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Opening response

Lord, open our lips.
Our mouth will declare your praise.

Reveal among us the light of your presence
that we may behold your power and glory.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God of all,
to you be praise and glory forever.
In your tender compassion
the dawn from on high is breaking upon us
to dispel the lingering shadows of night.
As we look for your coming among us this day,
open our eyes to behold your presence
and strengthen our hands to do your will,
that the world may rejoice and give you praise.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.

The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;
let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence is kept.

As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and forever.
Amen.

Hymn

With Glorious Clouds Encompassed Round

Charles Wesley

With glorious clouds encompassed round,
Whom angels dimly see,
Will the Unsearchable be found,
Or God appear to me?

Will he forsake his throne above,
Himself to worms impart?
Answer, thou Man of grief and love,
And speak it to my heart.

Didst thou not in our flesh appear,
And live and die below,
That I may now perceive thee near,
And my redeemer know?

Come, then, and to my soul reveal
The heights and depths of grace,
Those wounds which all my sorrows heal,
Which all my sins efface.

Then shall I see in his own light,
Whom angels dimly see:
And gaze, transported at the sight,
To all eternity.

Confession of sin

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
very patient, and full of faithful love.
He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin
or repay us according to our wrongdoing.
Because as high as heaven is above the earth,
that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.

As far as east is from west—
that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,
that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.

Let my whole being bless the Lord.
Let everything inside me bless his holy name.

Let my whole being bless the Lord,
and never forget all his good deeds.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes,
    though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
    though its waters roar and are troubled,
    though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.

There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad,
    the holy place of the tents of the Most High.
God is within her. She shall not be moved.
    God will help her at dawn.
The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved.
    He lifted his voice and the earth melted.
Yahweh of Armies is with us.
    The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Come, see Yahweh’s works,
    what desolations he has made in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.
    He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear.
    He burns the chariots in the fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
    I will be exalted among the nations.
    I will be exalted in the earth.”
Yahweh of Armies is with us.
    The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Glory 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.

Psalm prayer

God of Jacob,
when the earth shakes
and the nations are in uproar,
speak, and let the storm be still;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 95

Refrain:
Come, let’s worship and bow down.

Oh come, let’s sing to Yahweh.
    Let’s shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
Let’s come before his presence with thanksgiving.
    Let’s extol him with songs!
For Yahweh is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth.
    The heights of the mountains are also his.
The sea is his, and he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land.
Oh come, let’s worship and bow down.
    Let’s kneel before Yahweh, our Maker,
    for he is our God.
We are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep in his care.
Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
    Don’t harden your heart, as at Meribah,
    as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me,
    tested me, and saw my work.
Forty long years I was grieved with that generation,
    and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart.
    They have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They won’t enter into my rest.”

Glory 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.

Refrain:
Come, let’s worship and bow down.

Psalm prayer

Lord God, the maker of all,
as we bow down in praise this day,
make us attentive to your voice
and do not test us beyond our enduring;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Isaiah 54

“Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth;
    break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child:
    for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says Yahweh.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
    and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations;
    don’t spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left;
    and your offspring will possess the nations
    and settle in desolate cities.

“Don’t be afraid, for you will not be ashamed.
    Don’t be confounded, for you will not be disappointed.
For you will forget the shame of your youth.
    You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more.
For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name.
    The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.
    He will be called the God of the whole earth.
For Yahweh has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
    even a wife of youth, when she is cast off,” says your God.

“For a small moment I have forsaken you,
but I will gather you with great mercies.
In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you,” says Yahweh your Redeemer.

“For this is like the waters of Noah to me;
    for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth,
    so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
For the mountains may depart,
    and the hills be removed;
but my loving kindness will not depart from you,
    and my covenant of peace will not be removed,”
    says Yahweh who has mercy on you.

“You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted,
    behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors,
    and lay your foundations with sapphires.
I will make your pinnacles of rubies,
    your gates of sparkling jewels,
    and all your walls of precious stones.
All your children will be taught by Yahweh;
    and your children’s peace will be great.
You will be established in righteousness.
    You will be far from oppression,
    for you will not be afraid,
    and far from terror,
    for it shall not come near you.
Behold, they may gather together, but not by me.
    Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.

“Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame,
    and forges a weapon for his work;
    and I have created the destroyer to destroy.
No weapon that is formed against you will prevail;
    and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants,
    and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

2 Peter 1:16-2:3

For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
Like the sun in the morning sky, the Savior of the world will dawn; like rain upon the meadows, the Christ will come down upon us.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people;
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
(as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show mercy toward our fathers,
to remember his holy covenant,
the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,
to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
should serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the dawn from on high will visit us,
to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death;
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory 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.

Refrain:
Like the sun in the morning sky, the Savior of the world will dawn; like rain upon the meadows, the Christ will come down upon us.

Brief silence.

The Apostle’s Creed

Let us unite in this historic confession of the Christian faith:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Intercession and thanksgiving

Prayers may be offered for:

the day and its tasks
the world and its needs
the church and her life

Prayers may include the following concerns:

The church, that she may be ready for the coming of Christ
The leaders of the church
The nations, that they may be subject to the rule of God
Those who are working for justice in the world
The broken, that they may find God’s healing

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Response

Lord, hear your people
and answer our prayers.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

God our redeemer,
who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
grant that, as she looked for his coming as our savior,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Awaiting his coming in glory, as our Savior taught us, so we pray

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.

Conclusion

May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting.
Amen.