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Community Universalist Church

Daily Office

Morning · Monday, 18 October 2027 · Ordinary Time

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 using the words of Richard Baxter

We praise and glorify you our Lord and owner, for we and all things are your own. We praise and glorify you our king and ruler, for we are your subjects, and our perfect obedience is your due. Just are all your laws and judgment; true and sure is all your Word. We praise and glorify you, our great benefactor. In you we live, and move, and are: all that we are, or have, or can do, is wholly from you, the cause of all; and all is for you, for you are our end. Delightfully to love you is our greatest duty, and our only felicity, for you are love itself, and infinitely amiable. Amen.

We hear God’s CALL TO REPENTANCE in 1 John 1:8–9; Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 55:7

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

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 Deuteronomy 6:4–9

Hear, Israel:
   The Lord is our God,
   the Lord is one,
and you shall love the Lord your God
    with all your heart,
    and with all your soul,
    and with all your might.

These words, which I command you this day, shall be on your heart;
    and you shall teach them diligently to your children,
    and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
    and when you walk by the way,
    and when you lie down,
    and when you rise up.

You shall bind them for a sign on your hand,
    and they shall be for symbols between your eyes.
You shall write them on the door-posts of your house,
    and on your gates.

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 119:13–20 · Beati immaculati

13With my lips will I recite *
all the judgments of your mouth.

14I have taken greater delight in the way of your decrees *
than in all manner of riches.

15I will meditate on your commandments *
and give attention to your ways.

16My delight is in your statutes; *
I will not forget your word.

17Deal bountifully with your servant, *
that I may live and keep your word.

18Open my eyes, that I may see *
the wonders of your law.

19I am a stranger here on earth; *
do not hide your commandments from me.

20My soul is consumed at all times *
with longing for your judgments.

We pray a PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION in the words of Thomas Cranmer in the Book of Common Prayer (1549)

Blessed Lord, you have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning — grant us that we may in such a way hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience and comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

We hear God speaking to us in THE READING for the dayJohn 9:1–41

Monday, 18 October 2027 · Ordinary Time

1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him. 4I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, 7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

8Therefore the neighbours and those who saw that he was blind before said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?” 9Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

10They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”

12Then they asked him, “Where is he?”

He said, “I don’t know.”

13They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”

16Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.”

Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division amongst them.

17Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”

He said, “He is a prophet.”

18The Jews therefore didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

20His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”

24So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

25He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

26They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?”

28They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”

30The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does his will, he listens to him. 32Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out.

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

36He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”

37Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.”

38He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshipped him.

39Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgement, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”

40Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”

41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: John 9:1–41 · the short form, John 9:1–6.

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 John Bradford

Let your mighty hand and outstretched arm, Lord,
    be still our defense;
your mercy and loving kindness in Jesus Christ your dear Son,
    our salvation;
your true and holy Word,
    our instruction;
your grace and Holy Spirit,
    our comfort and consolation
    unto the end, and in the end.

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.