Be Thou My Vision: 7 Days of Liturgy for Daily WorshipSample

Call to Worship

Hear God call you to worship through his word:

Praise the Lord, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

For great is his steadfast love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 117:1–2

Adoration

Pray this praise to God:

O God, you are life, wisdom, truth, bounty, and blessedness, the eternal, the only true good; our God and our Lord, you are our hope and our heart’s joy—we acknowledge with thanksgiving that you have made us in your image, and that we may direct our thoughts to you. Lord, make us know you aright, that we may love, enjoy, and possess you more and more; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Anselm

Reading of the Law

Hear God’s law as his will for your life:

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ:

your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. . . . You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. . . . Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. . . . Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. . . . So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 5:20, 48; 6:1, 33; 7:12

Confession of Sin

Confess your sins to God:

Almighty God and heavenly Father, we poor, miserable sinners confess that from our childhood until this very hour we have sinned against your commandments by evil thoughts, words, will, and works, which we cannot count, and first of all by vast unbelief. Therefore, we are not worthy to be called your children, nor lift our eyes up to heaven. O God and Father, we wish that we had never provoked you to anger. In your mercy and for the sake of your glory, we ask you to receive us into your grace by the forgiveness of our sins. Amen.

John Oecolampadius

Assurance of Pardon

Receive these words of comfort from God:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1–2

Athanasian Creed, Part 3

Confess what you believe about the Christian faith:

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith. Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally. Now this is the catholic faith:

that we worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confounding their persons nor dividing the essence. . . .

But it is necessary for eternal salvation that one also believe in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.

Now this is the true faith:

that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son,

is both God and man, equally.

He is God from the essence of the Father, begotten before time;

and he is man from the essence of his mother, born in time;

completely God, completely man, with a rational soul and human flesh;

equal to the Father as regards divinity,

less than the Father as regards humanity.

Although he is God and man, yet Christ is not two, but one.

He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh,

but by God’s taking humanity to himself.

He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence,

but by the unity of his person.

For just as one man is both rational soul and flesh,

so too the one Christ is both God and man.

He suffered for our salvation;

he descended to hell;

he arose from the dead on the third day;

he ascended to heaven;

he is seated at the Father’s right hand;

from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

At his coming all people will arise bodily and give an accounting of their own deeds.

Those who have done good will enter eternal life,

and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith: that one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.

Praise

Say or sing this praise to God:

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.

Gloria Patri

Prayer for Illumination

As you read his word, ask God to enlighten your mind and heart: O heavenly Father, whose law is perfect, converting the soul; a sure testimony, giving wisdom to the unlearned, and enlightening the eyes—we humbly implore you, through your boundless goodness, to enlighten our blind intellect by your Holy Spirit, so that we may truly understand and profess your law and live according to it. Since it has pleased you, most merciful Father, to reveal the mysteries of your will only to the little ones; and since you look to him alone who is of a humble and contrite spirit, who has reverence for your Word, grant us a humble spirit and keep us from all fleshly wisdom, which is enmity against you. Bring to the right way those who stray from the truth, so that we all may unanimously serve you in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our life. We ask this from you, most merciful Father, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Martin Micronius

Scripture Reading

Read a portion of God’s word:

Genesis 5, Matthew 5, Ezra 5, Acts 5

Prayer of Intercession

As you make your requests to God, pray this prayer:

Almighty God, the fountain of wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask, and our ignorance in asking—we ask you to have compassion upon our weaknesses; and those things, which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask, grant to give us for the worthiness of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer (1552)

Further Petition

• Personal
• Church
• World

Lord’s Prayer

In closing, pray the words that Jesus taught us to pray:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name;

your kingdom come;

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom, and the power,

and the glory, forever. Amen.