Antiphon1
Ant. The love of God has been poured into our hearts, alleluia;
by his Spirit which dwells in us, alleluia, alle-lu-ia.
V. Bless the Lord, O my soul, *
and all within me, his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, *
and never forget all his benefits. Romans 5; Psalm 103
Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires, known,
and from whom no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Music: https://tinyurl.com/ycn4djk5
O Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth will declare your praise.
Make haste, O God, to deliver me;
make haste to help me, O Lord.
Glory be 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.
Praise to you, O Christ, Alleluia!
HYMN: Samuel Francis Smith
Tune: Louvan https://tinyurl.com/y3nsk5ur
1 Lord of our life, God whom we fear,
Unknown, yet known; unseen, yet near;
Breath of our breath, in Thee we live;
Life of our life, our praise receive.
2 Thine eye detects the sparrow’s fall;
Thy heart of love expands for all;
Our throbbing life is full of Thee;
Throned in Thy vast infinity.
3 Shine in our darkness, Light of light,
Our minds illumine, disperse our night;
Make us responsive to Thy will;
Our souls with all Thy fullness fill.
4 We love Thy name; we heed Thy rod;
Thy Word our law, O gracious God!
We wait Thy will; on Thee we call:
Our light, our life, our love, our all.
PSALMS
For psalms in contemporary language, https://tinyurl.com/y9tjh7rk
Psalm 90 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/uzj6wj2
1 Lord, thou hast been our refuge *
from one generation to another.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever the earth and the world were made *
thou art God from everlasting, and world without end.
3 Thou turnest man to destruction *
again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men.
4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday *
seeing that is past as a watch in the night.
5 As soon as thou scatterest them they are even as a sleep *
and fade away suddenly like the grass.
6 In the morning it is green, and groweth up *
but in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered.
7 For we consume away in thy displeasure *
and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation.
8 Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee *
and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9 For when thou art angry all our days are gone *
we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told.
10 The days of our age are threescore years and ten;
and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years *
yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow;
so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.
11 But who regardeth the power of thy wrath *
for even thereafter as a man feareth, so is thy displeasure.
12 So teach us to number our days *
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13 Turn thee again, O Lord, at the last *
and be gracious unto thy servants.
14 O satisfy us with thy mercy, and that soon *
so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
15 Comfort us again now after the time that thou hast plagued us *
and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity.
16 Shew thy servants thy work *
and their children thy glory.
17 And the glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us *
prosper thou the work of our hands upon us,
O prosper thou our handy-work.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
Psalm 91 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/w5pwhvg)
1 Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the most High *
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say unto the Lord, Thou art my hope, and my strong hold *
my God, in him will I trust.
3 For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter *
and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall defend thee under his wings,
and thou shalt be safe under his feathers *
his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night *
nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 For the pestilence that walketh in darkness *
nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noon-day.
7 A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand *
but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Yea, with thine eyes shalt thou behold *
and see the reward of the ungodly.
9 For thou, Lord, art my hope *
thou hast set thine house of defence very high.
10 There shall no evil happen unto thee *
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee *
to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee in their hands *
that thou hurt not thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt go upon the lion and adder *
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet.
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him *
I will set him up, because he hath known my Name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will hear him *
yea, I am with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and bring him to honour.
16 With long life will I satisfy him *
and shew him my salvation.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
Psalm 92 (Anglican Chant: https://tinyurl.com/v6sub7d)
1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord *
and to sing praises unto thy Name, O most Highest;
2 To tell of thy loving-kindness early in the morning *
and of thy truth in the night-season;
3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the lute *
upon a loud instrument, and upon the harp.
4 For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy works *
and I will rejoice in giving praise for the operations of thy hands.
5 O Lord, how glorious are thy works *
thy thoughts are very deep.
6 An unwise man doth not well consider this *
and a fool doth not understand it.
7 When the ungodly are green as the grass,
and when all the workers of wickedness do flourish *
then shall they be destroyed for ever;
but thou, Lord, art the most Highest for evermore.
8 For lo, thine enemies, O Lord, lo, thine enemies shall perish *
and all the workers of wickedness shall be destroyed.
9 But mine horn shall be exalted like the horn of an unicorn *
for I am anointed with fresh oil.
10 Mine eye also shall see his lust of mine enemies *
and mine ear shall hear his desire of the wicked that arise up against me.
11 The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree *
and shall spread abroad like a cedar in Libanus.
12 Such as are planted in the house of the Lord *
shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
13 They also shall bring forth more fruit in their age *
and shall be fat and well-liking.
