We will proclaim the name of the Lord.
Ascribe greatness to our God.
Deuteronomy 32.3
Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.
A poem: The Song of Christ’s Glory
Christ Jesus was in the form of God:
but he did not cling to equality with God.
He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant:
and was born in our human likeness.
Being found in human form, he humbled himself:
and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him:
and bestowed on him the name above every name,
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow:
in heaven and on earth and under the earth;
And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord:
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2.5b-11
The opening prayer
By night and by day we worship the Lord; let us pray with one heart and mind.
We remember God’s presence and pause in silence.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and for ever. Amen.
The readings
Genesis 19.15-29
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.’ But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, they said, ‘Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.’ And Lot said to them, ‘Oh, no, my lords; your servant has found favour with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there – is it not a little one? – and my life will be saved!’ He said to him, ‘Very well, I grant you this favour too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.’ Therefore the city was called Zoar. The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and towards all the land of the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
Psalm 26
Give judgement for me, O Lord, for I have walked with integrity;
I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered.
Test me, O Lord, and try me;
examine my heart and my mind.
For your love is before my eyes;
I have walked in your truth.
I have not joined the company of the false,
nor consorted with the deceitful.
I hate the gathering of evildoers
and I will not sit down with the wicked.
I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord,
that I may go about your altar,
To make heard the voice of thanksgiving
and tell of all your wonderful deeds.
Lord, I love the house of your habitation
and the place where your glory abides.
Sweep me not away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
Whose hands are full of wicked schemes
and their right hand full of bribes.
As for me, I will walk with integrity;
redeem me, Lord, and be merciful to me.
My foot stands firm;
in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.
Matthew 8.23-27
And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A gale arose on the lake, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer
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.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever.
Amen.
This week’s prayer:
O God,
who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son
to suffer death upon a cross,
and by his glorious resurrection
delivered us from the power of the enemy:
grant us so to die daily to sin
that we may evermore live with him
in the joy of his resurrection;
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We thank God for what we have and pray for what we need.
Today we pray for ourselves, that God would teach us to love him with everything we have and teach us to love our neighbours as ourselves. In our local church, we ask God to guide the work and decisions of parish council. In our world, we pray for health professionals and those who act as carers to family and friends. We remember before God those who have asked for our prayers, or who are in need of them.
A prayer for the day
Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven,
to enter that gate and dwell in that house,
where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light;
no noise nor silence, but one equal music;
no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession;
no ends or beginnings, but one equal eternity;
in the place where your glory and dominion remains for ever.
Amen
The Lord be with us
now and forever.
Let us praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
May Jesus, the Lord of peace, give us peace at all times and in all ways. Amen.
2 Thessalonians 3.16