This Is Me: November 2020

Monday, November 30, 2020

Reflection: Monday of the First Week of Advent

Reflection: Monday of the First Week of Advent

Prayers by Joyce Rupp

Reflection by Richard Rohr

Hebrew Text and Gospel readings using NRSV translation

Join me HERE every night for Advent prayers, readings, and reflection.

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Reflection: First Sunday of Advent

Reflection: First Sunday of Advent

Prayers by Joyce Rupp

Reflection by Richard Rohr

Hebrew Text and Gospel readings using NRSV translation

Join me HERE every night for Advent prayers, readings, and reflection.

Friday, November 27, 2020

Hope: Shining Through the Devastation

The Great O Antiphons: A Service for Advent 1

Opening Prayer

The Spirit and the church cry out:

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

All those who await his appearance pray:

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

The whole creation pleads:

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

A candle burns, the first marker of our Advent journey.

As we set out, may we travel full of hope.

As we set out, God of journeys, let your hope travel with us.

Opening Hymn – O Come, O Come Emmanuel

Listen Here

The First Antiphon: O Wisdom!

O Wisdom, from the mouth of the Most High, you reign over all things to the ends of the earth: come and teach us how to live.

Lord Jesus, come soon!

O Sapientia by Malcolm Guite

I cannot think unless I have been thought

Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken;

I cannot teach except as I am taught

Or break the bread except as I am broken.

O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,

O Light within the light by which I see,

O Word beneath the words with which I speak,

O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,

O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me,

O Memory of time, reminding me,

My Ground of Being, always grounding me,

My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me:

Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,

Come to me now, disguised as everything.

A brief silence for reflection

The Readings

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah 64:1-9

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,

so that the mountains would quake at your presence –

as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil –

to make your name known to your adversaries,

so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

From ages past no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who works for those who wait for him.

You meet those who gladly do right,

those who remember you in your ways.

But you were angry, and we sinned;

because you hid yourself we transgressed.

We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls on your name,

or attempts to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,

and do not remember iniquity forever.

Now consider, we are all your people.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be the God.

Psalm 80.1-7, 16-18

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,

you who lead Joseph like a flock!

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth

before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.

Stir up your might,

and come to save us!

Restore us, O God;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

O Lord God of hosts,

how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?

You have fed them with the bread of tears,

and given them tears to drink in full measure.

You make us the scorn of our neighbors;

our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts;

let your face shine, that we may be saved.

A Reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 1:3-9

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 has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Gradual Hymn – Magnificat

Listen Here

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark 13.24-37

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

“But in those days, after that suffering,

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.

Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. 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 forth 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 tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; 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 slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

The Gospel of Christ.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Sermon

Guest speaker - Joan Merton

May the words that are written here and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Thy sight O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today is the First Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Hope, a word that is living in all of our hearts right now. Our hope is in God, and in his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one appointed by God to be judge over all things. He is the one through whom God has promised to save and redeem his people.

“Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds”. As we begin our journey in Advent this vivid imagery clearly pictured the messianic hope of the early church. The exalted Jesus was to return in glory. This message of expectation is found again and again in the New Testament, as a generation waited for the coming of the Lord. It is impossible to miss this message from Matthew to Revelation.

Has the sound died out? It appears that multitudes of Christians no longer look for the coming of Christ in such a literal fashion. Today we look for a world of wonders that science and industry will provide.

A short rather dated quote in the Interpreter’s Bible says, “We are kept in a state of nervous excitement with prophecies of a world of tomorrow, a paradise of chromium and ceramics, of helicopters and television, of egg-shaped automobiles and layer cake houses, of skyscrapers made of glass and clothing made of soy beans! What a trade! Heaven for earth, God for gadgets, the coming of Christ in the life of the world for the coming of a salesman’s paradise!”

Yes the heavens of Jesus’ time and later times have passed away. The old earth has passed away but the words of Jesus have not passed away. They are as clear and pertinent today as they were two thousand years ago.

“Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.” (Mark 13: 33) Earlier in the passage the response that Jesus gives on Mount Olivet indicates that signs of the impending tribulation and destruction of the temple will be pervasive. Will the center of religious life be destroyed, when will it be destroyed and what happens when the temple is destroyed? These are questions that not only the early church had but questions that prevail today.

Then the year 2020 arrives and with it a devastating pandemic begins to spread over the entire earth. In March our church like many other churches closed to in-person worship. To many people it must have seemed like the destruction of the temple was happening even though buildings remained intact. It gave us time to realize that church was not the building and that God is not and will not always be where we expect to find God. We find God in everything it means to be human.

The things we enjoyed at church were taken from us; prayers, hymns, music, the Eucharist, hugs, dear friends and coffee time all disappeared. Clergy had to scramble to find other ways to be church that did not involve gathering in a building and they did. Thankfully they continue to find new ways to be the church every day.

There are so many virtual church services available every Sunday and even an evening prayer service Monday to Friday. Meetings continue via Zoom and once you have attended a couple of Zoom meetings you begin to get comfortable with that technology. It is so nice to hear someone’s voice that you haven’t heard for a while and to see their smiling face without a mask even if it is on a computer screen.

Although we have lost many things because of the virus we need to remember that in the midst of it all, the call to watch, wait, and work remains! May we all hold on to the HOPE that was given to us by Christ as we continue through 2020 awaiting science to refine a vaccine that will hopefully allow us to return to normal in the near future.

As the star of hope rises in this season, let it penetrate the darkness that is ours and make us ready to receive the glad news that unto us a Saviour is born! Amen

Affirmation of Faith

Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we say the Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God,

the Creator, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Redeemer, Jesus Christ,

the only Child of God,

eternally begotten of the Creator,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

one in being with the Creator:

Through the Redeemer all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

Jesus Christ the Redeemer

came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit

was born of the Virgin Mary, and became human.

For our sake Jesus was crucified

under Pontius Pilate,

suffered, died and was buried,

and, on the third day, rose again

in fulfillment of the Scriptures,

ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of God.

Jesus Christ will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead,

and the Reign of God will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Sanctifier, the Giver of Life,

who proceeds from God the Creator

and Jesus Christ the Redeemer,

who with the Creator and the Redeemer,

is worshipped and glorified

and who has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism

for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Prayers of the People

Watchful at all times, let us pray for strength to stand with confidence before our Maker and Redeemer. That God may bring in a kingdom with justice and mercy,

let us pray to the Lord:

Lord, have mercy.

That God may establish among the nations a sceptre of righteousness,

let us pray to the Lord:

Lord, have mercy.

That we may seek Christ in the Scriptures and recognize him in the breaking of the bread,

let us pray to the Lord:

Lord, have mercy.

That God may bind up the brokenhearted, restore the sick, and raise up all who have fallen,

let us pray to the Lord:

Lord, have mercy.

That the light of God’s coming may dawn on all who live in darkness and the shadow of death,

let us pray to the Lord:

Lord, have mercy.

That, with all the saints in light, we may shine forth as lights for the world,

let us pray to the Lord:

Lord, have mercy.

We commend ourselves and all for whom we pray to the mercy and protection of our heavenly God.

Silence

Almighty God,

as your blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ

first came to seek and to save the lost;

so may he come again to find in us

the completion of his redeeming work;

for he is now alive

and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

Confession and Absolution

Dear friends in Christ,

God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy; God welcomes sinners and invites them to the table. Let us confess our sins, confident in God’s forgiveness.

Silence

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbour as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we might delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.

Almighty God, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God will speak peace to his people, to those who turn to him in their hearts.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.

Offertory Hymn – Just As I Am (BCP #615)

Listen Here

Prayer over the Gifts

**Although not physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking place.

Let us pray.