14 That they may shew how true the Lord my strength is *
and that there is no unrighteousness in him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
PRAYER
Creator God,
you have planted your Word in our hearts
that you might harvest forth justice.
So root us in your love,
that we may always flourish,
yielding all the fruits of the Spirit
from youth to old age;
through Christ our Lord. Amen. BCW
THE WORD OF GOD
Reading: Nahum 2:3-13
The shields of his warriors are red;
his soldiers are clothed in crimson.
The metal on the chariots flashes
on the day when he musters them;
the chargers prance.
The chariots race madly through the streets,
they rush to and fro through the squares;
their appearance is like torches,
they dart like lightning.
He calls his officers;
they stumble as they come forward;
they hasten to the wall,
and the mantelet is set up.
The river gates are opened,
the palace trembles.
It is decreed that the city be exiled,
its slave women led away,
moaning like doves
and beating their breasts.
Nineveh is like a pool
whose waters run away.
‘Halt! Halt!’—
but no one turns back.
‘Plunder the silver,
plunder the gold!
There is no end of treasure!
An abundance of every precious thing!’
Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
Hearts faint and knees tremble,
all loins quake,
all faces grow pale!
What became of the lions’ den,
the cave of the young lions,
where the lion goes,
and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?
The lion has torn enough for his whelps
and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he has filled his caves with prey
and his dens with torn flesh.
See, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions; I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.
HYMN: John Greenleaf Whittier
Tune: Rest https://tinyurl.com/yxjx3quq
Tune: Repton https://tinyurl.com/y6y9tjqm
1 Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise.
2 In simple trust like theirs who heard
beside the Syrian sea
the gracious calling of the Lord,
let us, like them, without a word
rise up and follow thee.
3 O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!
4 Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.
5 Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!
Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:5-10
Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to pass the test! I hope you will find out that we have not failed. But we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong—not that we may appear to have passed the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect. So I write these things while I am away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be severe in using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
CANTICLE Philippians 2:6-11
(Chant by John Michael Talbot: https://tinyurl.com/y8ljx8y7)
Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not deem equality with God
something to be grasped at.
Rather, he emptied himself
and took the form of a slave,
being born in the likeness of men.
He was known to be of human estate
and it was thus that he humbled himself,
obediently accepting even death,
death on a cross!
Because of this,
God highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
above every other name,
So that at Jesus’ name
every knee must bend
in the heavens, on the earth,
and under the earth,
and every tongue proclaim
to the glory of God the Father:
JESUS CHRIST IS 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 for ever. Amen.
THE PRAYERS BCW
Merciful God, we praise you that you give strength for every weakness, forgiveness
for our failures, and new beginnings in Jesus Christ.
Especially we thank you for
the guidance of your spirit through this day . . .
signs of new life and hope . . .
people who have helped us . . .
those who struggle for justice . . .
expressions of love unexpected or undeserved. . . .
Almighty God, you know all needs before we speak our prayers, yet you welcome
our concerns for others in Jesus Christ. Especially we pray for
those who keep watch over the sick and dying . . .
those who weep with the grieving . . .
those who are without faith and cannot accept your love . . .
the aged who are lonely, distressed or weak . . .
Reformed, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches. . . .
Setting: Sanford Dole https://tinyurl.com/y7ldq7h5
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today the bread of life;
and 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 for ever. Amen.
God of love,
as in Jesus Christ you gave yourself to us,
so may we give ourselves to you,
living according to your holy will.
Keep our feet firmly in the way
where Christ leads us;
make our mouths speak the truth
that Christ teaches us;
fill our bodies with the life
that is Christ within us.
In his holy name we pray. Amen. BCW
Music: https://tinyurl.com/y9efvwm5
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen. 2 Cor. 13:14
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BCW Book of Common Worship, Presbyterian Church U.S.A., 1993.
EH Exciting Holiness, Ed. Brother Tristram SSF © European Province of the Society of Saint Francis, 1997
RCLP Revised Common Lectionary Prayers. © 2002 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress.
1 Adam Bartlett, Simple English Propers; audio from https://musicasacra.com/additional-publications/sep-practice-videos/ ©
The three main scripture readings are from the The New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition, The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the 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.
The psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer (1662).
Musical links are usually either to artists’ albums posted on Spotify or to recordings made available at smallchurchmusic.com. Audio stripped from YouTube videos is footnoted accordingly above.
Compilation © 2020 Stephen T. Benner. All links worked at the time they were created, but I cannot accept responsibility for their content or any damage resulting from their use. The linked content is under the control of the respective content creators and is subject to change at any time. Any copyright texts included in this compilation are provided for non-commercial purposes related to study or worship. Please contact the respective copyright holders for permission to use the texts in other contexts.
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