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

Away, My Needless Fears

Charles Wesley

Away, my needless fears
And doubts no longer mine!
A ray of heavenly light appears,
A messenger divine.

Thrice comfortable hope,
That calms my troubled breast;
My Father's hand prepares the cup,
And what he wills is best.

He knows whatever I want;
He sees my helplessness,
And always readier is to grant
Than I to ask his grace.

My fearful heart he reads,
Secures my soul from harms,
And underneath his mercy spreads
Its everlasting arms.

If what I wish is good,
And suits the will divine,
By earth and hell in vain withstood,
I know it shall be mine.

Here is firm footing; here,
My soul, is solid rock,
To break the waves of grief and fear,
And trouble's rudest shock:

This only can sustain
When earth and heaven remove:
O turn thee to thy rest again,
Thy God's eternal love!

Here then I doubt no more,
But in his pleasure rest,
Whose wisdom, love, and truth and power
Engage to make me blest.

Confession of sin

Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind
and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Amen. Lord, have mercy.

After a period of reflection

Come, let us return to the Lord and say:

Lord our God,
in our sin, we have avoided your call.
Our love for you is like a morning mist,
like the early dew that vanishes.
Have mercy on us;
deliver us from judgment;
bind up our wounds and revive us;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

cf Hosea 6

May almighty God,
who sent his Son into the world to save sinners,
bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.

Psalm 90

𝙍: O LORD my God, I take refuge in You.

Lord, You have been our dwelling place
through all generations.
Before the mountains were born
or You brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting
You are God.

You return man to dust,
saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”
For in Your sight a thousand years
are but a day that passes,
or a watch of the night.
You whisk them away in their sleep;
they are like the new grass of the morning—
in the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it fades and withers. 𝙍

For we are consumed by Your anger
and terrified by Your wrath.
You have set our iniquities before You,
our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
For all our days decline in Your fury;
we finish our years with a sigh.
The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty if we are strong—
yet their pride is but labor and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

Who knows the power of Your anger?
Your wrath matches the fear You are due.
So teach us to number our days,
that we may present a heart of wisdom. 𝙍

Return, O LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on Your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving devotion,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen evil.

May Your work be shown to Your servants,
and Your splendor to their children.
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish for us the work of our hands—
yes, establish the work of our hands!

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 LORD my God, I take refuge in You.

Psalm prayer

Almighty God,
our eternal refuge,
teach us to live with the knowledge of our death
and to rejoice in the promise of your glory,
revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 92

𝙍: You, O LORD, are exalted forever!

It is good to praise the LORD,
and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High,
to proclaim Your loving devotion in the morning
and Your faithfulness at night
with the ten-stringed harp
and the melody of the lyre.

For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds;
I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
How great are Your works, O LORD,
how deep are Your thoughts! 𝙍

A senseless man does not know,
and a fool does not understand,
that though the wicked sprout like grass,
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be forever destroyed.

But You, O LORD, are exalted forever!

For surely Your enemies, O LORD,
surely Your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
with fine oil I have been anointed.
My eyes see the downfall of my enemies;
my ears hear the wailing of my wicked foes. 𝙍

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Planted in the house of the LORD,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they will still bear fruit;
healthy and green they will remain,
to proclaim, “The LORD is upright; He is my Rock,
and in Him there is no unrighteousness.”

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, O LORD, are exalted forever!

Psalm prayer

Give us the music of your praise, Lord,
morning, noon and night,
that our lives may be fruitful
and our lips confess you as the true and only God.

Old Testament reading

Job 40

And the LORD said to Job:

“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

Then Job answered the LORD:

“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You?
I place my hand over my mouth.
I have spoken once, but I have no answer—
twice, but I have nothing to add.”

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

“Now brace yourself like a man;
I will question you, and you shall inform Me.

Would you really annul My justice?
Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
Do you have an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like His?
Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,
and clothe yourself with honor and glory.
Unleash the fury of your wrath;
look on every proud man and bring him low.
Look on every proud man and humble him;
trample the wicked where they stand.
Bury them together in the dust;
imprison them in the grave.
Then I will confess to you
that your own right hand can save you.

Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you.
He feeds on grass like an ox.
See the strength of his loins
and the power in the muscles of his belly.
His tail sways like a cedar;
the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
His bones are tubes of bronze;
his limbs are rods of iron.
He is the foremost of God’s works;
only his Maker can draw the sword against him.
The hills yield him their produce,
while all the beasts of the field play nearby.
He lies under the lotus plants,
hidden among the reeds of the marsh.
The lotus plants conceal him in their shade;
the willows of the brook surround him.
Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;
he remains secure, though the Jordan surges to his mouth.
Can anyone capture him as he looks on,
or pierce his nose with a snare?

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Romans 15:22-33

That is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

But now that there are no further opportunities for me in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to visit you, I hope to see you on my way to Spain. And after I have enjoyed your company for a while, you can equip me for my journey.

Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem to serve the saints there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual blessings, they are obligated to minister to them with material blessings.

So after I have completed this service and have safely delivered this bounty to them, I will set off to Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Pray that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service in Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints there, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.

The God of peace be with all of you. Amen.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

𝙍: 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.

𝙍: 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.
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.

Thanksgiving and intercession

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

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.

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.