(Modified 2021-02-20: Added video link for live stream and recorded service.)
SEXAGESIMA
February 20, 2022 10.30 o’clock
THE ORDER OF SERVICE FOR MORNING PRAYER
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Good morning, friends. Today is the seventh after the Epiphany and our order of service for Morning Prayer can be followed on the website or downloaded and printed from the weekly email. Let us take a moment to calm our hearts as we prepare to worship God.
(Silence)
Sentence of Scripture
O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
Psalm 96. 9.
The Minister,
DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace.
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; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu 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.
ALMIGHTY Father, who of thy great love to men didst give thy dearly beloved Son to die for us; Grant that through his Cross our sins may be put away, and remembered no more against us, and that, cleansed by his Blood, and mindful of his sufferings, we may take up our cross daily, and follow him in newness of life, until we come to his everlasting kingdom; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord, open thou our lips;
And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
O God, make speed to save us;
O Lord, make haste to help us.
GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Praise ye the Lord;
The Lord’s Name be praised.
Venite:
O COME, let us sing unto the LORD: / let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, / and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, / and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth: / and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: / and his hands prepared the dry land.
O COME, let us worship, and fall down, / and kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God; / and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
TO-DAY, O that ye would hear his voice: / ‘Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation, and as in the day of Temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me, / proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, and said, / “It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways”;
Unto whom I sware in my wrath, / that they should not enter into my rest.’
GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end.Amen.
THE FIRST LESSON: Genesis 45:3-11, 15
And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, I pray you.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Make haste and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry; you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have; and there I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come; lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.’
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
PSALM 37:1-12, 41-42
FRET not thyself because of the ungodly; / neither be thou envious against the evil doers.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, / and be withered even as the green herb.
PUT thou thy trust in the LORD, and be doing good; / dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Delight thou in the LORD, / and he shall give thee thy heart’s desire.
COMMIT thy way unto the LORD, and put thy trust in him, / and he shall bring it to pass.
He shall make thy righteousness as clear as the light, / and thy just dealing as the noon-day.
REST in the LORD, and abide patiently upon him: / but grieve not thyself at him whose way doth prosper, against the man that doeth after evil counsels.
LEAVE off from wrath, and let go displeasure: / fret not thyself, else shaltthou be moved to do evil.
For wicked doers shall be rooted out; / but they that patiently abide the LORD, those shall inherit the land.
YET a little while, and the ungodly shall be clean gone: / thou shalt look upon his place, and he shall be away.
But the meek-spirited shall possess the land, / and shall be refreshed in the multitude of peace.
THE ungodly seeketh counsel against the just, / and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.
And the LORD shall stand by them and save them: / he shall deliver them from the ungodly, and shall save them, because they put their trust in him.
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS :
WE praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud, the Heavens and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee;
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee;
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee;
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee,
The Father, of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.
O LORD, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;
Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name, ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.
SECOND LESSON: 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
But some one will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do theycome?” You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And whatyou sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of someother grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its ownbody. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
BENEDICTUS
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 hands 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 grant us
That we being delivered out of the hands 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 shaltgo 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 day-spring 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 be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.
THE HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 6:27-38 R. / Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, blessthose who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
R./ Praise be to thee, O Christ.
Sermon – Beth Christianson
Then shall be said the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles’ Creed.
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; TheCommunion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord be with you;
And with thy spirit.
Let us pray.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
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 them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.
O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;
And grant us thy salvation.
O Lord, save the Queen;
And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;
And make thy chosen people joyful.
O Lord, save thy people;
And bless thine inheritance.
Give peace in our time, O Lord;
And evermore mightily defend us.
O God, make clean our hearts within us;
And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.
The Collect for the Sexagesima Sunday.
O LORD God, who seest that we do not put our trust in any thing that we do: Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Second Collect, for Peace.
O GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Third Collect, for Grace.
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 all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Prayer for the Queen and the Commonwealth.
ALMIGHTY God, the fountain of all goodness, we humbly beseech thee to bless our Sovereign Lady, Queen ELIZABETH, the Parliaments of the Commonwealth, and all who are set in authority under her; that they may order all things in wisdom, righteousness, and peace, to the honour of thy holy Name, and the good of thy Church and people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Prayer for the Clergy and People.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, from whom cometh every good and perfect gift: Send down upon our Bishops and Clergy, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they may truly please thee, pour upon them the continual dew of thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.
ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ went about doing good, and healing all manner of sickness and disease among the people: Continue, we beseech thee, this his gracious work among us especially in this time of pandemic; cheer, heal, and sanctify the sick (especially those who are known to us); grant to the physicians, surgeons, and nurses wisdom and skill, strength and resilience, sympathy and patience; and send down thy blessing upon all who labour to prevent suffering and to forward thy purposes of love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
O GOD the Holy Ghost, Sanctifier of the faithful: Sanctify this parish by thine abiding presence. Bless those who minister in holy things. Enlighten the minds of thy people more and more with the light of the everlasting Gospel. Bring erring souls to the knowledge of God our Saviour; and those who are walking in the way of life, keep stedfast unto the end. Give patience to the sick and afflicted, and renew them in body and soul. Guard from forgetfulness of thee those who are strong and prosperous. Increase in us thy manifold gifts of grace, and make us all to be fruitful in good works; O blessed Spirit, whom with the Father and the Son together we worship and glorify, one God, world without end, Lord in your Mercy, hear our prayer.
O Lord, we pray thee, sow the seed of thy word in our hearts, and send down upon us the showers of thy grace that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, and at the great day of harvest may be gathered by the holy angels into your heavenly Kingdom, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Heavenly Father, bless all children and give to their parents and all who care for them the spirit of wisdom and love. Grant that the homes in which they live may be filled with righteousness, joy and peace, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Prayer for our new Bishop
Most merciful Father, we beseech the to send down upon thy servant, Bishop HELEN KENNEDY thy heavenly blessing; and so endue her with thy Holy Spirit, that she, preaching thy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke with all patience and doctrine; but also may be to all we who believe, a wholesome example, in word, in conversation, in love and in faithfulness to Jesus Christ our Lord, Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
A General Thanksgiving, to be said by the Minister and people together.
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 ourselves 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 honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
A Prayer of Saint Chrysostom.
ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee; and dost promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy Name thou wilt grant their requests: Fulfil now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants, as may be most expedient for them; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.
2 Corinthians 13. 14.
THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.
Blessing: May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The Blessing of God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost be upon you and remain with you always. AMEN.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
GODLY PLAY: Story for Feb. 20 is ‘The Parable of The Leaven’ Matthew 13:33. Leader: Sandra Dowie- Via Zoom.
2021 TAX RECEIPTS have been mailed out. Please watch your mailbox for yours. If you would like to receive an electronic copy of your receipt, or if you have any questions, please send Blair an email.
WORSHIP NOTE Today we begin our symbolic countdown to Easter and the Journey to Jerusalem that is Lent. The three Sundays of pre-Lent preceding Ash Wednesday which falls in March 2 are entitled Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima. In this way the Church seeks to help us to prepare for the Great Fast, which in turn prepares us to enter into once again the mystery of our salvation that is our union with Jesus in His death and Resurrection. “If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure we will also reign with Him.” (2 Timothy 2.11, 12a)
Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord;
Thanks be to God.