Readings

The Third Sunday of Advent

    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

    63

    Deus, Deus meusBCP p. 670

    1O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.

    2Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *that I might behold your power and your glory.

    3For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *my lips shall give you praise.

    4So will I bless you as long as I live *and lift up my hands in your Name.

    5My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,

    6When I remember you upon my bed, *and meditate on you in the night watches.

    7For you have been my helper, *and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.

    8My soul clings to you; *your right hand holds me fast.

    9May those who seek my life to destroy it *go down into the depths of the earth;

    10Let them fall upon the edge of the sword, *and let them be food for jackals.

    11But the king will rejoice in God; all those who swear by him will be glad; *for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

    98

    Cantate DominoBCP p. 727

    1Sing to the Lord a new song, *for he has done marvelous things.

    2With his right hand and his holy arm *has he won for himself the victory.

    3The Lord has made known his victory; *his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

    4He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel, *and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

    5Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands; *lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

    6Sing to the Lord with the harp, *with the harp and the voice of song.

    7With trumpets and the sound of the horn *shout with joy before the King, the Lord.

    8Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it, *the lands and those who dwell therein.

    9Let the rivers clap their hands, *and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord, when he comes to judge the earth.

    10In righteousness shall he judge the world *and the peoples with equity.

    Daily Office Readings

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    John 3:22-30

    22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized 24 —John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison. 25 Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. 26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” 27 John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. 28 You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ 29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

    Isa. 13:6-13

    6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty! 7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt, 8 and they will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame. 9 See, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. 11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the insolence of tyrants. 12 I will make mortals more rare than fine gold, and humans than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of his fierce anger.

    Heb. 12:18-29

    18 You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.