We hear God’s CALL TO WORSHIP in Habakkuk 2:20
The Lord is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him!
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 using the words of Anselm of Canterbury
O God, you are life, wisdom, truth, bounty, and blessedness, the eternal, the only true good; our God and our Lord, you are our hope and our heart’s joy. We acknowledge with thanksgiving that you have made us in your image, and that we may direct our thoughts to you. Lord, make us know you aright, that we may love, enjoy, and possess you more and more, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We hear God’s CALL TO REPENTANCE in Romans 8:38–39 and Joel 2:13
I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God; for he indeed is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and plenteous in love, and relents of the evil.
We respond with CONFESSION using the words of George Matheson
As long as I am apart from you I am self-satisfied, because I have no standard by which to measure my low stature. But when I come near to you, then for the first time I see myself. In your light I behold my darkness. In your majesty I behold my meanness. In your purity I behold my corruption. In your wealth I behold my poverty of spirit.
Amen.
We hear God’s teaching for our lives in THE READING OF THE LAW in 2 Corinthians 9:7
Let each person give according as they have determined in their hearts, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
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 132:4–9 · Memento, Domine
4I will not allow my eyes to sleep, *
nor let my eyelids slumber;
5Until I find a place for the Lord, *
a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
6“The ark! We heard it was in Ephratah; *
we found it in the fields of Jearim.
7Let us go to God’s dwelling place; *
let us fall upon our knees before his footstool.”
8Arise, O Lord, into your resting-place, *
you and the ark of your strength.
9Let your priests be clothed with righteousness; *
let your faithful people sing with joy.
We pray a PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION in the words of Lancelot Andrewes
O God, you send forth the light, create the morning, and make the sun rise on the good and the evil alike. Enlighten the blindness of our minds with the knowledge of your truth. Lift up the light of your face upon us, that in your light we may see light, and that at the last, through the light of grace, we may come to the light of glory. Amen.
We hear God speaking to us in THE READING for the day2 Samuel 6:12–19
Wednesday, 3 June 2026 · Ordinary Time
12King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that belongs to him, because of God’s ark.”
So David went and brought up God’s ark from the house of Obed-Edom into David’s city with joy. 13When those who bore the LORD’s ark had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. 14David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod. 15So David and all the house of Israel brought up the LORD’s ark with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
16As the LORD’s ark came into David’s city, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. 17They brought in the LORD’s ark, and set it in its place in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 18When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Armies. 19He gave to all the people, even amongst the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to everyone a portion of bread, dates, and raisins. So all the people departed, each to his own house.
World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: 2 Samuel 6:12–19 · the short form, 2 Samuel 6:14–19.
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 Henry Thornton
Almighty Lord, our God, whose eyes are in every place beholding the evil and the good, and who sees not only our outward actions, but all our most secret thoughts — we pray you to maintain in us this day a constant sense of your presence, and to preserve us from sinning against you. We are exposed to dangers by night and by day; our lives are in your hands, and unto you do we look for preservation from every evil. O Lord, teach us to be ever mindful of you. When we go out and come in, and when we are alone and in company, may we bear in mind that you are continually with us, and that you take account of all we think, and speak, and do. 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.