O Lord, open our lips
Alland our mouth shall
proclaim your praise.
Your light springs up for the righteous
Alland all the peoples
have seen your glory.
One or more of the following is said or sung:
this or another prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
king of the nations,
to you be praise and glory for ever.
From the rising of the sun to its setting
your name is proclaimed in all the world.
As the Sun of Righteousness dawns in our hearts
anoint our lips with the seal of your Spirit
that we may witness to your gospel
and sing your praise in all the earth.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
AllBlessed be God for ever.
a suitable hymn, or Jubilate – A Song of Joy
1O be joyful in the Lord,
all the earth; ♦
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
2Know that the Lord is
God; ♦
it is he that has made us and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
3Enter his gates with
thanksgiving
and his courts with praise; ♦
give thanks to him and bless his name.
4For the Lord is gracious;
his steadfast love is everlasting, ♦
and his faithfulness endures from generation to generation.
Psalm 100
AllGlory to the Father and
to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
This opening prayer may be said
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 for ever.
AllAmen.
The appointed psalmody is said.
Refrain: O come, let us sing to the Lord.
1 Sing merrily to God our strength, ♦
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Take up the song and sound the timbrel, ♦
the tuneful lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, ♦
as at the full moon, upon our solemn feast day.
4 For this is a statute for Israel, ♦
a law of the God of Jacob,
5 The charge he laid on the people of Joseph, ♦
when they came out of the land of Egypt. R
6 I heard a voice I did not know, that said: ♦
‘I eased their shoulder from the burden;
their hands were set free from bearing the load.
7 ‘You called upon me in trouble and I delivered you; ♦
I answered you from the secret place of thunder
and proved you at the waters of Meribah.
8 ‘Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: ♦
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 ‘There shall be no strange god among you; ♦
you shall not worship a foreign god.
10 ‘I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up from the land of Egypt; ♦
open your mouth wide and I shall fill it.’ R
11 But my people would not hear my voice ♦
and Israel would not obey me.
12 So I sent them away in the stubbornness of their hearts, ♦
and let them walk after their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me, ♦
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I should soon put down their enemies ♦
and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15 Those who hate the Lord would be humbled before him, ♦
and their punishment would last for ever.
16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat ♦
and with honey from the rock would I satisfy them.
Refrain: O come, let us sing to the Lord.
Father of mercy,
keep us joyful in your salvation
and faithful to your covenant;
and, as we journey to your kingdom,
ever feed us with the bread of life,
your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Refrain: Great is our Lord and mighty in power.
13 Sing praise to the Lord, O Jerusalem; ♦
praise your God, O Zion;
14 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates ♦
and has blest your children within you.
15 He has established peace in your borders ♦
and satisfies you with the finest wheat. R
16 He sends forth his command to the earth ♦
and his word runs very swiftly.
17 He gives snow like wool ♦
and scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.
18 He casts down his hailstones like morsels of bread; ♦
who can endure his frost? R
19 He sends forth his word and melts them; ♦
he blows with his wind and the waters flow.
20 He declares his word to Jacob, ♦
his statutes and judgements to Israel.
21 He has not dealt so with any other nation; ♦
they do not know his laws.
Alleluia.
Refrain: Great is our Lord and mighty in power.
Compassionate God,
as you know each star you have created,
so you know the secrets of every heart;
in your loving mercy bring to your table
all who are fearful and broken,
all who are wounded and needy,
that our hungers may be satisfied
in the city of your peace;
through Christ who is our peace.
Each psalm or group of psalms may end with
AllGlory to the Father and
to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
If there are two Scripture readings, the first may be read here, or both may be read after the canticle.
This is what the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit.
He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A basket of summer fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me,
‘The end has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by.
The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,’
says the Lord God;
‘the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!’
Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, ‘When will the new moon be over
so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
and practise deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?
On that day, says the Lord God,
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and the end of it like a bitter day.
The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.
In that day the beautiful young women and the young men
shall faint for thirst.
Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,
and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan’,
and, ‘As the way of Beer-sheba lives’—
they shall fall, and never rise again.
