Opening response

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

Your light springs up for the righteous
and all the peoples have seen your glory.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
king of the nations,
to you be praise and glory forever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
your name is proclaimed in all the world.
As the Sun of Righteousness dawns in our hearts
anoint our lips with the seal of your Spirit
that we may witness to your gospel
and sing your praise in all the earth.
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

Being of Beings, God of Love

Charles Wesley

Being of beings, God of love,
To thee our hearts we raise;
Thy all-sustaining power we prove,
And gladly sing thy praise.

Thine, wholly thine, we pant to be;
Our sacrifice receive!
Made, and preserved, and saved by thee,
To thee ourselves we give.

Heavenward our every wish aspires
For all thy mercy’s store,
The sole return thy love requires,
Is that we ask for more.

For more we ask; we open then
Our hearts to embrace thy will,
Turn and revive us, Lord again,
With all thy fullness fill.

Come, Holy Ghost, the Savior’s love
Shed in our hearts abroad:
So shall we ever live and move,
And be with Christ in God.

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 21

Refrain:
The king trusts in the LORD.

The king rejoices in your strength, LORD!
How greatly he rejoices in your salvation!
You have given him his heart’s desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.

For you meet him with the blessings of goodness.
You set a crown of fine gold on his head.
He asked life of you and you gave it to him,
even length of days forever and ever.
His glory is great in your salvation.
You lay honour and majesty on him.
For you make him most blessed forever.
You make him glad with joy in your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD.
Through the loving kindness of the Most High, he shall not be moved.
Your hand will find out all of your enemies.
Your right hand will find out those who hate you.
You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger.
The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath.
The fire shall devour them.
You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
their posterity from amongst the children of men.
For they intended evil against you.
They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed.
For you will make them turn their back,
when you aim drawn bows at their face.
Be exalted, LORD, in your strength,
so we will sing and praise your power.

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 king trusts in the LORD.

Psalm prayer

Crown us, God, but with humility,
and robe us with compassion,
that, as you call us into the kingdom of your Son,
we may strive to overcome all evil
by the power of good
and so walk gently on the earth
with you, our God, forever.

Psalm 24

Refrain:
The LORD of Armies is the King of glory!

The earth is the LORD’s, with its fullness;
the world, and those who dwell in it.
For he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the floods.

Who may ascend to the LORD’s hill?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart;
who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,
and has not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of those who seek Him,
who seek your face—even Jacob. Selah.

Lift up your heads, you gates!
Be lifted up, you everlasting doors,
and the King of glory will come in.
Who is the King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, you gates;
yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors,
and the King of glory will come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of Armies is the King of glory! 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.

Refrain:
The LORD of Armies is the King of glory!

Psalm prayer

O LORD of Armies,
purify our hearts
that the glorious king may come in,
your Son, Jesus our redeemer.

Old Testament reading

Amos 4

Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”

The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness,
“Behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks,
and the last of you with fish hooks.
You will go out at the breaks in the wall,
everyone straight before her;
and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says the LORD.

“Go to Bethel, and sin;
to Gilgal, and sin more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days,
offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them;
for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord GOD.

“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and lack of bread in every town;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.

“I also have withheld the rain from you,
when there were yet three months to the harvest;
and I caused it to rain on one city,
and caused it not to rain on another city.
One field was rained on,
and the field where it didn’t rain withered.
So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water,
and were not satisfied;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.

“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards,
and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.

“I sent plagues amongst you like I did Egypt.
I have slain your young men with the sword,
and have carried away your horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.

“I have overthrown some of you,
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire;
yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.

“Therefore I will do this to you, Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel.
For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth:
The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

1 Corinthians 3

Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with solid food, for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, you aren’t ready even now, for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions amongst you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly?

Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed, and each as the Lord gave to him? I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are the same, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burnt, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.

Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise amongst you in this world, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.” And again, “The Lord knows the reasoning of the wise, that it is worthless.” Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
Those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength.
They will mount up with wings like eagles.

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:
Those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength.
They will mount up with wings like eagles.

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 unity of the church
The peace of the world
The healing of the sick
The revelation of Christ to those from whom his glory is hidden
All who travel

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

Response

Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
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

Believing the promises of God, 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 Christ, who sends us to the nations, give us the power of his Spirit.
Amen.