A SERVICE OF PRAYER AT NOON
December 29, 2022
Welcome
Prelude
Dialogue
Baby Jesus, Prince of Peace
We welcome you
Infant Child, you are called Wonderful
Come and live among us
Jesus, the Christ, Light of the World
Show us your ways of peace and love.
Mid-Day Prayer
All powerful and unseen God, the coming of your light into our world has brightened weary hearts with peace. Call us out of darkness and empower us to proclaim the birth of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Psalm 148
1Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
2Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!
3Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
4Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
5Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for he commanded and they were created.
6He established them forever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.
7Praise the LORD from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
8fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!
9Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
10Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!
11Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
12Young men and women alike,
old and young together!
13Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
14He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the LORD!
Gloria Patri
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. Amen.
First Reading Isaiah 63:7-9
7I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD,
the praiseworthy acts of the LORD,
because of all that the LORD has done for us,
and the great favor to the house of Israel
that he has shown them according to his mercy,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8For he said, "Surely they are my people,
children who will not deal falsely";
and he became their savior
9in all their distress.
It was no messenger or angel
but his presence that saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Second Reading A Necessary Daily Exercise
Why is it that my thoughts wander so quickly from God’s word, and that in my hour of need the needed word is often not there? Do I forget to eat and drink and sleep? Then why do I forget God’s word? Because I still can’t say what the psalmist says: “I will delight in your statutes” (Ps. 119:16). I don’t forget the things in which I take delight. Forgetting or not forgetting is a matter not of the mind but of the whole person, of the heart. I never forget what body and soul depend upon. The more I begin to love the commandments of God in creation and word, the more present they will be for me in every hour. Only love protects against forgetting.
Because God’s word has spoken to us in history and thus in the past, the remembrance and repetition of what we have learned is a necessary daily exercise. Every day we must turn again to God’s acts of salvation, so that we can again move forward … Faith and obedience live on remembrance and repetition. Remembrance becomes the power of the present because of the living God who once acted for me and who reminds me of that today.
In our meditation we ponder the chosen text on the strength of the promise that it has something utterly personal to say to us for this day and for our Christian life, that it is not only God’s word for the Church, but also God’s word for us individually. We expose ourselves to the specific word until it addresses us personally. And when we do this, we are doing no more than the simplest, untutored Christian does every day; we read God’s word as God’s word for us..
Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Reflection
Magnificat
A Prayer-Paraphrase of Luke 1: 46-55
by John van der Laar, copyright 2008, used with permission.
We praise you, Lord, and our spirits rejoice in you – our Saviour;
For you take notice of the unnoticeable, and transform them into the blessed;
You are strong and true to yourself and all that is good in everything you are and do and say; and you do great things for us;
Through the ages you have shown compassion to those who trust you,
And in your strength you have scattered those who are arrogant and abusive;
You have made the thrones of tyrants topple and you have made humble people into leaders of many;
You have cared for and provided for those who have nothing, and you have left the over-satisfied with empty hands;
You have always been a help to your people, and have shown mercy when we have gone astray;
You made this promise to our ancestors, and you continue to stay true to it even now.
We praise you, Lord, and our spirits rejoice in you – our Saviour. Amen.
Prayer
Let us pray.
Mighty God of mercy, we thank you for the resurrection dawn, bringing the glory of our risen Lord who makes every day new.
Especially we thank you –
for the sustaining goodness of your creation …
for the new creation in Christ and all gifts of healing and forgiveness …
for the gifts of relationship with others …
for the communion of faith in your church …
Merciful God of might, renew this weary world, heal the hurts of all your children, and bring about your peace for all in Christ Jesus, the living Lord.
Especially we pray –
for those who govern nations of the world …
for the people in countries ravaged by strife or warfare …
for all who work for peace and international harmony …
for all who strive to save the earth from carelessness and destruction …
for the church of Jesus Christ in every land …
We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected us through the night from all harm and danger. We ask that you would also protect us today from sin and all evil, so that our life and actions may please you. Into your hands we commend ourselves: our bodies, our souls, and all that is ours. Let your holy angels be with us, so that the wicked foe may have no power over us.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Benediction
The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Christ Jesus, for whom we wait. Amen.
Liturgical Text and Music, from Evangelical Lutheran Worship and sundaysandseasons.com, © 2006, 2020, and 2022 Augsburg Fortress, Reprinted and/or streamed with permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies License #SAS016761. All rights reserved.
