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

Spirit of holiness, let all thy saints adore

Charles Wesley

Spirit of holiness,
Let all thy saints adore
Thy sacred energy, and bless
Thy heart-renewing power.

Not angel tongues can tell
Thy love’s ecstatic height,
The glorious joy unspeakable,
The beatific sight.

Eternal, triune God!
Let all the hosts above,
Let all the sons of men record,
And dwell upon thy love.

When heaven and earth are fled
Before thy glorious face,
Sing, all the saints thy love hath made
Thine everlasting praise.

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, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
The whole law and the prophets depend 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 cloud,
like the dew that disappears early.
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 19

Refrain:
The LORD’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The heavens declare the glory of God.
The expanse shows his handiwork.
Day after day they pour out speech,
and night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice has gone out through all the earth,
their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which is as a bridegroom coming out of his room,
like a strong man rejoicing to run his course.
His going out is from the end of the heavens,
his circuit to its ends.
There is nothing hidden from its heat.

The LORD’s law is perfect, restoring the soul.
The LORD’s covenant is sure, making wise the simple.
The LORD’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart.
The LORD’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever.
The LORD’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether.
They are more to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold,
sweeter also than honey and the extract of the honeycomb.
Moreover your servant is warned by them.
In keeping them there is great reward.
Who can discern his errors?
Forgive me from hidden errors.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I will be upright.
I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
LORD, my rock, and my redeemer.

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’s commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.

Psalm prayer

Christ, the sun of righteousness,
rise in our hearts this day,
enfold us in the brightness of your love
and bear us at the last to heaven’s horizon;
for your love’s sake.

Psalm 20

Refrain:
Be exalted, LORD, in your strength.

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble.
May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high,
send you help from the sanctuary,
grant you support from Zion,
remember all your offerings,
and accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah.

May he grant you your heart’s desire,
and fulfill all your counsel.
We will triumph in your salvation.
In the name of our God, we will set up our banners.
May the LORD grant all your requests.
Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed.
He will answer him from his holy heaven,
with the saving strength of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They are bowed down and fallen,
but we rise up, and stand upright.
Save, LORD!
Let the King answer us when we call!

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:
Be exalted, LORD, in your strength.

Psalm prayer

Merciful God,
purify our hearts in the flame of your Spirit
and transform our toil into an offering of praise,
that we may reject the proud rule of might
and trust in Christ alone,
for he is our Lord forever and ever.

Old Testament reading

Amos 3

Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
“I have only chosen you of all the families of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”
Do two walk together,
unless they have agreed?
Will a lion roar in the thicket,
when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out of his den,
if he has caught nothing?
Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth,
where no snare is set for him?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when there is nothing to catch?
Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city,
without the people being afraid?
Does evil happen to a city,
and the LORD hasn’t done it?
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing,
unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
The lion has roared.
Who will not fear?
The Lord GOD has spoken.
Who can but prophesy?
Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod,
and in the palaces in the land of Egypt,
and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria,
and see what unrest is in her,
and what oppression is amongst them.”
“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says the LORD,
“Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.”

Therefore the Lord GOD says:
“An adversary will overrun the land;
and he will pull down your strongholds,
and your fortresses will be plundered.”
The LORD says:
“As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs,
or a piece of an ear,
so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch,
and on the silken cushions of a bed.”
“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord GOD, the God of Armies.
“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him,
I will also visit the altars of Bethel;
and the horns of the altar will be cut off,
and fall to the ground.
I will strike the winter house with the summer house;
and the houses of ivory will perish,
and the great houses will have an end,”
says the LORD.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

1 Corinthians 2

When I came to you, brothers, I didn’t come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything amongst you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith wouldn’t stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

We speak wisdom, however, amongst those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing. But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none of the rulers of this world has known. For had they known it, they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written,

“Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear,
which didn’t enter into the heart of man,
these God has prepared for those who love him.”

But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For who amongst men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit. But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is to be judged by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
This is the Christ, the Chosen of God,
the one who will bring healing to the nations.

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:
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.

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.