Prayer & Praise

FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT

Collect

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 for ever.  Amen.

Isaiah 64:1-9a

 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at your presence—
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
who acts for those who wait for him.
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name,
who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
and remember not iniquity forever.

 Psalm 80

Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, you that lead Joseph like a sheep;* show yourself also, you that sit upon the cherubim.

Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, * stir up your strength and come to help us.

Restore us again, O God; * show the light of your countenance, and we shall be whole.

O Lord God of hosts, * how long will you be angry with your people that pray?

You feed them with the bread of tears * and give them plenteous tears to drink.

You have made us the derision of our neighbors, * and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

Restore us again, O God of hosts; * show the light of your countenance, and we shall be whole.

You have brought a vine out of Egypt; * you have cast out the nations and planted it.

You made room for it, * and when it had taken root it filled the land.

The hills were covered with the shadow of it, * and the boughs thereof were like the mighty cedar trees.

It stretched out its branches to the sea * and its boughs to the river.

Why have you broken down her hedge, * so that all those who go by pluck off her grapes?

The wild boar out of the wood roots it up, * and the wild beasts of the field devour it.

Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; * behold, and visit this vine,

And the place of the vineyard that your right hand has planted, * and the branch that you made so strong for yourself.

As for those who burn it with fire and cut it down, * let them perish at the rebuke of your countenance.

Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand * and upon the son of man, whom you made so strong for yourself.

And so we will not turn back from you; * O let us live, and we shall call upon your Name.

 Restore us again, O Lord God of hosts; * show the light of your countenance, and we shall be whole.

+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.

 

 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus,  that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,  who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 Mark 13:24-37

“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light,  and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.  And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.  So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.  Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.  It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—  lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.  And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”