HOLY COMMUNION
Worship Service
Lectionary Theme: Meeting of Virgin Mary and Elizabeth Celebration of Hope: From dishonour to honour Day of St. Andrew
-
1 Samuel 1:9-20 First Lesson
9. After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.
10. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly.
11. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”
12. As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.
13. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk.
14. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.”
15. But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.
16. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.”
17. Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.”
18. And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.
19. They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her.
20. In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”
-
2 Corinthians 1:3-10 Second Lesson
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation,
4. who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.
5. For just as the sufferings of Christ are abundant for us, so also our consolation is abundant through Christ.
6. If we are being afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation; if we are being consoled, it is for your consolation, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are also suffering.
7. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our consolation.
8. We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.
9. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
10. He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again,
-
Hebrews 11:1-12 Epistle
1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
2. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.
3. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. The Examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah
4. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks.
5. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.”
6. And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
7. By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith. The Faith of Abraham
8. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.
9. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised.
12. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
-
Luke 1:39-45 Gospel
39. In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,
40. where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
42. and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?
44. For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.
45. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Mary’s Song of Praise
+1(516) 560-9220