Sun. morning Dec. 28
Feast of the Holy Innocents
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
You laid the foundation of the earth
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, sovereign God, creator of heaven and earth, to you be praise and glory forever. As your living Word, eternal in heaven, assumed the frailty of our mortal flesh, may the light of your love be born in us to fill our hearts with joy as we sing:
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 Bleak Midwinter
Words: Christina G. Rossetti (1872)
Music: Gustav Holst (1906)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#186)
In the bleak midwinter
frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone:
snow had fallen,
snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter,
long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away
when he comes to reign:
in the bleak midwinter
a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels
may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim
thronged the air,
but only his mother,
in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the Beloved
with a kiss.
What can I give him,
poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb,
if I were a wise man
I would do my part,
yet what I can I give him,
give my heart.
Confession of Sin
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from our distress.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son, and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days.
Amen.
Let us give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 36
𝙍: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
An oracle within my heart
about the transgression of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes,
so that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
He devises mischief on his bed;
he sets himself on a path that is not good;
he does not reject evil.
𝙍: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
Your mercy, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the great mountains,
Your judgments are like the great deep;
O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
How excellent is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore mankind
seeks refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
They will drink their fill from the abundance of Your house,
and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
For with You is the fountain of life;
in Your light we see light.
𝙍: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
Let not the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
they are cast down and are not able to rise.
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: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
Psalm prayer
O God, the fountain of life, make us bright with wisdom, that we may be lightened with the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 146
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
While I live I will praise the LORD;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Do not put your trust in princes,
nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
𝙍: The LORD shall reign forever.
The LORD sets free the prisoners.
The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
the LORD raises up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the strangers;
He relieves the fatherless and widow,
but the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
The LORD shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD!
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: The LORD shall reign forever.
Psalm prayer
Lord of all, our breath and being come from you, yet our earthly end is dust; as you loose the bound and feed the hungry, so bring us in your mercy through the grave and gate of death to the feast of eternal life, where you reign forevermore.
Old Testament reading
Genesis 37:13-20
Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.”
He answered, “Here I am.”
Israel said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
A certain man found him wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
And he said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”
The man said, “They have departed from here. I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
When they saw him some distance away, before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.
They said one to another, “The master of dreams comes! Come now, let us kill him and throw him into some pit, and we will say, ‘Some evil beast has devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 18:1-10
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Jesus called a little child to Him and set him in their midst, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself like this little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such little child in My name receives Me.
“But whoever misleads one of these little ones who believe in Me, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung about his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of temptations! For it must be that temptations come, but woe to that man by whom the temptation comes! Therefore if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life lame or maimed than having two hands or two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than having two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.
Silence may be kept.
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Luke 1:68-79
Blessed be the Lord 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 of long ago,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath which He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
might serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
for you will go before the presence of the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people
by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise from on high has visited us;
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in 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.
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.
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 Church, especially in places of conflict
The Holy Land, for peace with justice, and reconciliation
Refugees and asylum seekers
Homeless people
Families with young children
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Heavenly Father, whose children suffered at the hands of Herod, though they had done no wrong: by the suffering of your Son and by the innocence of our lives frustrate all evil designs and establish your reign of justice and peace; 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
Rejoicing in the presence of God here among us, 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
May God, who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, bless us and fill us with peace.
Amen.