Advent
The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. Isaiah 40:5

Confession of Sin

Most merciful God,
I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

The Absolution
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen

The Invitatory and Psalter

O God make speed to save us, O Lord make haste to help us

O Gracious Light,
pure brightness of everliving Father in heaven
O Jesus Christ holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun
and our eyes behold the vesper light
we sing your praises O God: Father Son and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices
O Son of God, O Giver of Life
and to be glorified through all worlds.
Our King and Savior now draws near: Come, let us adore him.

?The Psalms are unique for the evening, the other lessions can be read in total or those you have not included in Morning Prayer

The Lessons

Psalm 18

⁽¹⁾ I love you, O LORD, my strength. ⁽²⁾ The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. ⁽³⁾ I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. ⁽⁴⁾ The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

⁽⁵⁾ The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. ⁽⁶⁾ In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. ⁽⁷⁾ The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. ⁽⁸⁾ Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

⁽⁹⁾ He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. ⁽¹⁰⁾ He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. ⁽¹¹⁾ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky. ⁽¹²⁾ Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

⁽¹³⁾ The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. ⁽¹⁴⁾ He shot his arrows and scattered [the enemies], great bolts of lightning and routed them. ⁽¹⁵⁾ The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils. ⁽¹⁶⁾ He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

⁽¹⁷⁾ He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. ⁽¹⁸⁾ They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. ⁽¹⁹⁾ He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. ⁽²⁰⁾ The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Isaiah Chapter 2

⁽¹²⁾ The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), ⁽¹³⁾ for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, ⁽¹⁴⁾ for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, ⁽¹⁵⁾ for every lofty tower and every fortified wall,

⁽¹⁶⁾ for every trading ship and every stately vessel. ⁽¹⁷⁾ The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, ⁽¹⁸⁾ and the idols will totally disappear. ⁽¹⁹⁾ Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth.

⁽²⁰⁾ In that day men will throw away to the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship. ⁽²¹⁾ They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. ⁽²²⁾ Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

1 Thessalonians Chapter 3

⁽¹⁾ So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. ⁽²⁾ We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, ⁽³⁾ so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. ⁽⁴⁾ In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.

⁽⁵⁾ For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless. ⁽⁶⁾ But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. ⁽⁷⁾ Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. ⁽⁸⁾ For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.

⁽⁹⁾ How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? ⁽¹⁰⁾ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. ⁽¹¹⁾ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ⁽¹²⁾ May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

⁽¹³⁾ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Luke Chapter 20

⁽²⁷⁾ Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. ⁽²⁸⁾ Teacher,' they said, 'Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. ⁽²⁹⁾ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. ⁽³⁰⁾ The second

⁽³¹⁾ and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. ⁽³²⁾ Finally, the woman died too. ⁽³³⁾ Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?' ⁽³⁴⁾ Jesus replied, 'The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.

⁽³⁵⁾ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ⁽³⁶⁾ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. ⁽³⁷⁾ But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' ⁽³⁸⁾ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.'

⁽³⁹⁾ Some of the teachers of the law responded, 'Well said, teacher!' ⁽⁴⁰⁾ And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

?A canticle is a hymn, or other Christian song of praise with lyrics taken from biblical texts

The Canticles

The Third Song of Isaiah       Surge, illuminare Isaiah 60:1 to 3, 11a, 14c, 18 to 19

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.
For behold, darkness covers the land;
deep gloom enshrouds the peoples.
But over you the Lord will rise,
and his glory will appear upon you.
Nations will stream to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawning.
Your gates will always be open;
by day or night they will never be shut.
They will call you, The City of the Lord,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Violence will no more be heard in your land,
ruin or destruction within your borders.
You will call your walls, Salvation,
and all your portals, Praise.
The sun will no more be your light by day;
by night you will not need the brightness of the moon.
The Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.


The Song of Mary       Magnificat Luke 1:46-55  
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.


The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.
  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
  He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
  He descended to the dead.
  On the third day he rose again.
  He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
  He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
  the holy catholic Church,
  the communion of saints,
  the forgiveness of sins,
  the resurrection of the body,
  and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Prayers

The Lord's Prayer   Traditional
Suffrages     A

Seasonal Collect:  First Sunday of Advent
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both 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 forever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Personal Prayers and Reflection

This is a time to pause, consider and listen. Pray for yourself and others.


Closing Prayers   Thanksgiving

Conclude with following
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14



This concludes the Daily Morning Prayer
Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord