Zion Lutheran Church (LCMS)

A Guide for Daily Prayer and Meditation: March 31–April 7, 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 April:  LSB 470 O Sons and Daughters of the King

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

Verse of the Week: 2 Timothy 1:10

 [Christ Jesus] abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 

Daily Lectionary

The Fourth Commandment:  Honor your father and your mother.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

(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: 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), Arlene Potts, Michael Potts, Carol and Mark Radl, Alexis Radle, Ellis Schweisthal, Sarah Schweisthal, Kara Simmons (Pastor and Susan Thomas’ goddaughter), Marlys St. George (Pastor Jones’ great aunt), Pastor Szedlak, Ben Thomas, the family of Richard Taylor 

Collect for the Resurrection of Our Lord Easter Sunday

O God, for our redemption You gave Your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross and by His glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of the enemy. Grant that all our sin may be drowned through daily repentance and that day by day we may arise to live before You in righteousness and purity forever; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Prayer based on The Fourth Commandment

Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood on earth is given; give unto us gratitude for the gifts of parents and others in authority and the humility to serve, obey, love, and cherish them as they fulfill the duties and responsibilities You have assigned to them in this life; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Excerpts from the Large Catechism on the Fourth Commandment

- To the position of fatherhood and motherhood God has given special distinction above all positions that are beneath it: He does not simply command us to love our parents, but to honor them. Regarding our brothers, sisters, and neighbors in general, He commands nothing more than that we love them. In this way He separates and distinguishes father and mother from all other persons upon earth and places them at His side. For it is a far higher thing to honor someone than to love someone, because honor includes not only love, but also modesty, humility, and submission to a majesty hidden in them. Honor requires not only that parents be addressed kindly and with reverence, but also that, both in the heart and with the body, we demonstrate that we value them very highly, and that, next to God, we regard them as the very highest. For someone we honor from the heart we must also truly regard as high and great. (371:105-107)

- We must, therefore, impress this truth upon the young that they should think of their parents as standing in God’s place. They should remember that however lowly, poor, frail, and strange their parents may be, nevertheless, they are the father and the mother given to them by God. Parents are not to be deprived of their honor because of their conduct or their failings. Therefore, we are not to consider who they are or how they may be, but the will of God, who has created and ordained parenthood. In other respects people are, indeed, all equal in God’s eyes. But among humans there must necessarily be this inequality and ordered difference. Therefore, God commands this order to be kept, that you obey me as your father, and that I have the supremacy. (371:108) 

Bible verses for meditation on the Fourth Commandment

- Listen to your father who gave you life and do not despise your mother when she is old. Proverbs 23:22

- My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:11-12