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 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 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 George Matheson
As long as I am apart from you I am self-satisfied, because I have no standard by which to measure my low stature. But when I come near to you, then for the first time I see myself. In your light I behold my darkness. In your majesty I behold my meanness. In your purity I behold my corruption. In your wealth I behold my poverty of spirit.
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 22:21–30 · Deus, Deus meus
21I will declare your Name to my brethren; *
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
22Praise the Lord, you that fear him; *
stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel; *
all you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
23For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; *
but when they cry to him he hears them.
24My praise is of him in the great assembly; *
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.
25The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him: *
“May your heart live for ever!”
26All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, *
and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.
27For kingship belongs to the Lord; *
he rules over the nations.
28To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *
all who go down to the dust fall before him.
29My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; *
they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever.
30They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *
the saving deeds that he has done.
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 dayIsaiah 25:1–9
Sunday, 5 December 2027 · Advent
1The LORD, you are my God. I will exalt you! I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago, in complete faithfulness and truth. 2For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built. 3Therefore a strong people will glorify you. A city of awesome nations will fear you. 4For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the dreaded ones is like a storm against the wall. 5As the heat in a dry place you will bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the dreaded ones will be brought low.
6In this mountain, the LORD of Armies will make all peoples a feast of choice meat, a feast of choice wines, of choice meat full of marrow, of well refined choice wines. 7He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 8He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for the LORD has spoken it.
9It shall be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is the LORD! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
World English Bible. Or read it at Bible Gateway in the NRSV: Isaiah 25:1–9 · the short form, Isaiah 25:6–9.
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 Augustus Toplady
Open our eyes, Lord, that we may see the wonders of your law, and gladden our hearts with the knowledge of your love. Take away our sins and receive us graciously. Be light to our darkness, wisdom to our folly, and show your strength in our weakness. Remember us with the favour you show to your own people; stir us up to seek your face and lay hold of your covenant; and let us find that it is indeed good for us to draw near to you and to wait on you, in and through the name and merits of Jesus Christ, our only mediator and advocate. 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.