Prayer & Praise

Collect

Set us free, loving Father, from the bondage of our sins, and in your goodness and mercy give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

 Malachi 3: 6-12

 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.  From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.  Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.  I will rebuke the devourer[b] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.  Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10

 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Psalm 96

O sing unto the Lord a new song; *sing unto the Lord, all the whole earth.

Sing unto the Lord and praise his Name; * tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his honor to the nations, * and his wonders to all peoples.

For the Lord is great, and highly to be praised; * he is more to be feared than all gods.

As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols; * but it is the Lord who made the heavens.

Glory and majesty are before him; * power and honor are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe unto the Lord, O you families of the peoples, * ascribe unto the Lord worship and power.

Ascribe unto the Lord the honor due unto his Name; * bring offerings and come into his courts.

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; * let the whole earth stand in awe of him.

Tell it out among the nations, “The Lord is King;* it is he who has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved; he shall judge the peoples righteously.”

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;* let the sea make a noise, and all that is therein.

Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it;* then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord.

For he comes, for he comes to judge the earth, *and with righteousness to judge the world, and the peoples with his truth

Glory be to the Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Matthew 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.