A Song of the New Jerusalem, or another suitable canticle, for example, number 31 (page 582) or number 36 (page 587), may be said
Refrain:
AllAbove you the Holy One arises,
and above you God’s glory appears. Alleluia.
1Arise, shine out, for
your light has come, ♦
the glory of the Lord is rising upon you.
2Though night still covers
the earth, ♦
and darkness the peoples;
3Above you the Holy One
arises, ♦
and above you God’s glory appears.
4The nations will come
to your light, ♦
and kings to your dawning brightness.
5Your gates will lie
open continually, ♦
shut neither by day nor by night.
6The sound of violence
shall be heard no longer in your land, ♦
or ruin and devastation within your borders.
7You will call your walls,
Salvation, ♦
and your gates, Praise.
8No more will the sun
give you daylight, ♦
nor moonlight shine upon you;
9But the Lord will be
your everlasting light, ♦
your God will be your splendour.
10For you shall be called
the city of God, ♦
the dwelling of the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 60.1-3, 11a, 18, 19, 14b
AllGlory to the Father and
to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
AllAbove you the Holy One arises,
and above you God’s glory appears. Alleluia.
One or more readings appointed for the day are read.
The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence.
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ‘It is well for a man not to touch a woman.’ But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. This I say by way of concession, not of command. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.
To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practising self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
To the married I give this command—not I but the Lord—that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
To the rest I say—I and not the Lord—that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you. Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything. Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called.
Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters. In whatever condition you were called, brothers and sisters, there remain with God.
A suitable song or chant, or a responsory in this or another form, may follow
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
Alllet the whole earth
tremble before him.
Tell it out among the nations that the Lord is King.
AllO worship the Lord in
the beauty of holiness.
Tell out his salvation from day to day.
AllLet the whole earth
tremble before him.
Declare his glory among the nations
and his wonders among all peoples.
AllO worship the Lord in
the beauty of holiness;
let the whole earth tremble before him.
from Psalm 96
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) is normally said, or A Song of the Blessed (page 606) may be said
Refrain:
AllThis is the Christ, the
Chosen of God,
the one who will bring healing to the nations.
1Blessed be the Lord
the God of Israel, ♦
who has come to his people and set them free.
2He has raised up for
us a mighty Saviour, ♦
born of the house of his servant David.
3Through his holy prophets
God promised of old ♦
to save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all that hate us,
4To show mercy to our
ancestors, ♦
and to remember his holy covenant.
5This was the oath God
swore to our father Abraham: ♦
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
6Free to worship him
without fear, ♦
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
7And you, child, shall
be called the prophet of the Most High, ♦
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
8To give his people knowledge
of salvation ♦
by the forgiveness of all their sins.
9In the tender compassion
of our God ♦
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
10To shine on those who
dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, ♦
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1.68-79
AllGlory to the Father and
to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
Refrain:
AllThis is the Christ, the
Chosen of God,
the one who will bring healing to the nations.
Intercessions are offered
¶ for the day and its tasks
¶ for the world and its needs
¶ for the Church and her life
Prayers may include the following concerns from the cycle on pages 364–365
¶ The unity of the Church
¶ The peace of the world
¶ The healing of the sick
¶ The revelation of Christ to those from whom
his glory is hidden
¶ All who travel
A form of prayer found on page 379 may be used.
These responses may be used
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer
(or)
Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.
Silence may be kept.
The Collect of the day is said
Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
AllAmen.
The Lord’s Prayer is said
Believing the promises of God,
as our Saviour taught us, so we pray
AllOur Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
(or)
Believing the promises of God,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
AllOur 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,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
May Christ, who sends us to the nations,
give us the power of his Spirit.
AllAmen.
Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.
AllThanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.
©
The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, 2000–2005
Official Common Worship apps, books and eBooks are available from
Church House Publishing.
The Bible readings (other than the psalms) are from The New Revised Standard Version Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Implemented by Simon Kershaw at
Crucix.
Implementation copyright © Simon Kershaw, 2002–2021.