Opening Sentences
The Officiant begins the service with one or more of these sentences of Scripture, or with the versicle "O Lord, open thou our lips" on page 42.
The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.
Confession of Sin
The following Confession of Sin may then be said; or the Office may continue at once with "O Lord, open thou our lips."
Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence of Almighty God our heavenly Father, to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his holy Word, and to ask, for ourselves and on behalf of others, those things that are necessary for our life and our salvation. And so that we may prepare ourselves in heart and mind to worship him, let us kneel in silence, and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, that we may obtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy.
Silence may be kept.
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, spare thou those who confess their faults, restore thou those who are penitent, according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord; and grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
The Almighty and merciful Lord grant you absolution and remission of all your sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitatory
All stand
O Lord, open thou our lips.
And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Alleluia may be added.
The earth is the Lord's for he made it: O come, let us adore him.
O be joyful in the Lord all ye lands; * serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; * we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; * be thankful unto him and speak good of his Name. For the Lord is gracious; his mercy is everlasting; * and his truth endureth from generation to generation.
Psalms
Psalm 119:145-176
145With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD! I will keep your statutes.
146I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.
147I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.
148My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.
149Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O LORD, according to your justice give me life.
150They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law.
151But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true.
152Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever.
153Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.
154Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!
155Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.
156Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your rules.
157Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.
158I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.
159Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.
160The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
161Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.
162I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.
163I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
164Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.
165Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
166I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments.
167My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.
168I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.
169Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!
170Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word.
171My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes.
172My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right.
173Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
174I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.
175Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me.
176I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.
At the end of the Psalms is sung or said
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The Lessons
One or two Lessons, as appointed, are read, the Reader first saying
A Reading (Lesson) from Micah 2:1-13.
1Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.
2They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
3Therefore thus says the LORD: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster.
4In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly, and say, “We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! To an apostate he allots our fields.”
5Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the LORD.
6“Do not preach” — thus they preach — “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.”
7Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the LORD grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?
8But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war.
9The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever.
10Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction.
11If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people!
12I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men.
13He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the LORD at their head.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
11 The Third Song of Isaiah (Surge, illuminare)
Arise, shine, for your light has come, * and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you. For behold, darkness covers the land; * deep gloom enshrouds the peoples. But over you the Lord will rise, * and his glory will appear upon you. Nations will stream to your light, * and kings to the brightness of your dawning. Your gates will always be open; * by day or night they will never be shut. They will call you, The City of the Lord, * The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Violence will no more be heard in your land, * ruin or destruction within your borders. You will call your walls, Salvation, * and all your portals, Praise. The sun will no more be your light by day; * by night you will not need the brightness of the moon. The Lord will be your everlasting light, * and your God will be your glory. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: * as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
A Reading (Lesson) from Acts 23:23-35.
23Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.
24Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.”
25And he wrote a letter to this effect:
26“Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings.
27This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.
28And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council.
29I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.
30And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”
31So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.
32And on the next day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him.
33When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.
34On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia,
35he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
4 The Song of Zechariah
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, * for he hath visited and redeemed his people; And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us * in the house of his servant David, As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, * which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, * and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, * and to remember his holy covenant; To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, * that he would give us, That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies * might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, * all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, * for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; To give knowledge of salvation unto his people * for the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, * whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us; To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: * as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The Apostles' Creed
Officiant and People together, all standing
I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Prayers
The people stand or kneel
The Lord be with you.
And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Officiant and People
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;
And grant us thy salvation.
Endue thy ministers with righteousness;
And make thy chosen people joyful.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in thee can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under thy care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let thy way be known upon earth;
Thy saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us with thy Holy Spirit.
Collects
The Officiant then says one or more of the following Collects
Collect of the Day
Wednesday after the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Almighty and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Grace
Wednesday
O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day: Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that we, being ordered by thy governance, may do always what is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of thy faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before thee for all members of thy holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The General Thanksgiving
Officiant and People
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men. We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
A Prayer of St. Chrysostom
Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication unto thee, and hast promised through thy well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name thou wilt be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.
Conclusion
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20, 21