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);
he has covered your heads (the seers).
11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[b]
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You know nothing”?
17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field
and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord;
the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 The ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21 those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court
and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob:
“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will their faces grow pale.
23 When they see among them their children,
the work of my hands,
they will keep my name holy;
they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;
those who complain will accept instruction.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:2 The Hebrew for altar hearth sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel.
- Isaiah 29:13 Hebrew; Septuagint They worship me in vain; / their teachings are merely human rules
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
A period of silence may follow for reflection & recording insights.
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§ WE LIVE IN PRAYERFUL RESPONSE TO GOD
As we spend time with God in prayer (Listening as well as offering up prayers of Adoration, Confession of Sin, Thanksgiving, Surrender, & Supplication), we might include in our praying:
+The Jesus Creed (see * below) and/or The Apostles’ Creed (see ** below)
+The Lord’s Prayer (Prayed, Used as a Guide, or Both; see *** below)
+Prayers for Ourselves, Our Families, the Church, & the World
* – “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31, NIV 2011).
** – I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day He rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead; I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (universal) Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. (United Methodist Hymnal 881)
*** – Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. (United Methodist Hymnal 895)
α NOTE: The following “Order of Worship” is offered as a possible way into prayerful communion with the Triune God of the Bible and into earnestly listening for God’s revelation of His nature, saving work, and will through the Scriptures. However, depending upon your time limitations, interests, and convictions, one can “pick and choose” what it will look like for him or her to seek God through disciplined engagement with Scripture (“Read”) and Prayer (“Pray”) with the goal of receiving and reflecting the love of God (“Love”) every day of our lives (“Daily”).
† = Reprinted by permission from The Worship Sourcebook, © 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.
Read. Pray. Love. Daily. 