We hear God's CALL TO WORSHIP in Psalm 100, known as the Jubilate Deo
Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands;
serve the Lord with gladness
and come before his presence with a song.
Know this: The Lord himself is God;
he himself has made us, and we are his;
we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and call upon his Name.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
and his faithfulness endures from age to age.
We listen in silence for God's still small voice, CENTERING ourselves, becoming aware of God's presence within us and around us
We respond to God with ADORATION following the words of the Universalist "Hymns of the Spirit"
Let us adore the ever-living God, and render praise to the One who spread out the heavens and established the earth, whose glory is revealed in the heavens above and whose greatness is manifest throughout the world. He is our God; there is no other. We bow the head and bend the knee and magnify the King of kings, the Holy One, praised be he.
We hear God’s CALL TO REPENTANCE in Revelation 3:17,20
You say ‘I am rich and have grown rich, and I want for nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked!
I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in, and will feast with them, and they will feast with me.
We respond with CONFESSION using the words of John Hunter
Almighty God, Spirit of purity and grace, whose salvation is never far from the contrite heart, listen to our confessions of sin, and have mercy upon us.
For our many refusals of your call;
for all our forgotten vows;
for the better purposes which we have suffered to grow weak;
for the excuses we have fashioned to hide from ourselves our unfaithful lives;
for the vindictive passions we have cherished;
for our readiness to blame, and our want of thoughtfulness, patience, kindness, and sympathy;
for all the goodness of life which we have received thanklessly;
for the strength which we have wasted;
for the opportunities which we have neglected;
for all the beauty of this fair world and the love of human hearts which have passed before us and which in our thoughtlessness and care and passion we have not appreciated;
for our selfish comfort amid the wrongs, oppressions, and sorrows of life;
for the counsels of your Word which have spoken to us vainly;
for the grace and truth of your beloved Son which we have slighted;
for the pleadings of your Spirit to which we have not listened;
have mercy upon us, O God.
Amen.
We hear God’s teaching for our lives in THE READING OF THE LAW in Micah 6:6-8
With what should I come before the Lord?
Bow myself before the God on high?
Should I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
With ten thousand streams of oil?
Should I give him my firstborn son for my guilt,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
The Lord has told you what is good,
what he demands of you:
Only to do justice and love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
We PRAISE God in the INVITATORY PSALM, the VenitePsalm 95:1-7 · Venite, exultemus
1O come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
2Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, *
and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
3For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are all the corners of the earth, *
and the strength of the hills is his also.
5The sea is his, and he made it; *
and his hands prepared the dry land.
6O come, let us worship and bow down, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7For he is the Lord our God, *
and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
We PRAISE God in THE PSALM OF THE DAYPsalm 105:12–19 · Confitemini Domino
12When they were few in number, *
of little account, and sojourners in the land,
13Wandering from nation to nation *
and from one kingdom to another,
14He let no one oppress them *
and rebuked kings for their sake,
15Saying, “Do not touch my anointed *
and do my prophets no harm.”
16Then he called for a famine in the land *
and destroyed the supply of bread.
17He sent a man before them, *
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18They bruised his feet in fetters; *
his neck they put in an iron collar.
19Until his prediction came to pass, *
the word of the Lord tested him.
We pray a PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION in the words of George Herbert
O, make your Word a swift Word,
passing from the ear to the heart,
from the heart to the life and conversation;
that, as the rain returns not empty,
so neither may your Word,
but accomplish that for which it is given. Amen.
We hear God speaking to us in THE READING for the dayGenesis 37:1–28
Friday, 30 January 2026 · Ordinary Time
1Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan. 2This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a tunic of many colours. 4His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.
5Joseph dreamt a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 6He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamt: 7for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8His brothers asked him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 9He dreamt yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamt yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” 10He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamt? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?” 11His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.
12His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.”
14He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock.”
17The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”
Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes. 20Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.”
21Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 23When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colours that was on him; 24and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.
25They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. 28Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.
World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: Genesis 37:1–28 · the short form, Genesis 37:23–28.
We REFLECT in silence
We greet the day with THE SONG OF ZECHARIAH, the Benedictus Luke 1:68-79
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old,
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
We pray the LORD'S PRAYER as Jesus taught his disciples, in those words which are most meaningful to us
Our [ Father / Mother / Creator ] in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our [ trespasses / sins ]
as we forgive those who [ trespass / sin ] against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
We pray a PRAYER OF INTERCESSION in the words of Zacharias Ursinus, Heidelberg Catechism
Almighty God, heavenly Father, grant us first rightly to know you, and to sanctify, glorify and praise you in all your works, in which your power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy and truth are clearly displayed; and further, that we may so order and direct our whole lives, our thoughts, words and actions, that your name may never be blasphemed, but rather honored and praised on our account. Amen.
We silently pray PERSONAL PRAYER
Followed by
Amen
We pray a PRAYER FOR UNITY OF ALL PEOPLE
God, you have made of one blood all nations of the earth, and your will is that all your children should be gathered into one family of love: break down, we pray you, the walls that divide us; deliver us from hardness of heart and from contempt for those who differ from us; and hasten the time when all shall dwell together in that peace which passes understanding, knowing you as Father and one another as brothers and sisters; through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one. Amen.
We pray a PRAYER OF GENERAL THANKSGIVING in the words of Hugh Cameron
For the life which you have given and preserved,
the world in which we dwell,
and the hope of everlasting blessedness,
we thank you, O God.
For the pains and distresses which have moulded us as clay is moulded by the potter,
and for the consolations which so often like springs in the desert have refreshed our weariness,
we thank you, O God.
For comfort and help in sorrow,
in pain,
in bereavement,
and when flesh and heart failed,
we thank you, O God.
For the warnings of your spirit speaking to our spirits when the sky was bright and all people spoke well of us,
we thank you, O God.
For the life and doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for his love and sacrifice,
for his boundless compassion,
and for the glorious company of those who have followed him in weakness unto victory,
we thank you, O God.
A concluding BENEDICTION or blessing Numbers 6:24-26
The Lord bless us and keep us;
the Lord make his face to shine upon us,
and be gracious to us;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon us,
and give us peace.
Amen.