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Community Universalist Church

Daily Office

Morning · Monday, 19 July 2027 · Ordinary Time

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 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 Matthew 3:2

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

We respond with CONFESSION using the words of Anselm of Canterbury

Lord, I am bowed down and can only look downward; raise me up that I may look upward. My iniquities have gone over my head; they overwhelm me; and, like a heavy load, they weigh me down. Free me from them; unburden me, that the pit of iniquities may not close over me.

Be it mine to look up to your light, even from afar, even from the depths. Teach me to seek you, and reveal yourself to me, when I seek you, for I cannot seek you, except you teach me, nor find you, except you reveal yourself. Let me seek you in longing, let me long for you in seeking; let me find you in love, and love you in finding

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 50:16–24 · Deus deorum

16But to the wicked God says: *
“Why do you recite my statutes, and take my covenant upon your lips;

17Since you refuse discipline, *
and toss my words behind your back?

18When you see a thief, you make him your friend, *
and you cast in your lot with adulterers.

19You have loosed your lips for evil, *
and harnessed your tongue to a lie.

20You are always speaking evil of your brother *
and slandering your own mother’s son.

21These things you have done, and I kept still, *
and you thought that I am like you.”

22“I have made my accusation; *
I have put my case in order before your eyes.

23Consider this well, you who forget God, *
lest I rend you and there be none to deliver you.

24Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; *
but to those who keep in my way will I show the salvation of God.”

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 dayJeremiah 7:1–11

Monday, 19 July 2027 · Ordinary Time

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 2“Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear the LORD’s word, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.’ ”

3The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘The LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple, the LORD’s temple, are these.’ 5For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbour; 6if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt, 7then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more. 8Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit. 9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? 11Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says the LORD.

World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: Jeremiah 7:1–11 · the short form, Jeremiah 7:3–7.

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 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.