Preparation

Opening response

Favor us, Lord, and deliver us.
Lord, come quickly and help us.

You’ve been a help to me
and I shout for joy in the protection of your wings.

Psalm 63:7

Praise

I am giving you worship with all my life,
I am giving you obedience with all my power,
I am giving you praise with all my strength,
I am giving you honor with all my speech.

I am giving you love with all my heart,
I am giving you affection with all my sense,
I am giving you my being with all my mind,
I am giving you my soul, O most high and holy God.

Praise to the Father,
Praise to the Son,
Praise to the Spirit,
The Three in One.

adapted from Alexander Carmichael,
Carmina Gadelica (1900)

The Word of God

Psalm 24:1-6

Refrain:
The Lord of heavenly forces — he is the glorious king!

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it,
the world and its inhabitants too.
Because God is the one who established it on the seas;
God set it firmly on the waters.
Who can ascend the Lord’s mountain?
Who can stand in his holy sanctuary?
Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart;
the one who hasn’t made false promises,
the one who hasn’t sworn dishonestly.
That kind of person receives blessings from the Lord
and righteousness from the God who saves.
And that’s how things are
with the generation that seeks him—
that seeks the face of Jacob’s God.

Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen.

Refrain:
The Lord of heavenly forces — he is the glorious king!

Psalm prayer

O Lord of heavenly forces,
purify our hearts
that the glorious king may come in,
your Son, Jesus our redeemer.

Scripture reading
Hebrews 12:22-24

But you have drawn near to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, to countless angels in a festival gathering, to the assembly of God’s firstborn children who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous who have been made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks better than Abel’s blood.

Silence may be kept.

Response

Happy are people who are hopeless,
because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Prayers

Intercession and thanksgiving

Prayers may include these concerns:

The saints on earth, that they may live as citizens of heaven

All people, that they may hear and believe the word of God
All who fear the winter months
All sovereigns and political leaders, that they may imitate the righteous rule of Christ
All who grieve or wait with the dying

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Prayer

Eternal God,
the light of the minds that know you,
the joy of the hearts that love you,
and the strength of the wills that serve you:
grant us so to know you
that we may truly love you,
so to love you that we may truly serve you,
whose service is perfect freedom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

after Augustine of Hippo (430)

The Lord’s Prayer

As our Savior taught us, so we pray

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.

Conclusion

May God give us grace to follow his saints in glory.
Amen.

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