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

A Crown of Righteousness

Charles Wesley

A crown of righteousness
there is laid up for me,
Who keep the faith and win the race
and get the victory

The Judge of all is just
his saints to glorify,
To save those who his promise trust
and in his favor die

When shall the Judge descend
and fix his kingdom here?
With ardent love we will attend
to see our Lord appear

O King of saints come down
in dazzling majesty
Thy suffering witnesses to crown
who share thy cross with thee

Confession of sin

Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

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 love for you is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that disappears early.
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 106

𝙍: The LORD remembered his covenant.

Hallelujah!

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His loving devotion endures forever.
Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD
or fully proclaim His praise?
Blessed are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.

Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people;
visit me with Your salvation,
that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
and give glory with Your inheritance. 𝙍

We have sinned like our fathers;
we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders
or remember Your abundant kindness;
but they rebelled by the sea,
there at the Red Sea.
Yet He saved them for the sake of His name,
to make His power known.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
He led them through the depths as through a desert.
He saved them from the hand that hated them;
He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
The waters covered their foes;
not one of them remained.
Then they believed His promises
and sang His praise. 𝙍

Yet they soon forgot His works
and failed to wait for His counsel.
They craved intensely in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.
So He granted their request,
but sent a wasting disease upon them.

In the camp they envied Moses,
as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it covered the assembly of Abiram.
Then fire blazed through their company;
flames consumed the wicked. 𝙍

At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped a molten image.
They exchanged their Glory
for the image of a grass-eating ox.
They forgot God their Savior,
who did great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
So He said He would destroy them—
had not Moses His chosen one
stood before Him in the breach
to divert His wrath from destroying them. 𝙍

They despised the pleasant land;
they did not believe His promise.
They grumbled in their tents
and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
So He raised His hand and swore
to cast them down in the wilderness,
to disperse their offspring among the nations
and scatter them throughout the lands. 𝙍

They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
But Phinehas stood and intervened,
and the plague was restrained.
It was credited to him as righteousness
for endless generations to come.

At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD,
and trouble came to Moses because of them.
For they rebelled against His Spirit,
and Moses spoke rashly with his lips. 𝙍

They did not destroy the peoples
as the LORD had commanded them,
but they mingled with the nations
and adopted their customs.
They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
They defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their deeds. 𝙍

So the anger of the LORD burned against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.
He delivered them into the hand of the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies oppressed them,
and subdued them under their hand.
Many times He rescued them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and sank down in their iniquity.

Nevertheless He heard their cry;
He took note of their distress.
And He remembered His covenant with them,
and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
He made them objects of compassion
to all who held them captive. 𝙍

Save us, O LORD our God,
and gather us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to Your holy name,
that we may glory in Your praise.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.

Let all the people say, “Amen!”

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 remembered his covenant.

Psalm prayer

Holy God,
when our memories blot out your kindness
and we ignore your patient love,
remember us, remake us,
and give to us poor sinners
the rich inheritance of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Proverbs 15:18-33

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.

The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is a highway.

A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.

Folly is joy to one who lacks judgment,
but a man of understanding walks a straight path.

Plans fail for lack of counsel,
but with many advisers they succeed.

A man takes joy in a fitting reply—
and how good is a timely word!

The path of life leads upward for the wise,
that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

The LORD tears down the house of the proud,
but He protects the boundaries of the widow.

The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked,
but the words of the pure are pleasant to Him.

He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household,
but he who hates bribes will live.

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
but the mouth of the wicked blurts out evil.

The LORD is far from the wicked,
but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

The light of the eyes cheers the heart,
and good news nourishes the bones.

He who listens to life-giving reproof
will dwell among the wise.

He who ignores discipline despises himself,
but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.

The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom,
and humility comes before honor.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Mark 7:1-13

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.

Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially. And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”

Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘These people honor Me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from Me.
They worship Me in vain;
they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”

He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

Refrain:
You are the God who does wonders.
You have made your strength known amongst the peoples.

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:
You are the God who does wonders.
You have made your strength known amongst the peoples.

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:

All who are sick in body, mind or spirit
Those in the midst of famine or disaster
Victims of abuse and violence, intolerance and prejudice
Those who are bereaved
All who work in the medical and healing professions

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

Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
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.