Entries

DAY 2 (Jan 19)

Creation as God’s work

Opening Invocation

R/ Blessed are you, O Lord!

We praise you and give you thanks,

God of steadfast love

for the great signs of your favour

and your mercy for the whole creation. R/

You have made all things.

You declared them to be good,

for your Spirit dwells in them all

and they belong to you, O Lord, who love the living. R/

We confess, O Lord, your glory

in the immense starry spaces of the universe and in the smallest seed of life.

We give thanks for the works of your hands

and the creation of all people. R/

Blessed are you for the air that gives us life.

Blessed are you for the earth that nourishes us.

Blessed are you for the water that quenches our thirst.

Blessed are you for the fire that warms us. R/

Giving voice to the whole creation and gathering together every grief and joy,

we glorify you and give you thanks.

Lord God, you made all things,

and will soon transfigure them, clothing them with your glory. R

Scripture (Rom 8:19-23)

The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that^[the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

Psalm 148:1, 3, 9-14

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.

Praise him, sun and moon;

praise him, all you shining stars

you mountains and all hills,
    fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all cattle,
    small creatures and flying birds,
kings of the earth and all nations,
    you princes and all rulers on earth,
young men and women,
    old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
And he has raised up for his people a horn,
    the praise of all his faithful servants,
    of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the Lord.

From the Ancient Church

God cannot be seen by human eyes, but is seen and perceived through his providence and works. Just as one who sees a fully equipped ship entering port assumes that it has a pilot to guide it, so we must perceive that God is the pilot of the entire universe, even though he is not visible to the eyes of the flesh because he is incomprehensible. (Theophilus of Antioch)

The first book given by God to rational beings is the nature of created things. Instruction by means of ink was added after the transgression. (Isaac of Nineveh)

For all things were made out of nothing, and their being would again sink into nothing, if the Author of all things did not hold it by the hand of governance. (Gregory the Great)

Musical Selection (Willy Richter)

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light', and there was light." (Genesis 1:1-3)

Collect

Lord God, Father of lights,

strengthen our hearts in expectation and hope

as we work for unity and together seek the harmony of all creation.

Let us be burning lamps,

until the day of the coming of your Son in glory,

with all his saints in the everlasting kingdom.

Blessed are you, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

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