❖ Catechism

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Question 13

❖ Praise

Glory be to God the Father;

Glory be to God the Son;

Glory be to God the Spirit, ever three and ever one:

As it was in the beginning, now and evermore shall be.

[Gloria Patri]

❖ Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God;

begotten of the Father before all worlds;

God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God;

begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;

by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation,

came down from heaven

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered and was buried;

and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures;

and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father;

and he shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life;

who proceeds from the Father and the Son;

who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;

who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins;

and I look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

❖ Assurance of Pardon

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

[Romans 4:4–5]

❖ Confession of Sin

Lord Jesus Christ, you carry the lost sheep back into the fold in your arms,

and deign to hear the confession of the publican—

graciously remit all my guilt and sin.

Lord, you hear the penitent thief, you have set a heritage of mercy for your saints,

and have not withheld pardon from the sinner—

hear the prayers of your servants according to your mercy. Amen.

[Wilhelm Loehe]

❖ Reading of the Law

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

[Exodus 20:1–17]

❖ Adoration

We praise and glorify you our Lord and owner, for we and all things are your own. We praise and glorify you our king and ruler, for we are your subjects, and our perfect obedience is your due. Just are all your laws and judgment; true and sure is all your Word. We praise and glorify you, our great benefactor. In you we live, and move, and are: all that we are, or have, or can do, is wholly from you, the cause of all; and all is for you, for you are our end. Delightfully to love you is our greatest duty, and our only felicity, for you are love itself, and infinitely amiable. Amen.

[Richard Baxter]

❖ Call to Worship

Praise the Lord!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord!

Blessed be the name of the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore!

From the rising of the sun to its setting,

the name of the Lord is to be praised!

[Psalm 113:1–3]

❖ Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name;

your kingdom come;

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen.

❖ Prayer of Intercession

Lord God, of might inconceivable,

of glory incomprehensible,

of mercy immeasurable,

of goodness ineffable;

O Master, look down upon us in your tender love,

and show forth, toward us and those who pray with us,

your rich mercies and compassions. Amen.

[John Chrysostom]

❖ Scripture Reading

• Genesis 46

• Mark 16

• Job 12

• Romans 16

❖ Prayer for Illumination

O heavenly Father, whose law is perfect, converting the soul; a sure testimony, giving wisdom to the unlearned, and enlightening the eyes—we humbly implore you, through your boundless goodness, to enlighten our blind intellect by your Holy Spirit, so that we may truly understand and profess your law and live according to it. Since it has pleased you, most merciful Father, to reveal the mysteries of your will only to the little ones; and since you look to him alone who is of a humble and contrite spirit, who has reverence for your Word, grant us a humble spirit and keep us from all fleshly wisdom, which is enmity against you. Bring to the right way those who stray from the truth, so that we all may unanimously serve you in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our life. We ask this from you, most merciful Father, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

[Martin Micronius]

❖ Catechism

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Question 12

❖ Praise

Glory be to God the Father;

Glory be to God the Son;

Glory be to God the Spirit, ever three and ever one:

As it was in the beginning, now and evermore shall be.

[Gloria Patri]

❖ Athanasian Creed, Part 3

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith. Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally. Now this is the catholic faith:

that we worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confounding their persons nor dividing the essence…

But it is necessary for eternal salvation that one also believe in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.

Now this is the true faith:

that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son,

is both God and man, equally.

He is God from the essence of the Father, begotten before time;

and he is man from the essence of his mother, born in time;

completely God, completely man, with a rational soul and human flesh;

equal to the Father as regards divinity,

less than the Father as regards humanity.

Although he is God and man, yet Christ is not two, but one.

He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh,

but by God’s taking humanity to himself.

He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence,

but by the unity of his person.

For just as one man is both rational soul and flesh,

so too the one Christ is both God and man.

He suffered for our salvation;

he descended to hell;

he arose from the dead on the third day;

he ascended to heaven;

he is seated at the Father’s right hand;

from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

At his coming all people will arise bodily and give an accounting of their own deeds.

Those who have done good will enter eternal life,

and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith: that one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.

❖ Assurance of Pardon

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

[Jeremiah 31:33–34]

❖ Confession of Sin

I, poor sinner, confess myself before God Almighty, that I have gravely sinned by the transgression of his commandments; that I have done many things which I should have left undone, and I have left undone that which I should have done, through unbelief and distrust in God and weakness of love toward my fellow servants. God knows the guilt I have incurred, for which I am grieved. Be gracious to me, Lord. Be merciful to me, a poor sinner. Amen.

[Diebold Schwarz]

❖ Reading of the Law

Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven… You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect... Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven… Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you... So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

[Matthew 5:20, 48; 6:1, 33; 7:12]