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Community Universalist Church

Daily Office

Morning · Sunday, 2 August 2026 · Ordinary Time

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 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 Augustine of Hippo

Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord, and spare your servant from the power of the enemy. I contend not in judgment with you, who are the truth; I fear to deceive myself, lest my iniquity lie to itself. Therefore I contend not in judgment with you; for if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall abide it? 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 26:4–12 · Judica me, Domine

4I have not sat with the worthless, *
nor do I consort with the deceitful.

5I have hated the company of evildoers; *
I will not sit down with the wicked.

6I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, *
that I may go in procession round your altar,

7Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving *
and recounting all your wonderful deeds.

8Lord, I love the house in which you dwell *
and the place where your glory abides.

9Do not sweep me away with sinners, *
nor my life with those who thirst for blood,

10Whose hands are full of evil plots, *
and their right hand full of bribes.

11As for me, I will live with integrity; *
redeem me, O Lord, and have pity on me.

12My foot stands on level ground; *
in the full assembly I will bless the Lord.

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 dayEzekiel 43:1–7

Sunday, 2 August 2026 · Ordinary Time

1Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks towards the east. 2Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 3It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4The LORD’s glory came into the house by the way of the gate which faces towards the east. 5The Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the LORD’s glory filled the house.

6I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and a man stood by me. 7He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell amongst the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places;

World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: Ezekiel 43:1–7 · the short form, Ezekiel 43:1–5.

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

God, the protector of all those who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy — increase and multiply on us your mercy; that you being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we finally lose not the things eternal. Grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of 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 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.