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

Draw Near, O Son of God, Draw Near

Charles Wesley

Draw near, O Son of God, draw near,
Us with thy flaming eye behold;
Still in thy church vouchsafe to appear,
And let our candlestick be gold.

Still hold the stars in thy right hand,
And let them in thy luster glow,
The lights of a benighted land,
The angels of thy church below.

Make good their apostolic boast,
Their high commission let them prove,
Be temples of the Holy Ghost,
And filled with faith, and hope, and love.

Their hearts from things of earth remove,
Sprinkle them, Lord, from sin and fear;
Fix their affections all above,
And lay up all their treasures there.

Give them an ear to hear thy word;
Thou speakest to the churches now:
And let all tongues confess their Lord,
Let every knee to Jesus bow.

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 142

𝙍: Free my soul from prison, that I may praise Your name.

I cry aloud to the LORD;
I lift my voice to the LORD for mercy.
I pour out my complaint before Him;
I reveal my trouble to Him.

Although my spirit grows faint within me,
You know my way.
Along the path I travel
they have hidden a snare for me.
Look to my right and see;
no one attends to me.
There is no refuge for me;
no one cares for my soul. 𝙍

I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living.”

Listen to my cry,
for I am brought quite low.
Rescue me from my pursuers,
for they are too strong for me.
Free my soul from prison,
that I may praise Your name.
The righteous will gather around me
because of Your goodness to me.

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: Free my soul from prison, that I may praise Your name.

Psalm prayer

God of compassion,
you regard the forsaken
and give hope to the crushed in spirit;
hear those who cry to you in distress
and bring your ransomed people to sing your glorious praise,
now and forever.

Psalm 144

𝙍: Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD.

Blessed be the LORD, my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
He is my steadfast love and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer.
He is my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.

O LORD, what is man, that You regard him,
the son of man that You think of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow. 𝙍

Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down;
touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them;
shoot Your arrows and rout them.
Reach down from on high;
set me free and rescue me
from the deep waters,
from the grasp of foreigners,
whose mouths speak falsehood,
whose right hands are deceitful. 𝙍

I will sing to You a new song, O God;
on a harp of ten strings I will make music to You—
to Him who gives victory to kings,
who frees His servant David from the deadly sword.
Set me free and rescue me
from the grasp of foreigners,
whose mouths speak falsehood,
whose right hands are deceitful. 𝙍

Then our sons will be like plants
nurtured in their youth,
our daughters like corner pillars
carved to adorn a palace.
Our storehouses will be full,
supplying all manner of produce;
our flocks will bring forth thousands,
tens of thousands in our fields.
Our oxen will bear great loads.
There will be no breach in the walls,
no going into captivity,
and no cry of lament in our streets.

Blessed are the people of whom this is so;
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.

Old Testament reading

Job 5

“Call out if you please, but who will answer?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
For resentment kills a fool,
and envy slays the simple.
I have seen a fool taking root,
but suddenly his house was cursed.
His sons are far from safety,
crushed in court without a defender.
The hungry consume his harvest,
taking it even from the thorns,
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
For distress does not spring from the dust,
and trouble does not sprout from the ground.
Yet man is born to trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.

However, if I were you, I would appeal to God
and lay my cause before Him—
the One who does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.
He gives rain to the earth
and sends water upon the fields.
He sets the lowly on high,
so that mourners are lifted to safety.
He thwarts the schemes of the crafty,
so that their hands find no success.
He catches the wise in their craftiness,
and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.
They encounter darkness by day
and grope at noon as in the night.
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth
and from the clutches of the powerful.
So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.

Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For He wounds, but He also binds;
He strikes, but His hands also heal.
He will rescue you from six calamities;
no harm will touch you in seven.
In famine He will redeem you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
and will not fear havoc when it comes.
You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure,
and find nothing amiss when inspecting your home.
You will know that your offspring will be many,
your descendants like the grass of the earth.
You will come to the grave in full vigor,
like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.

Indeed, we have investigated, and it is true!
So hear it and know for yourself.”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Romans 3:1-20

What, then, is the advantage of being a Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written:

“So that You may be proved right when You speak
and victorious when You judge.”

But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world? However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!

What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous,
not even one.
There is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full
of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery lie in their wake,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God
before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

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:

Political leaders and the armed forces
Peace and justice in the world
Those who work for reconciliation
All whose lives are devastated by war and civil strife
Prisoners, refugees and homeless people

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

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.