Gracious God, your word to us is food indeed. Receive all we offer you this day, and let your loving-kindness be our comfort, for the sake of Jesus Christ, your living Word. Amen.

And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray,

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 those who trespass against us.

Save us from the time of trial,

And deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever. Amen.

Doxology

Glory to God,

Whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessing

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Almighty God bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.

Amen.

Closing Hymn – Light of the World by Lauren Daigle

Listen Here

Dismissal

As we await our coming Saviour,

go in the peace of Christ.

Thanks be to God.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Judgement and The Sacrament of Sheep and Goats

The Last Sunday After Pentecost: the Reign of Christ

**Please note this service is based on the format of the Anglican Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from the Book of Alternative Services (BAS) and the hymns from the Book of Common Praise (BCP). Other hymns and prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.

**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.

**This is for personal use at home as the church is unable to gather in our houses of worship but together we can worship in our own homes.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Amen. (Mark 11.9-10)

Opening Hymn – Be Thou My Vision (BCP #505)

Listen Here

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And also with you.

Collect for Purity

Listen Here

The Gloria

Listen Here

Collect of the Day

Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, our Lord and King, grant that the peoples of the earth, now divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his gentle and loving rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Readings

A reading from the Book of Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be the God.

Psalm 100

Listen Here

A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 1:15-23

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Gradual Hymn – Unto the Least of These (Used with permission of Steve Bell)

Listen Here

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. 25:31-46

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The Gospel of Christ.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Sermon

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight O Lord, for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Today is the Reign of Christ Sunday, or Christ the King Sunday. It is a celebration of the all-embracing authority of Christ as King and Lord of all things.

The feast is celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent. Actually, it is quite fitting that the feast celebrating Christ's kingship is observed right before Advent, when we liturgically wait for the promised Messiah.

But before we go into the season of talking about kings and the Messiah, let’s first talk about sheep, goats, and judgement.

Judgment comes from a place of vulnerability inside each of us. It comes from our need for self-assurance. It’s a misguided way of convincing ourselves that we have God’s favor because someone else does not.

There are many reasons we judge others. Sometimes we judge because it simplifies a complicated world by putting people in boxes of ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ Most of us grew up watching TV shows and reading stories where it was obvious what side a character was on.

A child reading The Lord of the Rings knows that the Orcs and Goblins are the bad guys and the Elves and Hobbits are good. In old Western movies you could distinguish good and bad by the color of someone’s hat.

But in the real world people don’t fit into simple visual narratives, although it would make life much easier.

People are ambiguous; saints can be sinful and the wicked can be redeemed. We see only a small snippet of each other’s stories. Even after spending a lifetime with someone, at the end we will have only understood a fragment of who they are in the eyes of God. It is God who alone sees us in our entirety and decides where we ultimately belong.

Judging is not the same as having an opinion. Being non-judgmental does not mean anything goes or that we should accept unacceptable behavior. What someone says and does communicates who they are and influences how we will relate to them, so of course we will have opinions about others (it would be naive to think otherwise). The difference is that opinion is something open that can be changed; a person can reform and relationships can mend.

A judgment is something final, something we don’t revisit once it’s been made. Once we’ve judged someone then we have dropped a curtain on them and it’s very hard to pull it back up. And let’s not kid ourselves. We, as human beings, judge almost on instinct – based on looks, assumptions about peoples’ lives, gender, skin color, and so much more.

We instinctively look for the winners, not the losers, in life. Why would we search for God in the dark and dirty places of the world?

This is what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel reading. Both “team goat” and “team sheep” express surprise at where Jesus was hiding in plain sight. He’d been right there with them in the midst of daily life in all its mundane messiness rather than holed up with the holy in the Temple or marooned on some majestic mountaintop.

“Team goat” made judgements about the people in their community, that they were not worthy of a king, THE King, to be living among them, and they sat around waiting for a royal entry.

