We hear God’s CALL TO WORSHIP in Psalm 66:7–8
Bless our God, you peoples;
make the voice of his praise to be heard;
who holds our souls in life,
and will not allow our feet to slip.
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 following the words of the Universalist “Hymns of the Spirit”
Let us adore the ever-living God, and render praise to the One who spread out the heavens and established the earth, whose glory is revealed in the heavens above and whose greatness is manifest throughout the world. He is our God; there is no other. We bow the head and bend the knee and magnify the King of kings, the Holy One, praised be he.
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 the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship
Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose face is hidden from us by our sins, and whose mercy we forget in the blindness of our hearts: cleanse us, we pray you, from all the defilements of this day, and deliver us from all proud thoughts and vain desires; that with lowliness and meekness we may draw near to you in prayer, confessing our sins, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and our strength, our hope and our salvation; through Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.
We hear God’s teaching for our lives in THE READING OF THE LAW in Micah 6:6–8
With what should I come before the Lord?
Bow myself before the God on high?
Should I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
With ten thousand streams of oil?
Should I give him my firstborn son for my guilt,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
The Lord has told you what is good,
what he demands of you:
Only to do justice and love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.
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 45:7–16 · Eructavit cor meum
7Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever, *
a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom; *
you love righteousness and hate iniquity.
8Therefore God, your God, has anointed you *
with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
9All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia, *
and the music of strings from ivory palaces makes you glad.
10Kings’ daughters stand among the ladies of the court; *
on your right hand is the queen, *
adorned with the gold of Ophir.
11“Hear, O daughter; consider and listen closely; *
forget your people and your father’s house.
12The king will have pleasure in your beauty; *
he is your master; therefore do him honor.
13The people of Tyre are here with a gift; *
the rich among the people seek your favor.”
14All glorious is the princess as she enters; *
her gown is cloth-of-gold.
15In embroidered apparel she is brought to the king; *
after her the bridesmaids follow in procession.
16With joy and gladness they are brought, *
and enter into the palace of the king.
We pray a PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION in the words of George Herbert
O, make your Word a swift Word,
passing from the ear to the heart,
from the heart to the life and conversation;
that, as the rain returns not empty,
so neither may your Word,
but accomplish that for which it is given. Amen.
We hear God speaking to us in THE READING for the dayHosea 2:14–23
Friday, 13 August 2027 · Ordinary Time
14“Therefore behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15I will give her vineyards from there,
and the valley of Achor for a door of hope;
and she will respond there
as in the days of her youth,
and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16It will be in that day,” says the LORD,
“that you will call me ‘my husband,’
and no longer call me ‘my master.’
17For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth,
and they will no longer be mentioned by name.
18In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field,
and with the birds of the sky,
and with the creeping things of the ground.
I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land,
and will make them lie down safely.
19I will betroth you to me forever.
Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.
20I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness;
and you shall know the LORD.
21It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says the LORD.
“I will respond to the heavens,
and they will respond to the earth;
22and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil;
and they will respond to Jezreel.
23I will sow her to me in the earth;
and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;
and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’
and they will say, ‘You are My God!’ ”
World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: Hosea 2:14–23 · the short form, Hosea 2:19–20.
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 Richard Baxter
As a reconciled Father, take me to be your child; and give me your renewing Spirit, to be in me a principle of holy life, and light, and love, and your seal and witness that I am yours. Let him quicken my dead and hardened heart. Let him enlighten my dark unbelieving mind, by clearer knowledge and firm belief. Let him turn my will to the ready obedience of your holy will. Let him reveal to my soul the wonders of your love in Christ, and fill it with love to you and my Redeemer, and to all your holy Word and works. 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.