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Thursday after the Third Sunday of Advent

    MorningEvening

    The Collect of the Day

    Third Sunday of Advent

    Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

    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 for ever. Amen.

    Psalms

    50

    Deus deorumBCP p. 654

    1The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; *he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

    2Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, *God reveals himself in glory.

    3Our God will come and will not keep silence; *before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm.

    4He calls the heavens and the earth from above *to witness the judgment of his people.

    5“Gather before me my loyal followers, *those who have made a covenant with me and sealed it with sacrifice.”

    6Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; *for God himself is judge.

    7Hear, O my people, and I will speak: “O Israel, I will bear witness against you; *for I am God, your God.

    8I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices; *your offerings are always before me.

    9I will take no bull-calf from your stalls, *nor he-goats out of your pens;

    10For all the beasts of the forest are mine, *the herds in their thousands upon the hills.

    11I know every bird in the sky, *and the creatures of the fields are in my sight.

    12If I were hungry, I would not tell you, *for the whole world is mine and all that is in it.

    13Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, *or drink the blood of goats?

    14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving *and make good your vows to the Most High.

    15Call upon me in the day of trouble; *I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.”

    16But to the wicked God says: *“Why do you recite my statutes, and take my covenant upon your lips;

    17Since you refuse discipline, *and toss my words behind your back?

    18When you see a thief, you make him your friend, *and you cast in your lot with adulterers.

    19You have loosed your lips for evil, *and harnessed your tongue to a lie.

    20You are always speaking evil of your brother *and slandering your own mother’s son.

    21These things you have done, and I kept still, *and you thought that I am like you.”

    22“I have made my accusation; *I have put my case in order before your eyes.

    23Consider this well, you who forget God, *lest I rend you and there be none to deliver you.

    24Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; *but to those who keep in my way will I show the salvation of God.”

    Daily Office Readings

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    Matt. 3:1-12

    1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” 4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

    2 Pet. 2:10b-16

    10 —especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority. Bold and willful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgment from the Lord. 12 These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed, they also will be destroyed, 13 suffering the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

    Isa. 9:18-10:4

    18 For wickedness burned like a fire, consuming briers and thorns; it kindled the thickets of the forest, and they swirled upward in a column of smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land was burned, and the people became like fuel for the fire; no one spared another. 20 They gorged on the right, but still were hungry, and they devoured on the left, but were not satisfied; they devoured the flesh of their own kindred; 21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, and together they were against Judah. For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still. 1 Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, 2 to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey! 3 What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth, 4 so as not to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain? For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still.