Fast from hostility; Feast on non-resistance
Leader: Round about us, here among us,
All: God of promise & love.
Leader: Good & faithful, strong in mercy,
All: God of promise & love.
Leader: Calling our names, bidding us welcome,
All: God of promise & love.
Let’s join in the hymn based on psalm 115 –from ‘The Watermark’ Tr 4.
Refrain: The Lord is close to the broken-hearted, blessed be the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times, God’s praise always on my lips;
Glorify the Lord with me, together let us praise God’s name.
Refrain.
I sought the Lord & was heard; from all my terrors set free.
When the poor cry out the Lord hears them, & rescues them from all their distress.
Refrain.
The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; those whose spirit is crushed God will save.
Many are the trials of the upright but the Lord will come to rescue them.
Refrain.
Please sing the psalm after the cantors have sung the antiphon.
Cantors: Our eyes are turned to the Lord;
We look for his mercy.
Side 1: To you have I lifted up my eyes,
You who dwell in the heavens:
Side 2: My eyes like the eyes of slaves
On the hands of their lords.
Side 1: Like the eyes of a servant
On the hand of her mistress,
Side 2: So our eyes are on the Lord our God
Till he show us his mercy.
Side 1: Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
We are filled with contempt.
Side 2: Indeed all too full is our soul with the scorn of the rich,
The disdain of the proud.
All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son
And to the Holy Spirit,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end, Amen.
All: Our eyes are turned to the Lord;
We look for his mercy.
Please say this psalm & its antiphon as indicated.
All: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven & earth.
Cantors: If you had not been our strength & our wisdom when
destructive powers rose up & barred our path; if you had not
been committed to our good, like monsters they would have
swallowed us alive.
All: Their anger was kindled against us, like the sweep of the
forest fire. Their fury bore down upon us, like the raging
torrent in flood, the waters of chaos that know no limits,
trespassers that are hard to forgive.
Cantors: Thanks be to you, our deliverer, you have not given us as prey
to their teeth. We escaped like a bird from the snare of the
fowler: the frame snapped & we have flown free.
All: In the joy of deliverance, we praise you, o God. Our
hearts expand in a new generosity: we embody the love
with which you create.
All: Glory be to the Father & to the Son & to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now & ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
All: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven & earth.
Reading(from Psalms 42 & 43) followed by a time of silence.
As the deer thirsts for streams of water, so my soul thirsts for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God face to face?
Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.
Please to sing the Magnificat as indicated.
Cantors: Jesus walked straight through them all,
And went away.
Side 1: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour
Side 2: For he has looked with favour on his lowly handmaid,
And from this day all generations will call me blessed.
Side 1: The Almighty has done great things for me:
Holy is his name.
Side 2: He has mercy on those who fear him
In every generation.
Side 1: He has shown the strength of his arm;
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
Side 2: He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
And has lifted up the lowly.
Side 1: He has filled the hungry with good things,
And has sent the rich away empty.
Side 2: He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
For he has remembered his promise of mercy.
Side 1: The promise he made to our fathers,
To Abraham and his children for ever.
All: Give praise to the Father Almighty,
To his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
To the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,
Both now and for ever, Amen.
All: Jesus walked straight through them all,
And went away.
Intercessions: different people to lead – ad lib
Heavenly Father, in Jesus we have seen your glory with a human
face. Through Jesus we pray for the world you have created in
all its beauty & variety ……. silence ……. we ask,
All: Lord, make us good stewards of all your gifts.
For the regions of rich growth & for the parched deserts with all
the life they need to support ……. silence ……. we ask,
All: Lord, make us good stewards of all your gifts.
For the life you have given us with our particular responsibilities
……. silence ……. we ask,
All: Lord, make us good stewards of all your gifts.
For our families, friends & neighbours & all who contribute to our
needs ……. silence ……. we ask,
All: Lord, make us good stewards of all your gifts.
Reader: We pray for people who have died today and for those who will
die tonight. We also remember in prayer those people whose
anniversaries of death occur tomorrow, remembering
especially:
Pause for people to add silently or aloud any further intentions.
Leader begins the Our Father.
Leader: By your unfailing mercy, Lord, purify & guard your church, & since without you she cannot stand fast, support & guide her always by your grace. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
All: Amen.
Leader: We are called to be oaks of righteousness:
All: Trees that you plant to shade & sustain.
Leader: As the earth puts forth its blossom,
All: And as seeds in the garden spring up,
Leader: So you make justice flower,
All: And bear its fruit of peace among the people.
Leader: That we may live up to our calling, we ask God’s blessing:
All: May Almighty God bless us – the Father Son and Holy Spirit – Amen.