Fri. morning Dec. 19
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
Hark! the Glad Sound! The Savior Comes
Words: Philip Doddridge (1735)
Music: Thomas Haweis (1792)
A version of this hymn appears in Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#170).
Hark, the glad sound! the Savior comes,
The Savior promised long!
Let ev'ry heart prepare a throne
And ev'ry voice a song.
He comes the pris'ners to release,
In Satan's bondage held;
The gates of brass before him burst,
The iron fetters yield.
He comes the broken heart to bind,
The bleeding soul to cure,
And with the treasures of his grace,
To enrich the humble poor.
Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace,
Your welcome shall proclaim,
And Heav’n’s eternal arches ring
With your beloved name.
Confession of Sin
O King enthroned on high, filling the earth with your glory: holy is your name, Lord God Almighty.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
In our sinfulness, we cry to you to take our guilt away, and to cleanse our lips to speak your word, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
May the God of all healing and forgiveness draw us to himself, and cleanse us from all our sins that we may behold the glory of his Son, the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Psalm 144
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Blessed be the LORD my rock,
who trains my hands for war,
and my fingers for battle;
my lovingkindness and my fortress,
my high tower and my deliverer,
my shield and He in whom I take refuge,
who subdues my people under me.
LORD, what is man, that You take regard of him?
Or the son of a man, that You are mindful of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow.
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Bow your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
Cast forth lightning and scatter them;
shoot out Your arrows and destroy them.
Stretch Your hand from above;
rescue me and deliver me
out of the great waters,
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks vain words,
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
I will sing a new song to You, O God;
on a harp of ten strings will I sing praises to You,
who gives salvation to kings,
who delivers David His servant from the deadly sword.
Rescue me and deliver me
from the hand of foreigners,
whose mouth speaks lying words
and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
May our sons in their youth
be like plants fully grown,
our daughters like pillars,
sculptured to adorn a palace;
may our barns be full,
supplying every kind of produce;
may our sheep bring forth
thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
may our cattle be strong in labor,
may there be no breaking in
or going out;
and may there be no outcry in our streets!
Blessed are the people who are in such a state;
blessed are the people whose God is 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: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.
Psalm prayer
God our deliverer, stir our weak wills, revive our weary spirits, and give us the courage to strive for the freedom of all your children, to the praise of your glorious name.
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
Zephaniah 3:1-13
Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled,
the oppressing city.
She obeys no voice,
she receives no correction;
she does not trust in the LORD,
she does not draw near to her God.
Her princes within her are roaring lions;
her judges are evening wolves
who leave nothing until the morning.
Her prophets are reckless,
treacherous men;
her priests have profaned the sanctuary
and done violence to the law.
The LORD is righteous in her midst;
He does no unrighteousness.
Every morning He brings His justice to light;
He does not fail,
but the unjust knows no shame.
I have cut off nations,
their strongholds are devastated;
I have made their streets desolate,
with no one passing by.
Their cities are destroyed;
there is no man, no inhabitant.
I said,
“Surely you will fear Me;
and you will receive correction.”
So her dwelling will not be cut off,
according to all that I have appointed against her.
But they were more eager
to corrupt all their deeds.
Therefore wait for Me, declares the LORD,
until the day when I rise up to seize the plunder;
for My decision is to gather nations,
to assemble kingdoms,
to pour on them My indignation,
all My fierce anger;
for all the earth will be devoured
with the fire of My jealousy.
For then I will restore to the peoples a pure speech
that all of them may call on the name of the LORD,
to serve Him with one accord.
From beyond the rivers of Cush
My worshippers, the daughter of My dispersed ones,
will bring My offering.
On that day you will not be ashamed
for all your deeds by which you have transgressed against Me;
for then I will remove from your midst
those who rejoice in your pride,
and you will no longer be haughty
in My holy mountain.
But I will leave in your midst
a meek and humble people,
and they will trust in the name of the LORD.
The remnant of Israel will do no unrighteousness,
nor speak lies;
nor will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth;
for they will feed and lie down,
and no one will make them afraid.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 18:1-20
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. 1For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search for the one which went astray? And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine which never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
“Now if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, then take with you one or two others, that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every word may be established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are assembled in My name, there I am in their midst.”
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
Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, 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.