The
following liturgy for the Lord's Day
is adapted from the forms prescribed by the Synod of the Christian
Reformed Church, and draws on a number of other sources, including
the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Alternative Services.
This particular liturgy is intended to demonstrate the various uses of
the Psalms in the course of worship.
In accordance with the wishes of John Calvin and the near universal
practice
of the church catholic in the first millennium, the ordinary weekly
Lord's Day liturgy
comprises both
word and sacrament.
The words of the congregation are in bold letters.
At the beginning of the liturgy all rise at the entrance of the
ministers
and elders.
Minister: In
the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
People: Amen.
M:
Our help is in the name of the
Lord, who made the heaven and earth. Grace and peace be to you from God
our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.
P: Amen.
M:
And now as our Lord gives to
us his peace, so let us pass the peace to each other, saying: The peace
of the Lord be always with you.
At this
point all pass the peace to each
other
in the name of the Lord, after which a psalm or hymn of praise is sung.
CONFESSION
OF SIN AND ASSURANCE OF PARDON
M:
God is light and in him
is no darkness. If we say we have fellowship with him while
we
walk
in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the
truth. But
if
we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with
one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all
unrighteousness. Let us therefore confess our sins before almighty God.
All kneel
or sit for the general confession of sins.
P: Most holy
and merciful
Father, we confess to you and to one another that we have sinned
against
you by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We
have
not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength; we have not
fully
loved our neighbours as ourselves; we have not always had in us the
mind
of Christ. You alone know how often we have grieved you by
wasting
your gifts, by wandering from your ways, by forgetting your
love.
Forgive us, we pray you, most merciful Father, and free us from our
sin.
Renew in us the grace and strength of your Holy Spirit, for the sake of
Jesus Christ your Son, our Saviour. Amen.
[Instead
of reciting the above general
confession,
all may sing the first two stanzas of Psalm
51
(Genevan) or a
similar penitential
psalm:
P:
Your righteous judgement I have surely earned,
nor could I hope to flee your harshest sentence.
Guilty from birth and needful of repentance,
I to my sins have constantly returned.
Yet you desire that I your truth should know;
teach me your wisdom that I may live rightly.
Make me as pure as freshly fallen snow,
cleanse me with hyssop that I may shine brightly.
or:
Lord
have mercy upon us. Christ
have mercy upon us.
Lord
have mercy upon us.]
M:
To all who confess
themselves
to be sinners, humbling themselves before God and believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ for their salvation, I declare this sure promise: If we
confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
THE LAW OF
GOD
To be sung
to the proper tune from the Strasbourg
Psalter of 1539 or the Genevan
Psalter of
1542.
M:
Therefore, as God's
forgiven
people, let us thankfully hear and obey his Law, rejoicing in the power
of the Holy Spirit to live the new life.
All
sing:
No graven image shall you make,
nor to the lifeless idol pray.
Take not God's holy name in vain,
nor from his paths shall you stray. (Kyrie eleison.)
Joy in the sabbath rest he gives,
laying aside your daily cares.
Father and mother shall you love,
and render them what is theirs. (Kyrie eleison.)
Harm not nor hate the woman or man
whom God has granted life's sweet breath.
Keep faith with those whom you have vowed
to love and cherish till death. (Kyrie eleison.)
Take not another's earthly goods.
From all deceit your tongue must flee.
Seek not what is your neighbour's own,
nor covet his property. (Kyrie eleison.)
Teach us, O Lord, to love your Law:
write all its precepts on our heart,
that we may live obediently
and from your ways not depart. (Kyrie eleison.)
THE
READING OF THE WORD
The
reading of the Word outlined here
presupposes
the use of the three-year common ecumenical lectionary in choosing
scripture
texts. If a lectio continua is used instead, the following
format
will be altered accordingly.
M:
Let us pray.
Almighty God, grant us your Spirit, that we may rightly
understand
and truly obey your Word of truth. Open our hearts that we
may love what you command, and desire what you promise. Set us free
from private distractions that we may hear, and from selfish pride that
we may
receive the promise of your grace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
P: Amen.
Old
Testament lesson:
Reader:
This is the Word of the
Lord.
P: Thanks be to
God.
At this
point a psalm is sung
or said.
The
Epistle lesson:
R:
This is the Word of the
Lord.
P: Thanks be to
God.
At this
point a psalm is sung
or said.
The Gospel
lesson:
R:
The Gospel of our Lord.
P: Praise be to
you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
A psalm,
canticle or hymn is sung at this
point
(e.g., a stanza from Psalm 119) in response to the reading of the Word
of God.
THE SERMON
A sermon
is preached based on one or more
of
the scripture texts read above. Following the sermon another
psalm,
canticle or hymn is sung.
THE CREED
M:
Let us together confess
the faith of the church at all times and in all places.
All: I believe
in God,
the Father almighty....
Or at this
place a metrical version of
the
creed
may be sung instead:
PRAYER AND
INTERCESSIONS
Prayers
are here offered for the coming of
the kingdom, for the church of Jesus Christ throughout the world, for
the
denomination and for the local parish, for the needs of the world and
of
the nations, particularly of the poor, for an end to persecution, for
the
sick, for the distressed, for those in authority, for families,
schools,
teachers, for rain to water the earth, for those who till the soil,
etc.
