Tue. morning Nov. 18
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
All your saints shall bless you.
They shall 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
Arise, My Soul, Arise
Music by The Hymnodist: Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart, YouTube Music, Pandora, Boomplay, Deezer
Lyrics by Charles Wesley
Chorus
Arise, my soul, arise
Shake off thy guilty fears
The bleeding sacrifice
In my behalf appears
Before the throne my Savior stands
Before the throne my Savior stands
My name is written on His hands
Verse 1
He ever lives above
For me to intercede
His all-redeeming love
His precious blood to plead
His blood atoned for all our race
His blood atoned for all our race
And sprinkles now the throne of grace
Chorus
Verse 2
Five bleeding wounds He bears
Received on Calvary
They pour effectual prayers
They strongly speak for me
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry
"Nor let that ransomed sinner die!"
Chorus
Verse 3
The Father hears Him pray
His dear Anointed One
He cannot turn away
The presence of His Son
His Spirit answers to the blood
His Spirit answers to the blood
And tells me I am born of God
Chorus
Verse 4
To God I'm reconciled
His pard’ning voice I hear
He owns me for His child
I can no longer fear
With confidence I now draw nigh
With confidence I now draw nigh
And "Father, Abba, Father," cry
Chorus
Confession of Sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
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 faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. 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 48
𝙍: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised
in the city of our God, in His holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation,
the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion on the sides of the north,
the city of the great King.
Within her citadels God is known
as a refuge.
𝙍: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
For behold, the kings assembled;
they passed by together.
They saw it, and so they were astounded;
they were troubled; they took to flight.
Trembling took hold of them there,
and pain, as of a woman in labor,
as when You break the ships of Tarshish
with an east wind.
As we have heard,
so have we seen
in the city of the LORD of Hosts,
in the city of our God;
God will establish it forever.
𝙍: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God,
in the midst of Your temple.
According to Your name, O God,
so is Your praise to the ends of the earth;
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
Let Mount Zion rejoice;
let the daughters of Judah be glad,
because of Your judgments.
Walk about Zion, and go all around her;
count her towers;
mark well her bulwarks;
go through her citadels,
that you may tell the next generation
that this is God, our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide forever.
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: We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God.
Psalm prayer
Father of lights, raise us with Christ to your eternal city, that, with kings and nations, we may wait in the midst of your temple and see your glory forever and ever.
Psalm 52
𝙍: I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
Your tongue devises destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
and lying rather than speaking what is right.
You love all devouring words,
O you deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down forever;
He will snatch you away and pluck you from your home,
and uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous will see and fear,
and will laugh at him, saying,
“Behold, the man
who did not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches,
and sought refuge in his wickedness.”
But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
I will give You thanks forever for what You have done.
In the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name,
for it is good.
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: I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
Psalm prayer
Faithful and steadfast God, nourish your people in this wicked world, and, through prayer and the Scriptures, give us our daily bread; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 10:5-19
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger
and the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
I will send him against an ungodly nation,
and against the people of My wrath I will give him a command,
to seize the plunder, to take the prey,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
However he does not so intend,
nor does he plan so in his heart;
but his purpose is to destroy
and to cut off many nations.
For he says, “Are not my princes altogether kings?
Is not Kalno as Carchemish?
Is not Hamath as Arpad?
Is not Samaria as Damascus?
As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols
whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols,
so do to Jerusalem and her idols?”
When the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks.” For he says:
“By the strength of my hand and by my wisdom,
I have done it, for I am prudent;
and I have removed the bounds of the people,
and have robbed their treasures,
and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
And my hand has found as a nest
the riches of the people,
and as one gathers eggs that are left,
I have gathered all the earth
and there was no one who moved the wing
or opened the mouth or peeped.”
Shall the axe boast itself against him who hews with it?
Or shall the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
That is as if the rod wields itself against those who lift it up,
or as if the staff should lift itself up as if it were not wood.
Therefore the Lord, GOD of Hosts,
shall send leanness among his stout ones,
and under his glory he shall kindle a burning
like the burning of a fire.
The light of Israel shall be a fire,
and his Holy One a flame,
and it shall burn and devour
his thorns and his briers in one day,
and shall consume the glory of his forest,
and of his fruitful field, both soul and body;
and it shall be as when a sick man faints.
The rest of the trees of his forest shall be so few
that a child may write them down.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 7:13-29
“Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who are going through it, because small is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit. But a corrupt tree bears evil fruit. A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruit you will know them.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonderful works in Your name?’ But then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice evil.’
“Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it fell. And its fall was great.”
When Jesus finished these sayings, the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
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 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, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he 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, 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 Christ, who has opened the kingdom of heaven, bring us to reign with him in glory.
Amen.