Saturday morning January 7
Preparation
Opening response
Lord, open our lips
and our mouth will proclaim 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
Out of the Iron Furnace, Lord
Charles Wesley
Out of the iron furnace, Lord,
To thee for help I cry,
I listen to thy warning word,
And would from Egypt fly.
Long have I bowed to sin’s command,
But now I would be free,
Escape from the dire oppressor’s land,
And live, O God, to thee.
Hast thou not surely seen my grief?
Hast thou not heard me groan?
O hasten then to my relief,
In pitying love come down.
From Pharaoh, and the Egyptian’s power
Redeem a wretched slave;
Thou canst redeem me in this hour,
Thou wilt the sinner save.
Now, Lord, relieve my misery,
Stretch out thy mighty hand,
Drown all my sins in the Red Sea,
And bring me safe to land.
Strength in the Lord my righteousness,
And pardon I receive,
And holy joy, and quiet peace
The moment I believe.
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.
The Word of God
Psalm 99
The Lord rules—
the nations shake!
He sits enthroned on the winged heavenly creatures—
the earth quakes!
The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
Let them thank your great and awesome name.
He is holy!
Strong king who loves justice,
you are the one who established what is fair.
You worked justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Magnify the Lord, our God!
Bow low at his footstool!
He is holy!
Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel too among those who called on his name.
They cried out to the Lord, and he himself answered them—
he spoke to them from a pillar of cloud.
They kept the laws and the rules God gave to them.
Lord our God, you answered them.
To them you were a God who forgives
but also the one who avenged their wrong deeds.
Magnify the Lord our God!
Bow low at his holy mountain
because the Lord our God is holy!
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.
Psalm prayer
Lord God, mighty king,
you love justice and establish equity;
may we love justice more than gain
and mercy more than power;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 147:1-12
Refrain:
Our Lord is great and so strong!
Praise the Lord!
Because it is good to sing praise to our God!
Because it is a pleasure to make beautiful praise!
The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, gathering up Israel’s exiles.
God heals the brokenhearted
and bandages their wounds.
God counts the stars by number,
giving each one a name.
Our Lord is great and so strong!
God’s knowledge can’t be grasped!
The Lord helps the poor,
but throws the wicked down on the dirt!
Sing to the Lord with thanks;
sing praises to our God with a lyre!
God covers the skies with clouds;
God makes rain for the earth;
God makes the mountains sprout green grass.
God gives food to the animals—
even to the baby ravens when they cry out.
God doesn’t prize the strength of a horse;
God doesn’t treasure the legs of a runner.
No. The Lord treasures the people
who honor him,
the people who wait for his faithful love.
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:
Our Lord is great and so strong!
Psalm prayer
Compassionate God,
as you know each star you have created,
so you know the secrets of every heart;
in your loving mercy bring to your table
all who are fearful and broken,
all who are wounded and needy,
that our hungers may be satisfied
in the city of your peace;
through Christ who is our peace.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 63:7-19
I will recount the Lord’s faithful acts;
I will sing the Lord’s praises,
because of all the Lord did for us,
for God’s great favor toward the house of Israel.
God treated them compassionately
and with deep affection.
God said, “Truly, they are my people,
children who won’t do what is wrong.”
God became their savior.
During all their distress, God also was distressed,
so a messenger who served him saved them.
In love and mercy God redeemed them,
lifting and carrying them throughout earlier times.
But they rebelled,
and made God’s holy spirit terribly sad,
so that he turned into their enemy—
he fought against them!
Then they remembered earlier times,
when he rescued his people.
Where was the one who drew them up from the sea,
the shepherd of the flock?
Where was the one who put within them his holy spirit;
the one who guided Moses’ strong hand
with his glorious arm;
who split the water for them
to create an enduring reputation for himself,
and who guided them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert, they didn’t stumble.
Like cattle descending to the valley,
the Lord’s spirit brought them to rest.
In this way you led your people
and made for yourself a glorious reputation.
Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and glorious perch.
Where are your energy and your might,
your concern and your pity?
Don’t hold back!
You are surely our father,
even though Abraham doesn’t know us,
and Israel doesn’t recognize us.
You, Lord, are our father;
your reputation since long ago is that of our redeemer.
Why do you lead us astray, Lord,
from your ways?
Why do you harden our heart
so we don’t fear you?
Return for the sake of your servants
the tribes that are your heritage!
Why did the wicked bring down your holy place?
Why did our enemies trample your sanctuary?
For too long we have been like those you don’t rule,
like those not known by your name.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 John 3
See what kind of love the Father has given to us in that we should be called God’s children, and that is what we are! Because the world didn’t recognize him, it doesn’t recognize us.
Dear friends, now we are God’s children, and it hasn’t yet appeared what we will be. We know that when he appears we will be like him because we’ll see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Every person who practices sin commits an act of rebellion, and sin is rebellion. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and there is no sin in him. Every person who remains in relationship to him does not sin. Any person who sins has not seen him or known him.
Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The person who practices righteousness is righteous, in the same way that Jesus is righteous. The person who practices sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has been sinning since the beginning. God’s Son appeared for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil. Those born from God don’t practice sin because God’s DNA remains in them. They can’t sin because they are born from God. This is how God’s children and the devil’s children are apparent: everyone who doesn’t practice righteousness is not from God, including the person who doesn’t love a brother or sister. This is the message that you heard from the beginning: love each other. Don’t behave like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he kill him? He killed him because his own works were evil, but the works of his brother were righteous.
Don’t be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have transferred from death to life, because we love the brothers and sisters. The person who does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. But if a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn’t care—how can the love of God remain in him?
Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God’s presence. Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Dear friends, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have confidence in relationship to God. We receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love each other as he commanded us. The person who keeps his commandments remains in God and God remains in him; and this is how we know that he remains in us, because of the Spirit that he has given to us.
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Refrain:
This is the Christ, the Chosen of God, the one who will bring healing to the nations.
Bless the Lord God of Israel
because he has come to help and has delivered his people.
He has raised up a mighty savior for us in his servant David’s house,
just as he said through the mouths of his holy prophets long ago.
He has brought salvation from our enemies
and from the power of all those who hate us.
He has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and remembered his holy covenant,
the solemn pledge he made to our ancestor Abraham.
He has granted that we would be rescued
from the power of our enemies
so that we could serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness in God’s eyes,
for as long as we live.
You, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.
You will tell his people how to be saved
through the forgiveness of their sins.
Because of our God’s deep compassion,
the dawn from heaven will break upon us,
to give light to those who are sitting in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide us on the path of peace.”
Luke 1:68-79
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:
This is the Christ, the Chosen of God, the one who will bring healing to the nations.
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.
Prayers
Intercession and thanksgiving
Prayers may be offered for:
the day and its tasks
the world and its needs
the church and her life
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,
who by the leading of a star
manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we,
who know you now by faith,
may at last behold your glory face to face;
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.