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Community Universalist Church

Daily Office

Morning · Tuesday, 14 July 2026 · Ordinary Time

We hear God’s CALL TO WORSHIP in Revelation 19:6–7

I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns! Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to 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 Augustine of Hippo

Great are you, Lord,
    and greatly to be praised;
great is your power,
    and of your wisdom there is no end.

We, being a part of your creation,
    desire to praise you.

We, who bear about with us our mortality,
   the witness of our sin,
   the witness that you resist the proud,
yet we, part of your creation,
   desire to praise you.

You move us to delight in praising you,
   for you have formed us for yourself,
   and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.

We hear God’s CALL TO REPENTANCE in Lamentations 3:22–23, 31, 33, 40

It is because of the Lord’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed,
    because his compassion doesn’t fail.
They are new every morning.
    Great is your faithfulness.

For the Lord will not cast off forever.
For he does not afflict willingly,
    nor grieve the children of men.

Let us search and try our ways,
    and turn again to the Lord.

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 Colossians 3:12–17

Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if anyone has a complaint against anyone else; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.

Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

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 34:11–18 · Benedicam Dominum

11Come, you children, and listen to me; *
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12Who is the one who desires life, *
and would gladly see good days?

13Keep your tongue from evil, *
and your lips, that they speak no guile.

14Turn from evil, and do good; *
seek peace, and pursue it.

15The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, *
and his ears are open to their prayers.

16The countenance of the Lord is against those who do evil, *
to root out the remembrance of them from the earth.

17The righteous cry, and the Lord hears them, *
and delivers them out of all their troubles.

18The Lord is near to those who are of a contrite heart, *
and will save those who are of a humble spirit.

We pray a PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION in the words of Augustine

Lord, let your Scriptures be my chaste delight. Let me neither be deceived in them, nor deceive out of them. Lord, hear and have mercy, O Lord my God, light of the blind and strength of the weak, light also of those who see and strength of the strong; listen to my soul and hear it crying out of the depths.

Amen.

We hear God speaking to us in THE READING for the dayIsaiah 42:1–9

Tuesday, 14 July 2026 · Ordinary Time

1“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights:
    I have put my Spirit on him.
    He will bring justice to the nations.
2He will not shout,
    nor raise his voice,
    nor cause it to be heard in the street.
3He won’t break a bruised reed.
    He won’t quench a dimly burning wick.
    He will faithfully bring justice.
4He will not fail nor be discouraged,
    until he has set justice on the earth,
    and the islands wait for his law.”

5God the LORD,
    he who created the heavens and stretched them out,
    he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it,
    he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:
6“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness.
    I will hold your hand.
    I will keep you,
    and make you a covenant for the people,
    as a light for the nations,
    7to open the blind eyes,
    to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon,
    and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.

8“I am the LORD.
    That is my name.
    I will not give my glory to another,
    nor my praise to engraved images.
9Behold, the former things have happened
    and I declare new things.
    I tell you about them before they come up.”

World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: Isaiah 42:1–9 · the short form, Isaiah 42:1–4.

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 the Book of Common Prayer

Almighty God, the fountain of wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking; we ask you to have compassion upon our weaknesses; and those things, which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, grant to give us for the worthiness of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 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 Hubert Louis Simpson

We thank you for the good things of this life: for food and clothing and shelter; for work to do and zest in the doing of it. We thank you for the perpetual touch of the divine in life, for the image of yourself in the human soul; for the vigor of youth, the wisdom of age, and for all the lessons of experience; the steps by which we climb to higher things; for the courage of the brave, the indignation of the righteous, the kindness of the thoughtful, and all that makes us human and keeps us Godlike.

Amen.

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.