Opening response

Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God, creator of all,
to you be glory and praise forever.
You founded the earth in the beginning
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
In the fullness of time you made us in your image,
and in these last days you have spoken to us
in your Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
As we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us
let the light of your love always shine in our hearts,
your Spirit ever renew our lives
and your praises ever be on our lips.
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

Father, Hear the Blood of Jesus

Charles Wesley

Father, hear the blood of Jesus,
Speaking in thine ears above;
From impending wrath release us,
Manifest thy pardoning love.

Oh, receive us to thy favor,
For his only sake, receive;
Give to us the bleeding Savior,
Let us by his dying live.

“To thy pardoning grace receive them,”
Once he prayed upon the tree;
Still his blood cries out “Forgive them;
All their sins were laid on me.”

Still our Advocate in heaven
Prays the prayer on earth begun,
“Father show their sins forgiven;
Father, glorify thy Son!”

Confession of sin

When we cry out to the LORD in our trouble,
he will save us out of our distresses.

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 praise the LORD for his loving kindness,
and his wondrous deeds for all people.

Let us offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s deeds with singing.

cf Psalm 107

Psalm 143

𝙍: Teach me, O LORD, the way I should walk.

O LORD, hear my prayer.
In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea;
in Your righteousness, answer me.
Do not bring Your servant into judgment,
for no one alive is righteous before You.

For the enemy has pursued my soul,
crushing my life to the ground,
making me dwell in darkness
like those long since dead.
My spirit grows faint within me;
my heart is dismayed inside me. 𝙍

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your works;
I consider the work of Your hands.
I stretch out my hands to You;
my soul thirsts for You like a parched land.

Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide Your face from me,
or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning,
for I have put my trust in You.
Teach me the way I should walk,
for to You I lift up my soul. 𝙍

Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD;
I flee to You for refuge.
Teach me to do Your will,
for You are my God.
May Your good Spirit lead me
on level ground.

For the sake of Your name, O LORD,
revive me.
In Your righteousness,
bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your loving devotion,
cut off my enemies.
Destroy all who afflict me,
for I am Your servant.

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: Teach me, O LORD, the way I should walk.

Psalm prayer

Jesus, our companion,
when we are driven to despair,
help us, through the friends and strangers
we encounter on our path,
to know you as our refuge,
our way, our truth and our life.

Psalm 146

𝙍: The LORD reigns forever.

Hallelujah!

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in princes,
in mortal man, who cannot save.
When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground;
on that very day his plans perish. 𝙍

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He remains faithful forever.
He executes justice for the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry. 𝙍

The LORD sets the prisoners free,
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind,
the LORD lifts those who are weighed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD protects foreigners;
He sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.

The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Hallelujah!

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 reigns 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 for evermore.

Old Testament reading

Job 4

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

“If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
Surely you have instructed many,
and have strengthened their feeble hands.
Your words have steadied those who stumbled;
you have braced the knees that were buckling.
But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary.
It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
Is your reverence not your confidence,
and the uprightness of your ways your hope?

Consider now, I plead:

Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Or where have the upright been destroyed?
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity
and those who sow trouble reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl,
yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

Now a word came to me secretly;
my ears caught a whisper of it.
In disquieting visions in the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
fear and trembling came over me
and made all my bones shudder.
Then a spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body bristled.
It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance;
a form loomed before my eyes,
and I heard a whispering voice:

‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God,
or a man more pure than his Maker?
If God puts no trust in His servants,
and He charges His angels with error,
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundations are in the dust,
who can be crushed like a moth!
They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;
unnoticed, they perish forever.
Are not their tent cords pulled up,
so that they die without wisdom?’

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Romans 2:17-29

Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God; if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. If a man who is not circumcised keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? The one who is physically uncircumcised yet keeps the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.

A man is not a Jew because he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision only outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise does not come from men, but from God.

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
In your tender compassion, O God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has visited and redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke through His holy prophets,
those of ages past,
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us deliverance from hostile hands,
that we may serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our lives.

And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord
to prepare the way for Him,
to give to His people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,
to shine on those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the path 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:
In your tender compassion, O God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us.

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:

Local government, community leaders
All who provide local services
Those who work with young or elderly people
Schools, colleges and universities
Emergency and rescue organizations

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

O Lord, from whom all good things come:
grant to us your humble servants,
that by your holy inspiration
we may think those things that are good,
and by your merciful guiding may perform the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

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

The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil, and keep us in eternal life.
Amen.