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

Jesus, Thou Sovereign Lord of All

Charles Wesley

Jesus, thou sovereign Lord of all,
The same through one eternal day,
Attend thy feeblest follower’s call,
And O, instruct us how to pray!
Pour out the supplicating grace,
And stir us up to seek thy face.

We cannot think a gracious thought,
We cannot feel a good desire,
Till thou, who callest worlds from nought,
The power into our hearts inspire;
And then we in the Spirit groan,
And then we give thee back thine own.

Jesus, regard the joint complaint
Of all thy tempted followers here,
And now supply the common want,
And send us down the Comforter,
The spirit of ceaseless prayer impart,
And fix thy Agent in our heart.

Come in thy pleading Spirit down
To us who for thy coming stay;
Of all thy gifts we ask but one,
We ask the constant power to pray;
Indulge us, Lord, in this request,
Thou canst not then deny the rest.

Confession of sin

O King enthroned on high,
filling the earth with your glory:
holy is your name,
Lord God almighty.

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

In our sinfulness, we cry to you
to take our guilt away,
and to cleanse our lips to speak your word,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

May the God of all healing and forgiveness
draw us to himself,
and cleanse us from all our sins
that we may behold the glory of his Son,
the Word made flesh,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Psalm 88

𝙍: You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

O LORD, the God of my salvation,
day and night I cry out before You.
May my prayer come before You;
incline Your ear to my cry.
For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
I am counted among those descending to the Pit.
I am like a man without strength.

I am forsaken among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom You remember no more,
who are cut off from Your care. 𝙍

You have laid me in the lowest Pit,
in the darkest of the depths.
Your wrath weighs heavily upon me;
all Your waves have submerged me.

You have removed my friends from me;
You have made me repulsive to them;
I am confined and cannot escape.
My eyes grow dim with grief. 𝙍

I call to You daily, O LORD;
I spread out my hands to You.
Do You work wonders for the dead?
Do departed spirits rise up to praise You?

Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave,
Your faithfulness in Abaddon ?
Will Your wonders be known in the darkness,
or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion? 𝙍

But to You, O LORD, I cry for help;
in the morning my prayer comes before You.
Why, O LORD, do You reject me?
Why do You hide Your face from me?

From my youth I was afflicted and near death.
I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
Your wrath has swept over me;
Your terrors have destroyed me.
All day long they engulf me like water;
they enclose me on every side.
You have removed my beloved and my friend;
darkness is my closest companion.

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 are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

Psalm prayer

In the depths of our isolation
we cry to you, Lord God;
give light in our darkness
and bring us out of the prison of our despair
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 95

𝙍: O come, let us worship and bow down.

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout to the Rock of our salvation!
Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

For the LORD is a great God,
a great King above all gods. 𝙍

In His hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to Him.
The sea is His, for He made it,
and His hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture,
the sheep under His care. 𝙍

Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did at Meribah,
in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
where your fathers tested and tried Me,
though they had seen My work.
For forty years I was angry with that generation,
and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known My ways.”
So I swore on oath in My anger,
“They shall never enter 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.

𝙍: O come, let us 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

Job 41

“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook
or tie down his tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will he beg you for mercy
or speak to you softly?
Will he make a covenant with you
to take him as a slave for life?
Can you pet him like a bird
or put him on a leash for your maidens?
Will traders barter for him
or divide him among the merchants?
Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
If you lay a hand on him,
you will remember the battle and never repeat it!

Surely hope of overcoming him is false.
Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan.
Then who is able to stand against Me?
Who has given to Me that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven is Mine.

I cannot keep silent about his limbs,
his power and graceful form.
Who can strip off his outer coat?
Who can approach him with a bridle?
Who can open his jaws,
ringed by his fearsome teeth?
His rows of scales are his pride,
tightly sealed together.
One scale is so near to another
that no air can pass between them.
They are joined to one another;
they clasp and cannot be separated.

His snorting flashes with light,
and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Firebrands stream from his mouth;
fiery sparks shoot forth!
Smoke billows from his nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
His breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames pour from his mouth.
Strength resides in his neck,
and dismay leaps before him.
The folds of his flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
His chest is as hard as a rock,
as hard as a lower millstone!

When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they withdraw before his thrashing.
The sword that reaches him has no effect,
nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
He regards iron as straw
and bronze as rotten wood.
No arrow can make him flee;
slingstones become like chaff to him.
A club is regarded as straw,
and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
His undersides are jagged potsherds,
spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;
he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
He leaves a glistening wake behind him;
one would think the deep had white hair!
Nothing on earth is his equal—
a creature devoid of fear!
He looks down on all the haughty;
he is king over all the proud.”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Romans 16:1-16

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church in Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her with anything she may need from you. For she has been a great help to many people, including me.

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their house.

Greet my beloved Epenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia.

Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you.

Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow countrymen and fellow prisoners. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.

Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.

Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ.

Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

Greet Herodion, my fellow countryman.

Greet those from the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

Greet Tryphena and Tryphosa, women who have worked hard in the Lord.

Greet my beloved Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers with them.

Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the saints with them.

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the churches of Christ send you greetings.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
In your tender compassion, O God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us.

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.

Refrain:
In your tender compassion, O God, the dawn from on high shall break 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:

Political leaders and the armed forces
Peace and justice in the world
Those who work for reconciliation
All whose lives are devastated by war and civil strife
Prisoners, refugees and homeless people

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

Response

Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide
we may so pass through things temporal
that we lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
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.