After each intercession the following may be said:
M:
Lord, in your mercy,
P: hear our
prayer.
or
M:
Lord, hear our prayer,
P: and let our
cry come
to you.
At the end
of the intercessions the Lord's
Prayer may be said or sung. Alternatively the Lord's Prayer
may
be
placed at the close of the eucharistic prayer (see bracketed phrase
below).
M:
And now, let us gather
our prayers together in the prayer our Saviour Christ has taught us:
All:
THE
OFFERTORY
THE LORD'S
SUPPER
M:
Brothers and sisters in
Christ, the Gospels tell us that on the first day of the week, the day
on which our Lord rose from the dead, he appeared to some of his
disciples
and was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Come,
then,
to the joyful feast of the Lord.
The Lord be
with you.
P: And also with
you.
M: Lift
up your hearts!
P: We lift them
up to
the Lord.
M:
Let us give thanks to
the Lord our God.
P: It is worthy
and right
so
to do.
M:
It is our joy and our
peace,
at all times and in all places to give thanks to you, holy Father,
almighty,
everlasting God, through Christ our Lord. We bless you for
your
continual
love and care for every creature. We praise you for forming
us in
your image and calling us to be your people. We thank you
that
you
did not abandon us in our rebellion against your love, but sent
prophets
and teachers to lead us into the way of salvation. Above all
we
thank
you for sending Jesus your Son to deliver us from the way of sin and
death
by the obedience of his life, by his suffering upon the cross, and by
his
resurrection from the dead. We praise you that he now reigns
with
you in glory and ever lives to pray for us. We thank you for
the
Holy Spirit who leads us into truth, defends us in adversity, and out
of
every people unites us into one holy church. Therefore with
the
whole
company of saints in heaven and on earth we worship and glorify you,
God
most holy, and we sing with joy.
All sing the Sanctus:
M:
We give thanks to God
the
Father that our Saviour, Jesus Christ, before he suffered, gave us this
memorial of his sacrifice, until his coming again. For the
Lord
Jesus,
on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given
thanks,
he broke it and said: "This is my body which is for you. Do
this
in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup after
supper,
saying: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this,
as
often
as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you
eat
this
bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
All sing:
Therefore we proclaim
the mystery of faith:
Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.
M:
Heavenly Father, show
forth
among us the presence of your life-giving Word and Holy Spirit, to
sanctify
us and your whole church through this sacrament. Grant that
all
who
share the body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ may be one in him,
and remain faithful in love and hope. And as this grain has
been
gathered from many fields into one loaf, and these grapes from many
hills
into one cup, grant, O Lord, that your whole church may soon be
gathered
from the ends of the earth into your Kingdom. [And now, as
our
Saviour
Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray:
All:
Our
Father, who art in heaven
. . . .]
M:
The bread which we
break
is a sharing in the body of Christ.
P: We who are many are
one body, for we all share the same loaf.
M:
The cup for which we give
thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
P: The cup which
we drink
is our participation in the blood of Christ.
M:
Congregation in the
Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord has prepared his table for all who love him and
trust in him alone for their salvation. All who are truly
sorry
for
their sins, who sincerely believe in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour,
and
who desire to live in obedience to him, are now invited to come with
gladness
to the table of the Lord.
All: Holy
Father, in
thanks
for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in the joy of his resurrection, in
the
hope of his coming again, we present ourselves a living sacrifice and
come
to the table of our Lord.
M:
The gifts of God for
the
people of God.
At this
point all come forward and take
their
seats around the Lord's Table to receive the bread and wine.
Psalms,
hymns and canticles may be sung during the reception.
M:
Take, eat, remember and
believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was given for a complete
remission of all our sins.
Take, drink, remember and believe that the precious blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ was shed for a complete remission of all our sins.
After all
have been served and returned to
their seats, a thanksgiving psalm, Psalm
103
set to the
Genevan tune, is
sung. (Psalm
113,
which was used in Zürich at this point in
the liturgy, may also be sung.)
M:
Congregation in Christ,
since the Lord has fed us at his table, let us praise his holy name
with
thanksgiving.
All sing:
He crowns your days with love and mercy tender,
to you in need his blessings he will render.
With eagle's vigour he renews your youth.
Justly the Lord will cancel all oppression.
As he to Moses sent his revelation,
so to his people he proclaims his truth.
or:
Above
all nations is the Lord
exalted and by all adored;
his glory far surpasses heaven.
Who with the Lord our God compares?
He is enthroned above the spheres,
he gazes down on earth and heaven.
M:
The peace of God which
passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge
and
love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord; and the blessing of
God almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be among you and remain
with
you always.
P: Amen.
M:
Go in peace to love and
serve the Lord.
P: Thanks be to
God.
All sing
the Nunc Dimittis at this
point.
To be sung in either the Genevan
version or
to a common metre or double
common metre melody.
All sing:
For you’ve prepared in love
a Light sent from above
to shine on every nation;
a Light revealed to be
the glory that we see
and Israel’s consolation.
or:
Versifications of Psalm
51, Decalogue, Psalms 103
and 113, and the two versions of the Nunc Dimittis © David T.
Koyzis
