Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 2023

With your presence, Lord, our Head and Savior,
bless them all we humbly pray.
Our dear heavenly father’s love and favor
be their comfort every day. 
May God’s spirit now in each proceeding 
favor them with his most gracious leading 

Behold, a great multitude, which no one can number, out of every nation and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, with palm branches in their hands,

And they cry with a loud voice saying, “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

These are the ones of whom the world was not worthy.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and the holes in the ground.  They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were slain with the sword, they were burned at the stake, they were killed by an assassin’s bullet.  They were destitute, persecuted, tormented.  These are the ones who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes and cleansed them in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and they worship day and night in the temple.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd, and will guide them to springs of living water.

And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Almighty God, Redeemer and Sustainer, we offer you thanks and praise for the holy lives of all your servants — the prophets, apostles, and martyrs — who have shone forth as lights in the world and sacrificed their lives in testimony of their faith.

We thank you for calling your servant John Hus to be an instrument of reformation and renewal in your church, and for keeping him faithful even unto a martyr’s death.

We thank you for the triumphant fellowship of all the saints in glory.  We remember before you all who have been called to the more immediate presence of the Savior, and especially those most dear to us and our congregation.  We rejoice in our present fellowship with them, in our continuing hope, and in the promise of eternal joy.  Let the great cloud of witnesses, the innumerable company of those who have gone before and entered into rest, be to us an example of godly life.  May we run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith; and may we obtain entrance into your eternal kingdom, and with the glorious assembly of the saints, worship and adore you.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  If God is for us, who can be against us!

Hear the words of the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, who was dead and is alive again:  Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

To him who loves us and washed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests to God, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen

By all your saints still striving, for all your saints at rest. Your holy name, O Jesus, for evermore be blessed.

You rose, our king victorious, that they might wear the crown 

and ever shine in splendor reflected from your throne    

For Hus the fearless martyr we give you thanks and praise, 

whose bright and pure example still shines in these our days.

May we with dedication preach and live your love

 that all may hear your witness and strive for heaven above.

Then let us praise the Father and worship God the Son 

and sing to God the Spirit, eternal Three in One, 

till all the ransomed number who stand before the throne 

ascribe all pow’r and glory and praise to God alone