This is the message we have heard from Christ:
that God is light, in whom there is no darkness at all.
1 John 1.5
Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.
A poem: A Song of God’s Children
In Christ Jesus, the life-giving law of the Spirit:
has set us free from the law of sin and death.
All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God:
it is the Spirit that enables us to cry, ‘Abba!’ Father.
The Spirit bears witness that we are God’s children:
and if God’s children, then heirs of God.
We are heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ:
If we share his sufferings now
we shall be glorified with him hereafter.
These sufferings that we now endure:
are not worth comparing
with the glory that shall be revealed.
For the creation waits with eager longing:
for the revealing of the children of God.
Romans 8.2, 14, 15b-19
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
Isaiah 26.1-6
On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
We have a strong city;
he sets up victory
like walls and bulwarks.
Open the gates,
so that the righteous nation that keeps faith
may enter in.
Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace –
in peace because they trust in you.
Trust in the LORD for ever,
for in the LORD GOD
you have an everlasting rock.
For he has brought low
the inhabitants of the height;
the lofty city he lays low.
He lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.
Psalm 118.18-27a
The Lord has punished me sorely,
but he has not given me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone which the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing,
and it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Come, O Lord, and save us we pray.
Come, Lord, send us now prosperity.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
we bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God; he has given us light;
link the pilgrims with cords right to the horns of the altar.
Matthew 7.21, 24-27
‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!’
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:
Almighty God,
give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ came among us in great humility,
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
We thank God for what we have and pray for what we need.
Today we pray for ourselves, that God would help us understand and trust what we read in the Scriptures. In our local church, we ask God to help families of children baptised here to grow in their faith. In our world, we pray for a just and compassionate response to people coming to our country as refugees. We remember before God those who have asked for our prayers, or who are in need of them.
A prayer for the day
God of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: graft in our hearts the love of your name, increase in us true religion, nourish in us all goodness and, of your great mercy, keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lord be with us
now and forever.
Let us praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Amen.
see Revelation 22.13, 20