“Team sheep”, on the other hand, were busy taking care of neighbors in need and ministering to folks within and outside of their communities.

Even here, we can start to lay judgement down. Did you automatically think that “team sheep” was better and more deserving of entry into the kingdom of heaven?

It is not our job to separate the sheep from the goats. The kingdom of heaven is not a club with us handing out entry tickets. We are more like promoters, not bouncers; we help send the invitations but who gets admitted isn’t up to us.

Our job is not to be the gatekeepers but to care for everyone as long as we’re out here in the field. What happens after that is up to God, and until then we are called to love without reserve or distinction. We have all sinned in the eyes of God. It is not that one person is more worthy to receive God than another, but that God continues to love us all regardless of our past.

Not only are we not the gatekeepers to heaven, but we are not the gatekeepers of who should and should not receive our love. I have often heard the phrase “that wasn’t a very Christian thing to do”. The passage today is exactly that…you shouldn’t care for people to earn your way to heaven, or because you think those persons are deserving of your love and care, by whatever judgement you deem necessary to make for them to earn that special place in your life.

Jesus says that whenever we give food to the hungry, welcome a stranger, clothe the naked, or visit the sick or imprisoned, we act in kindness toward Jesus himself. On the other hand, those who have failed to see the needs of the disadvantaged have acted as though they have never seen Jesus. They have not followed in Christ’s footsteps.

During this time of pandemic and isolation, people have been showing their love of one another by wearing masks in public. While this is a loving gesture, it has become increasingly easy to miss the humanity behind the mask.

The masks, or at least the pandemic behind the masks, have created discrepancies in wealth, privilege, race, and age. We seem to be preventing ourselves from seeing that all humans are more alike than we are different.

If someone we loved was naked, sick, or imprisoned, we would strive to meet their needs. So why are we not treating everyone with the same amount of care as we would our own loved ones?

Let’s remember that behind all of our various masks there are people Jesus loves. Each of us has value and each of us has need.

Thanks be to God for the One who cares about the needs of all; for the One who comes always in justice in mercy; for the One who both judges and is judged for us; for the One who meets us in the need of our neighbor; and for the One who works in us and through us in surprising and unexpected ways.

We are blessed to have seen a King who is not like the kings of this world. We are blessed because we know a King who brings real peace, who sees the needy, and who hears the cries of the oppressed. In God’s kingdom, no one is hungry, naked, sick, or alone.

There is judgment in this parable, without question. But it is ultimately God’s judgment, a judgment we do not control, a judgment rendered by God in and through Jesus Christ the Redeemer who in the very next verses will be handed over in vulnerability and weakness to be crucified by those he came to save.

May we cast our judgements aside and tend to both the goats and the sheep. Because, in the end, we are all part of the same flock.

Amen.

Affirmation of Faith

Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we say the Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God,

the Creator, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Redeemer, Jesus Christ,

the only Child of God,

eternally begotten of the Creator,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

one in being with the Creator:

Through the Redeemer all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

Jesus Christ the Redeemer

came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit

was born of the Virgin Mary, and became human.

For our sake Jesus was crucified

under Pontius Pilate,

suffered, died and was buried,

and, on the third day, rose again

in fulfillment of the Scriptures,

ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of God.

Jesus Christ will come again in glory

to judge the living and the dead,

and the Reign of God will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Sanctifier, the Giver of Life,

who proceeds from God the Creator

and Jesus Christ the Redeemer,

who with the Creator and the Redeemer,

is worshipped and glorified

and who has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism

for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Prayers of the People

(Intercessions for the Christian People)

Through baptism we have been raised with Christ, ordained to a royal priesthood, and made citizens in a holy nation. As faithful priests serving the King of kings, let us intercede for all the world, saying: In the name of Jesus our King, hear our prayer.

Almighty God, sovereign majesty, as your humble priests we pray for all your children who do not confess you as Lord. Enable us to live the food news convincingly, that all may inherit life eternal in the kingdom of heaven.