November 18, 2020
OPENING PRAYER
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.
CONFESSION OF SIN & PRAYER FOR GRACE
Merciful God, I confess before you that I have sinned. I have sinned in what I have thought and said; in the wrong I have done and in the good I have not done. I have sinned in ignorance; I have sinned in weakness; I have sinned through my own deliberate fault. I repent and turn to you. Forgive me, for the sake of my merciful Savior Jesus. By your Spirit, transform my desires, renew my affections, and strengthen my obedience, for the glory of your name.
OT READING: Ruth 3:1-5 and 4:13-17
THE LORD’S PRAYER
NT READING: 1 Corinthians 15:51-58
PRAYER OF ADORATION:
O God, thank you for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his triumph over the grave, death has been swallowed up. Your people no longer live in fear of death; we now taunt the grave: “O death, where is your sting?”
PSALM READING: Psalm 31
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
O God: I remember that this psalm of trust was in the mouth of Jesus as he was dying. He prayed, “into your hands, I commit my spirit” - teaching us, even as he suffered, to cry out to you. His prayer in suffering teaches me to do the same. I confess that I expect my circumstances to be easy and my life to go well. The world seduces me with endless messages of prosperity, health, and success. These things are good gifts from you, to be received with gratitude when they come; but to always expect them is foolish and naive. Help me reckon honestly with my pain, without giving way to entitlement. Let me rest in your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you. Help me remember that “my times are in your hand,” and let my heart take courage as I wait for you.
BENEDICTION
And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit abide and remain with us, now and throughout our time on earth, until the day of His return: Amen.