Zion Lutheran Church (LCMS)

A Guide for Daily Prayer and Meditation: May 5-12, 2024

Pray and confess out loud as much as you are able or based on your family size and ages. (Alternative orders in LSB pp295-8)

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The sign of the cross + may be made by all in remembrance of their baptism.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Hymn of the Month for May:  LSB 502 Holy Spirit, the Dove Sent From Heaven 

One or more verses from the hymn of the month are sung, or another hymn may be chosen.

Verse of the Week: Romans 6:9; John 16:33

We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 

In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Daily Lectionary

The Ninth Commandment:  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.

The Tenth Commandment:  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not entice or force away our neighbor’s wife, workers, or animals, or turn them against him, but urge them to stay and do their duty. 

(Go to bottom of next page for related Bible verses and/or excerpts from Large Catechism.)

The Apostles’ Creed is confessed † Lord’s Prayer † Prayers for Others and Ourselves (see LSB 305-318 for prayers)

Prayers requested for: Pastor Carlson, Dan Drinkman, Ben, Lois Eichinger, Joann Fox, Mark (Joann Fox’s son), Louis Gettler, Arlene Hakes, Elijah Jones, Marlys Jones, Pastor Jones, Ruth Meyer (Tim Meyer’s mother), Lacie Miles (Chrystal’s sister-in-law), Bernard Nazer (Mary Gettler’s brother), Haley Nienow (Carol Radl’s niece), Mike Osborn (Mary Gettler’s son), Doris Post, Arlene Potts, Michael Potts, Mark Radl, Alexis Radle, Nancy, Ellis Schweisthal, Sarah Schweisthal, Kara Simmons (Pastor and Susan Thomas’ goddaughter), Marlys St. George (Pastor Jones’ great aunt), Pastor Szedlak, Ben Thomas

Collect for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Prayer based on The Ninth and Tenth Commandments

Heavenly Father, You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living creature. Cause us to fear and love You above all things, that our hearts would not covet that which You have given to our neighbors. Rather, lead us to trust in Your provision of daily bread, be content with what You provide, and reject every evil scheme or enticement that would secure for ourselves that which You have given to others. Enable us to serve our neighbors by helping them keep and guard all that You have given to them; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Excerpts from the Large Catechism on the Nineth and Tenth Commandments

-  No one should consider or intend to get what belongs to another, such as his wife, servants, house, estate, land, meadows, cattle. He should not take them with a show of right, by a trick, or to his neighbor’s harm. For above, in the Seventh Commandment, the vice is forbidden where one takes for himself the possessions of others or withholds them from his neighbor. A person cannot rightly do these things. But here it is also forbidden for you to alienate anything from your neighbor, even though you could do so with honor in the eyes of the world, so that no one could accuse or blame you as though you had gotten it wrongfully. (393:296) 

-  For our natural instinct is that no one wants to see someone else have as much as himself. Each one acquires as much as he can. The other may do as best he can. Yet we pretend to be godly, know how to dress ourselves up most finely, and conceal our base character. We resort to invent tricky ways and deceitful works (like those that are now most ingeniously invented). We act as though these ways were derived from the legal codes. In fact, we even dare properly to refer to the law and boast about it. We will not have this called trickery, but shrewdness and caution. Lawyers and jurists assist in this who twist and stretch the law to suit their cause. They stress words and use them for a trick, despise fairness or their neighbor’s need. (393:297-299)

-  This commandment, therefore, is given not for cheaters in the eyes of the world. It is for the most pious, who want to be praised and to be called upright people. (393:300)

-  He especially wants us to have a pure heart, although we will never attain to that as long as we live here. So this commandment will remain, like all the rest, one that will constantly accuse us and show how godly we are in God’s sight! (395:310)

Bible Verses for Meditation on the Nineth and Tenth Commandments:

• Luke 12:15; Matthew 6:25, 33-34; Philippians 1:21