Opening response

Lord, open our lips.
Our mouth will declare 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

Beyond the Bounds of Time and Space

Charles Wesley

Beyond the bounds of time and space,
Look forward to that heavenly place,
The saints’ secure abode;
On faith’s strong eagle pinions rise,
And force your passage to the skies,
And scale the mount of God.

Though suffering with our Master here,
We shall before his face appear,
And by his side sit down:
To patient faith, the prize is sure,
And all that to the end endure,
The cross, shall wear the crown.

Confession of sin

When we cry out to the LORD in our trouble,
he will save us out of our distresses.

God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

May the Father forgive us
by the death of his Son
and strengthen us
to live in the power of the Spirit
all our days.
Amen.

Let us praise the LORD for his loving kindness,
and his wondrous deeds for all people.

Let us offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s deeds with singing.

cf Psalm 107

Psalm 37

Refrain:
The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD.

Don’t fret because of evildoers,
neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the LORD, and do good.
Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.
Also delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD.
Trust also in him, and he will do this:
he will make your righteousness shine out like light,
and your justice as the noon day sun.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him.
Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way,
because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.
Don’t fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
For yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more.
Yes, though you look for his place, he isn’t there.
But the humble shall inherit the land,
and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
The wicked plots against the just,
and gnashes at him with his teeth.
The Lord will laugh at him,
for he sees that his day is coming.
The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow,
to cast down the poor and needy,
to kill those who are upright on the path.
Their sword shall enter into their own heart.
Their bows shall be broken.
Better is a little that the righteous has,
than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.
The LORD knows the days of the perfect.
Their inheritance shall be forever.
They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil.
In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

But the wicked shall perish.
The enemies of the LORD shall be like the beauty of the fields.
They will vanish—
vanish like smoke.
The wicked borrow, and don’t pay back,
but the righteous give generously.
For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land.
Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.
A man’s steps are established by the LORD.
He delights in his way.
Though he stumble, he shall not fall,
for the LORD holds him up with his hand.
I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor his children begging for bread.
All day long he deals graciously, and lends.
His offspring is blessed.
Depart from evil, and do good.
Live securely forever.
For the LORD loves justice,
and doesn’t forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land,
and live in it forever.

The mouth of the righteous talks of wisdom.
His tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart.
None of his steps shall slide.
The wicked watch the righteous,
and seek to kill him.
The LORD will not leave him in his hand,
nor condemn him when he is judged.
Wait for the LORD, and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land.
When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

I have seen the wicked in great power,
spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.
But he passed away, and behold, he was not.
Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Mark the perfect man, and see the upright,
for there is a future for the man of peace.
As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together.
The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
But the salvation of the righteous is from the LORD.
He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and rescues them.
He rescues them from the wicked and saves them,
because they have taken refuge in him.

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:
The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD.

Psalm prayer

Blessed and holy God,
ever merciful and forgiving,
may we turn from what is evil
and do what is good in your sight,
for you have saved us by the cross of your Son,
our Savior Jesus Christ.

Old Testament reading

2 Chronicles 35:1-19

Josiah kept a Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. He set the priests in their offices and encouraged them in the service of the LORD’s house. He said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to the LORD, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. It will no longer be a burden on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. Stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the children of the people, and let there be for each a portion of a fathers’ house of the Levites. Kill the Passover lamb, sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the LORD’s word by Moses.”

Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls. These were of the king’s substance. His princes gave a free will offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the rulers of God’s house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle. Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head of cattle.

So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king’s commandment. They killed the Passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from their hands, and the Levites skinned them. They removed the burnt offerings, that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers’ houses of the children of the people, to offer to the LORD, as it is written in the book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. They roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance. They boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people. Afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. Therefore the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests the sons of Aaron. The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place, according to the commandment of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers were at every gate. They didn’t need to depart from their service, because their brothers the Levites prepared for them.

So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the LORD’s altar, according to the commandment of King Josiah. The children of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. There was no Passover like that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, nor did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept—with the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This Passover was kept in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Romans 8:12-17

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
Shine on us, O God, who sit in darkness,
and guide our feet into the way of peace.

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:
Shine on us, O God, who sit in darkness,
and guide our feet into the way of peace.

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:

Local government, community leaders
All who provide local services
Those who work with young or elderly people
Schools, colleges and universities
Emergency and rescue organizations

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

Response

In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

O God,
the strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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 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

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