We hear God’s CALL TO WORSHIP in Psalm 150
Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his holy place.
Praise him in the sky, his stronghold.
Praise him for his deeds of power.
Praise him for his boundless greatness.
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 the Common Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above you, heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
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 the Leonine Sacramentary
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and always give more than either we desire or deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things that our conscience is afraid of, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen.
We hear God’s teaching for our lives in THE READING OF THE LAW in Exodus 20:1–17, the Ten Commandments
God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your man-servant, nor your maid-servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
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 147:13–20 · Laudate Dominum
13Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; *
praise your God, O Zion;
14For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; *
he has blessed your children within you.
15He has established peace on your borders; *
he satisfies you with the finest wheat.
16He sends out his command to the earth, *
and his word runs very swiftly.
17He gives snow like wool; *
he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.
18He scatters his hail like bread crumbs; *
who can stand against his cold?
19He sends forth his word and melts them; *
he blows with his wind, and the waters flow.
20He declares his word to Jacob, *
his statutes and his judgments to Israel.
We pray a PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION in the words of John Calvin
Gracious God, our heavenly Father, in you alone is the fullness of light and wisdom. Open our minds by your Holy Spirit so that we may truly understand your word. Give us the grace to receive it with reverence and real humility, so that it leads us to place our whole trust in you, to serve and honour you, to glorify your holy name, and to build up those around us by the example of our lives. And since you have been pleased to count us among your people, help us to give you the love and honour we owe you, as children to a Father and as servants to our Lord. We ask this through our saviour Jesus Christ.
We hear God speaking to us in THE READING for the dayDeuteronomy 18:15–22
Wednesday, 3 March 2027 · Ordinary Time
15The LORD your God will raise up to you a prophet from amongst you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. 16This is according to all that you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the LORD my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”
17The LORD said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken. 18I will raise them up a prophet from amongst their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. 19It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”
21You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?” 22When a prophet speaks in the LORD’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: Deuteronomy 18:15–22 · the short form, Deuteronomy 18:15–19.
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 Thomas à Kempis
Grant me, most loving Lord, to rest in you above every creature; above all health and beauty; above all glory and honor; above all power and dignity; above all knowledge and skill; above all riches and arts; above all joy and exultation; above all fame and praise; above all sweetness and consolation; above all hope and promise; above all merit and desire; above all gifts and rewards which you can give and pour forth; above all joy and jubilation which the mind is able to receive and feel; in a word, above angels and archangels and all the army of heaven; above all things visible and invisible; and above everything which you, my God, are not. 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.