Saturday morning December 1
Preparation
Opening response
Lord, open our lips
and our mouth will proclaim your praise.
All your faithful ones bless you.
They speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
ruler and judge of all,
to you be praise and glory forever.
In the darkness of this age that is passing away
may the light of your presence which the saints enjoy
surround our steps as we journey on.
May we reflect your glory this day
and so be made ready to see your face
in the heavenly city where night shall be no more.
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
In the Midst Do Thou Appear
Charles Wesley
In the midst do thou appear,
Lord, reveal thy presence here!
Sanctify us now, and bless;
Breathe thy Spirit, give thy peace.
While we walk with God in light,
God our hearts doth still unite,
Sweetly each with each combined
In the bonds of duty joined.
Father, still our faith increase:
Cleanse from all unrighteousness,
Thee the unholy cannot see;
Make, oh make us meet for thee!
Mutual love the token be,
Lord, that we belong to thee,
Only love to us be given,
Lord we ask no other heaven.
Confession of sin
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Silence may be kept.
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in
eternal life.
Amen.
The Word of God
Psalm 145
Refrain:
The Lord is great and so worthy of praise!
I will lift you up high, my God, the true king.
I will bless your name forever and always.
I will bless you every day.
I will praise your name forever and always.
The Lord is great and so worthy of praise!
God’s greatness can’t be grasped.
One generation will praise your works to the next one,
proclaiming your mighty acts.
They will talk all about the glorious splendor of your majesty;
I will contemplate your wondrous works.
They will speak of the power of your awesome deeds;
I will declare your great accomplishments.
They will rave in celebration of your abundant goodness;
they will shout joyfully about your righteousness:
“The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
very patient, and full of faithful love.
The Lord is good to everyone and everything;
God’s compassion extends, to all his handiwork!”
All that you have made gives thanks to you, Lord;
all your faithful ones bless you!
They speak of the glory of your kingdom;
they talk all about your power,
to inform all human beings about God’s power
and the majestic glory of God’s kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingship that lasts forever;
your rule endures for all generations.
The Lord is trustworthy in all that he says,
faithful in all that he does.
The Lord supports all who fall down,
straightens up all who are bent low.
All eyes look to you, hoping,
and you give them their food right on time,
opening your hand
and satisfying the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways,
faithful in all his deeds.
The Lord is close to everyone who calls out to him,
to all who call out to him sincerely.
God shows favor to those who honor him,
listening to their cries for help and saving them.
The Lord protects all who love him,
but he destroys every wicked person.
My mouth will proclaim the Lord’s praise,
and every living thing will bless God’s holy name
forever and always.
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 is great and so worthy of praise!
Psalm prayer
King of the universe,
you show the bright glory of your reign
in acts of mercy and enduring love;
raise the spirits of the downcast
and restore those who have fallen away,
that we may sing forever of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 42:10-17
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Sing his praise from the ends of the earth!
You who sail the sea and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their residents.
Let the desert and its towns shout aloud,
the villages that Kedar inhabits.
Let the cliff dwellers sing;
from the top of the mountains let them shout.
Let them give the Lord glory
and declare God’s praise in the coastlands.
The Lord will go out like a soldier;
like a warrior God will stir up rage.
God will shout, will roar;
over enemies he will prevail.
I’ve kept still for a very long time.
I’ve been silent and restrained myself.
Like a woman in labor I will moan;
I will pant, I will gasp.
I will wither mountains and valleys,
and I will dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into deserts,
and I will dry up pools.
I will make the blind walk a road they don’t know,
and I will guide them in paths they don’t know.
But I will make darkness before them into light
and rough places into level ground.
These things I will do;
I won’t abandon them.
Blindness and deafness
Turned backward, utterly shamed
are those who trust in idols,
who say to a cast image,
“You are our god!”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Revelation 18
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was filled with light because of his glory. He called out with a loud voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a home for demons and a lair for every unclean spirit. She is a lair for every unclean bird, and a lair for every unclean and disgusting beast because all the nations have fallen due to the wine of her lustful passion. The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich from the power of her loose and extravagant ways.”
Then I heard another voice from heaven say, “Come out of her, my people, so that you don’t take part in her sins and don’t receive any of her plagues. Her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God remembered her unjust acts. Give her what she has given to others. Give her back twice as much for what she has done. In the cup that she has poured, pour her twice as much. To the extent that she glorified herself and indulged her loose and extravagant ways, give her pain and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit like a queen! I’m not a widow. I’ll never see grief.’ This is why her plagues will come in a single day—deadly disease, grief, and hunger. She will be consumed by fire because the Lord God who judges her is powerful.
“The kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality with her and shared her loose and extravagant ways, will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning. They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of the pain she suffers, and they will say, ‘Oh, the horror! Babylon, you great city, you powerful city! In a single hour your judgment has come.’
“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their cargoes anymore— cargoes of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all those things made of scented wood, ivory, fine wood, bronze, iron, and marble; cinnamon, incense, fragrant ointment, and frankincense; wine, oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; and slaves, even human lives. ‘The fruit your whole being craved has gone from you. All your glitter and glamour are lost to you, never ever to be found again.’
“The merchants who sold these things, and got so rich by her, will stand a long way off because they fear the pain she suffers. They will weep and mourn, and say, ‘Oh, the horror! The great city that wore fine linen, purple, and scarlet, who glittered with gold, jewels, and pearls— in just one hour such great wealth was destroyed.’
“Every sea captain, every seafarer, sailors, and all who make their living on the sea stood a long way off. They cried out as they saw the smoke from her burning and said, ‘What city was ever like the great city?’ They threw dust on their heads, and they cried out, weeping and mourning. They said, ‘Oh, the horror! The great city, where all who have ships at sea became so rich by her prosperity—in just one hour she was destroyed. Rejoice over her, heaven—you saints, apostles, and prophets—because God has condemned her as she condemned you.’”
Then a powerful angel picked up a stone that was like a huge millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “With such violent force the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, and it won’t be found anymore. The sound of harpists and musicians, of pipers and trumpeters, will never be heard among you again. No craftsman of any kind will ever be found among you again. The sound of the hand mill will never be heard among you again. The light of a lamp will never shine among you again. The sound of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard among you again because your merchants ran the world, because all the nations were deceived by the spell you cast, and because the blood of prophets, of saints, and of all who have been slaughtered on the earth was found among you.”
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Refrain:
You have shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and remembered your holy covenant.
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:
You have shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and remembered your holy covenant.
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
Prayers may include the following concerns:
The saints on earth, that they may live as citizens of heaven
All people, that they may hear and believe the word of God
All who fear the winter months
All sovereigns and political leaders, that they may imitate the righteous rule of Christ
All who grieve or wait with the dying
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord of life
In your mercy, hear us.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Uniting our prayers with the whole company of heaven, 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 has opened the kingdom of heaven, bring us to reign with him in glory.
Amen.