Tue. morning Dec. 9
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Reveal among us the light of your presence
that we may behold your power and glory.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God of all, to you be praise and glory forever. In your tender compassion, the dawn from on high is breaking upon us to dispel the lingering shadows of light. As we look for your coming among us this day, open our eyes to behold your presence and strengthen our hands to do your will, that the world may rejoice and give you praise. 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
Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown
Music by The Hymnodist: Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart, YouTube Music, Pandora, Boomplay, Deezer
Lyrics by Charles Wesley
Verse 1
Come, O thou traveler unknown
Whom still I hold, but cannot see
My company before is gone
And I am left alone with thee
With thee all night I mean to stay
And wrestle till the break of day
Verse 2
I need not tell thee who I am
My misery or sin declare
Thyself hast called me by my name
Look on thy hands and read it there
But who, I ask thee, who art thou
Tell me thy name, and tell me now
Chorus
My strength is gone, my nature dies
I sink beneath thy weighty hand
Faint to revive, and fall to rise
I fall, and yet by faith I stand
I stand, and will not let thee go
Till I thy name, thy nature know
Thy nature know
Verse 3
Yield to me now—for I am weak
But confident in self-despair
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak
Be conquered by my instant prayer
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move
And tell me, if thy name is love
Chorus
Verse 4
’Tis love! ’tis love! Thou died for me
I hear thy whisper in my heart
The morning breaks, the shadows flee
Pure, universal love thou art
To me, to all thy passions move
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
Verse 5
My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive
Through faith I see thee face to face
I see thee face to face and live
In vain I have not wept and strove
Thy nature and thy name is love
Verse 6
I know thee, Savior, who thou art
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend
Nor wilt thou with the night depart
But stay and love me to the end
Thy mercies never shall remove
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
Thy nature and thy name is love
Thy nature and thy name is love
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 56
𝙍: In God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
Be gracious to me, O God, for man would trample on me;
fighting all day long he oppresses me.
My enemies would trample on me all day long,
for there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
When I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
𝙍: In God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
All day they twist my words;
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
when they wait for my life.
For their wickedness will they escape?
In Your anger cast down the peoples, O God.
You keep count of my wanderings;
put my tears in Your bottle;
are they not in Your book?
𝙍: In God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
Then my enemies will turn back
in the day when I call;
this I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise,
in God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
My vows to You are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to You;
for You have delivered my soul from death,
and kept my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of the living.
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: In God have I put my trust; I will not fear.
Psalm prayer
Faithful God, your deliverance is nearer than we know; free us from fear and help us to find courage in your Word, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 57
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For in You my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of Your wings will I take refuge,
until these calamities pass by.
I will cry out to God Most High,
to God who performs all things for me.
He will send from heaven and save me;
He will reproach him who tramples on me.
God will send forth His mercy and His truth.
My soul is among lions;
I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire,
whose teeth are spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let Your glory be above all the earth.
They have prepared a net for my steps;
my soul is bowed down;
they have dug a pit before me,
but they have fallen into it themselves.
My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and give praise.
Awake, my glory!
Awake, psaltery and harp!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing to You among the nations.
For Your mercy is great unto the heavens,
and Your truth unto the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
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
Tender God, gentle protector in time of trouble, pierce the gloom of despair and give us, with all your people, the song of freedom and the shout of praise; in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 30:19-32
O people in Zion, inhabitants in Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears it, He will answer you. Though the Lord has given you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. You shall defile also your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molded images ornamented with gold. You shall scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, “Be gone!”
Then He shall give you rain for the seed which you shall sow in the ground and bread of the increase of the earth. And it shall be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle shall feed in large pastures. The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that work the ground shall eat cured fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and fork. There shall be on every high mountain and on every high hill rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of His people and heals the wound from His blow.
Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,
burning with His anger, and its burden is heavy;
His lips are full of indignation,
and His tongue as a devouring fire.
And His breath is as an overflowing stream
which reaches to the middle of the neck,
to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity;
and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people,
causing them to err.
You shall have songs,
as in the night when a festival is kept,
and gladness of heart,
as when one goes with a flute
to come into the mountain of the LORD,
to the Mighty One of Israel.
The LORD shall cause His glorious voice to be heard,
and shall show the descending of His arm
with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire,
with scattering, and cloudburst, and hailstones.
For through the voice of the LORD the Assyrian shall be beaten down
when He strikes with a rod.
And every blow of the rod of punishment
which the LORD shall lay on him
shall be with tambourines and harps;
and in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 14:13-36
When Jesus heard this, He departed from there by boat for a deserted place. But when the people heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. Jesus went ashore and saw a great assembly. And He was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.
When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a lonely place and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy themselves food.”
But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to depart. You give them something to eat.”
They said to Him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to His disciples; and the disciples gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Then Jesus commanded His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. When He sent the crowds away, He went up into a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening came, He was there alone. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was turbulent.
During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a spirit.” And they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid.”
Peter answered Him, “Lord, if it is You, bid me come to You on the water.”
He said, “Come.”
And when Peter got out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word to all the surrounding country and brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.
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, that she may be ready for the coming of Christ
The leaders of the Church
The nations, that they may be subject to the rule of God
Those who are working for justice in the world
The broken, that they may find God’s healing
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord, hear your people
and answer our prayers.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us, and with great might assist us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Awaiting his coming in glory, 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 the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting.
Amen.