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Thursday after the First Sunday of Advent

MorningEvening

The Collect of the Day

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.

Ambrose of Milan

O God, who gave your servant Ambrose grace eloquently to proclaim your righteousness in the great congregation and fearlessly to bear reproach for the honor of your Name: Mercifully grant to all bishops and pastors such excellence in preaching and faithfulness in ministering your Word, that your people may be partakers with them of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Psalms

18

Part I

Diligam te, Domine.BCP p. 602

1I love you, O Lord my strength, *O Lord my stronghold, my crag, and my haven.

2My God, my rock in whom I put my trust, *my shield, the horn of my salvation, and my refuge; you are worthy of praise.

3I will call upon the Lord, *and so shall I be saved from my enemies.

4The breakers of death rolled over me, *and the torrents of oblivion made me afraid.

5The cords of hell entangled me, *and the snares of death were set for me.

6I called upon the Lord in my distress *and cried out to my God for help.

7He heard my voice from his heavenly dwelling; *my cry of anguish came to his ears.

8The earth reeled and rocked; *the roots of the mountains shook; they reeled because of his anger.

9Smoke rose from his nostrils and a consuming fire out of his mouth; *hot burning coals blazed forth from him.

10He parted the heavens and came down *with a storm cloud under his feet.

11He mounted on cherubim and flew; *he swooped on the wings of the wind.

12He wrapped darkness about him; *he made dark waters and thick clouds his pavilion.

13From the brightness of his presence, through the clouds, *burst hailstones and coals of fire.

14The Lord thundered out of heaven; *the Most High uttered his voice.

15He loosed his arrows and scattered them; *he hurled thunderbolts and routed them.

16The beds of the seas were uncovered, and the foundations of the world laid bare, *at your battle cry, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

17He reached down from on high and grasped me; *he drew me out of great waters.

18He delivered me from my strong enemies and from those who hated me; *for they were too mighty for me.

19They confronted me in the day of my disaster; *but the Lord was my support.

20He brought me out into an open place; *he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Daily Office Readings

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Amos 4:6-13

6 I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 7 And I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered; 8 so two or three towns wandered to one town to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 9 I struck you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 10 I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword; I carried away your horses; and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 11 I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a brand snatched from the fire; yet you did not return to me, says the Lord. 12 Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel! 13 For lo, the one who forms the mountains, creates the wind, reveals his thoughts to mortals, makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

2 Pet. 3:11-18

11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. 14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Matt. 21:33-46

33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.