A Service of Prayer at Midday
November 30, 2023
Call to Worship
Jesus Christ, the true light
Is coming into the world.
To all who receive him and believe in his name
Will become children of God.
The Word became flesh
And dwelt among us
And we have seen his glory
Glory as the Son of God
Full of grace and truth.
Come Lord Jesus.
Lighting the Advent Wreath
We praise you, O God….
Confession and Forgiveness
Holy One, in this season of waiting and watching,
we come and seek your light.
Help us to turn from our sin and look to you
as we confess our sin and receive your forgiveness.
Prepare us Lord for the coming of Jesus.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God
and one another.
God of mercy and comfort,
We confess to you that we have not lived as you desire.
You have sent us prophets and we have not listened.
We have sought our own way,
a way preoccupied with our own self-interest
rather than the way of love.Forgive us and help us to rightly prepare for
the advent of your Son, our Lord.
Amen.
God is rich in mercy and grace + forgives us
So that we may live as children of light.
Bring us to a time of wonder and worship. Amen.
Joyous Light of Glory
Joyous light of glory:
of the immortal Father;
heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ.
We are in the middle of our day,
and we rejoice in the light you give.
We sing to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
You are worthy to be praised
with pure voices forever.
O Son of God, O giver of life:
The universe proclaims your glory.
Thanks be to God.
Prayer
Stir our hearts, Lord God, to prepare the way of your only Son. By his coming strengthen us to serve you with purified lives that, transformed by grace, we may walk in your way; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Psalms 80
1Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!
3Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4O Lord GOD of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5You have fed them with the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
our enemies laugh among themselves.
7Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
11it sent out its branches to the sea,
and its shoots to the River.
12Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15the stock that your right hand planted.
16They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.
19Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Psalm 81
1Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.
4For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5He made it a decree in Joseph,
when he went out over the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:
6"I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Selah
8Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.
11"But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their foes.
15Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.+
16I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
Gloria Patri
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the
beginning is now and ever shall be. Amen.
Reading Isaiah 64:1-9
1O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence —
2 as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil —
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!
3When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
4From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.
5You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.
6We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
7There is no one who calls on your name,
or attempts to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
8Yet, O LORD, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reflection
Response
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,
But in these last days, God has spoken to us by the Son.
Gospel Canticle
My Soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for you, Lord, have looked with favor on your low-ly servant.
From this day all generations will call me bless’d:
you, the Almighty, have done great things for me
and holy is your name.
You have mercy on those who fear you,
from generation to generation.
You have shown strength with your arm
and scattered the proud in their conceit,
casting down the mighty from their thrones
and lifting up the low-ly.
You have filled the hungry with good things.
and sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the aid or your servant Israel,
to remember the promise of mercy,
the promise made to our forebears,
to Abraham and his children forever.
Refrain:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
Zechariah’s Song
Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace:
your Word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace.
Prayers
A Prayer of Augustine of Hippo
O loving God, to turn away from you is to fall, to turn toward you is to rise, and to
stand before you is to abide forever. Grant us, dear God, in all our duties your
help; in all our uncertainties your guidance; in all our dangers your protection;
and in all our sorrows your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Hear my prayer, O Lord;
listen to my cry.
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
In righteousness I shall see you;
when I awake, your presence will give me joy.
Silence for personal prayer
Lord’s Prayer
Our 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.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
Benediction
May the God of justice be your path,
the Lord of mercy be your guide,
and the Spirit of love be your light.
And may the blessing of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
be upon you now and forever.
Amen.
Credits – portions from sundaysandseasons.com under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Licence #SAS016761 and from the Book of Common Prayer, Public Domain.
