Opening response

Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God, creator of all,
to you be glory and praise forever.
You founded the earth in the beginning
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
In the fullness of time you made us in your image,
and in these last days you have spoken to us
in your Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
As we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us
let the light of your love always shine in our hearts,
your Spirit ever renew our lives
and your praises ever be on our lips.
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

My soul and all its powers

Charles Wesley

My soul and all its powers
Thine, wholly thine, shall be;
All, all my happy hours
I consecrate to thee:
Me to thine image now restore,
And I shall praise thee evermore.

Long as I live beneath,
To thee O let me live;
To thee my every breath
In thanks and praises give:
Whatever I have, whatever I am
Shall magnify my maker’s name.

I wait thy will to do,
As angels do in heaven;
In Christ a creature new,
Most graciously forgiven;
I wait thy perfect will to prove,
All sanctified by spotless love.

Confession of sin

The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor repaid us for our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his loving kindness towards those who fear him.

Silence is kept for reflection.

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

As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Like a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
Praise the LORD, my soul!
All that is within me, praise his holy name!
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and don’t forget all his benefits.

Psalm 106

𝙍: The LORD remembered his covenant.

Hallelujah!

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His loving devotion endures forever.
Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD
or fully proclaim His praise?
Blessed are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.

Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people;
visit me with Your salvation,
that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
and give glory with Your inheritance. 𝙍

We have sinned like our fathers;
we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders
or remember Your abundant kindness;
but they rebelled by the sea,
there at the Red Sea.
Yet He saved them for the sake of His name,
to make His power known.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
He led them through the depths as through a desert.
He saved them from the hand that hated them;
He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
The waters covered their foes;
not one of them remained.
Then they believed His promises
and sang His praise. 𝙍

Yet they soon forgot His works
and failed to wait for His counsel.
They craved intensely in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.
So He granted their request,
but sent a wasting disease upon them.

In the camp they envied Moses,
as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it covered the assembly of Abiram.
Then fire blazed through their company;
flames consumed the wicked. 𝙍

At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped a molten image.
They exchanged their Glory
for the image of a grass-eating ox.
They forgot God their Savior,
who did great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
So He said He would destroy them—
had not Moses His chosen one
stood before Him in the breach
to divert His wrath from destroying them. 𝙍

They despised the pleasant land;
they did not believe His promise.
They grumbled in their tents
and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
So He raised His hand and swore
to cast them down in the wilderness,
to disperse their offspring among the nations
and scatter them throughout the lands. 𝙍

They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
But Phinehas stood and intervened,
and the plague was restrained.
It was credited to him as righteousness
for endless generations to come.

At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD,
and trouble came to Moses because of them.
For they rebelled against His Spirit,
and Moses spoke rashly with his lips. 𝙍

They did not destroy the peoples
as the LORD had commanded them,
but they mingled with the nations
and adopted their customs.
They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
They defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their deeds. 𝙍

So the anger of the LORD burned against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.
He delivered them into the hand of the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies oppressed them,
and subdued them under their hand.
Many times He rescued them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and sank down in their iniquity.

Nevertheless He heard their cry;
He took note of their distress.
And He remembered His covenant with them,
and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
He made them objects of compassion
to all who held them captive. 𝙍

Save us, O LORD our God,
and gather us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to Your holy name,
that we may glory in Your praise.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.

Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Hallelujah!

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.

𝙍: The LORD remembered his covenant.

Psalm prayer

Holy God,
when our memories blot out your kindness
and we ignore your patient love,
remember us, remake us,
and give to us poor sinners
the rich inheritance of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

2 Kings 18:1-12

In the third year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz became king of Judah. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He also demolished the bronze snake called Nehushtan that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had burned incense to it.

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him. He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following Him; he kept the commandments that the LORD had given Moses.

And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him. He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from watchtower to fortified city.

In the fourth year of Hezekiah’s reign, which was the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea son of Elah over Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years, the Assyrians captured it.

So Samaria was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. The king of Assyria exiled the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of the Medes. This happened because they did not listen to the voice of the LORD their God, but violated His covenant—all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded—and would neither listen nor obey.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Philippians 1:12-30

Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances have actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And most of the brothers, confident in the Lord by my chains, now dare more greatly to speak the word without fear.

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former, however, preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can add to the distress of my chains.

What then is the issue? Just this: that in every way, whether by false motives or true, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, because I know that through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, my distress will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my coming to you again your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of me.

Nevertheless, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending side by side for the faith of the gospel, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a clear sign of their destruction but of your salvation, and it is from God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, since you are encountering the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

𝙍: You have raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of your servant David.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has visited and redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke through His holy prophets,
those of ages past,
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us deliverance from hostile hands,
that we may serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our lives.

And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord
to prepare the way for Him,
to give to His people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,
to shine on those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the path 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.

𝙍: You have raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of your servant David.

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.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He 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,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He 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:

All who are sick in body, mind or spirit
Those in the midst of famine or disaster
Victims of abuse and violence, intolerance and prejudice
Those who are bereaved
All who work in the medical and healing professions

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

O God, forasmuch as without you
we are not able to please you;
mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Savior taught us, so we pray

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.

Conclusion

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life.
Amen.