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Thursday after the First Sunday of Advent

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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.

Nicholas Ferrar

Lord God, make us worthy of your perfect love; that, with your deacon Nicholas Ferrar and his household, we may rule ourselves according to your Word, and serve you with our whole heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalms

18

Part II

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21The Lord rewarded me because of my righteous dealing; *because my hands were clean he rewarded me;

22For I have kept the ways of the Lord *and have not offended against my God;

23For all his judgments are before my eyes, *and his decrees I have not put away from me;

24For I have been blameless with him *and have kept myself from iniquity;

25Therefore the Lord rewarded me according to my righteous dealing, *because of the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

26With the faithful you show yourself faithful, O God; *with the forthright you show yourself forthright.

27With the pure you show yourself pure, *but with the crooked you are wily.

28You will save a lowly people, *but you will humble the haughty eyes.

29You, O Lord, are my lamp; *my God, you make my darkness bright.

30With you I will break down an enclosure; *with the help of my God I will scale any wall.

31As for God, his ways are perfect; the words of the Lord are tried in the fire; *he is a shield to all who trust in him.

32For who is God, but the Lord? *who is the Rock, except our God?

33It is God who girds me about with strength *and makes my way secure.

34He makes me sure-footed like a deer *and lets me stand firm on the heights.

35He trains my hands for battle *and my arms for bending even a bow of bronze.

36You have given me your shield of victory; *your right hand also sustains me; your loving care makes me great.

37You lengthen my stride beneath me, *and my ankles do not give way.

38I pursue my enemies and overtake them; *I will not turn back till I have destroyed them.

39I strike them down, and they cannot rise; *they fall defeated at my feet.

40You have girded me with strength for the battle; *you have cast down my adversaries beneath me; you have put my enemies to flight.

41I destroy those who hate me; they cry out, but there is none to help them; *they cry to the Lord, but he does not answer.

42I beat them small like dust before the wind; *I trample them like mud in the streets.

43You deliver me from the strife of the peoples; *you put me at the head of the nations.

44A people I have not known shall serve me; no sooner shall they hear than they shall obey me; *strangers will cringe before me.

45The foreign peoples will lose heart; *they shall come trembling out of their strongholds.

46The Lord lives! Blessed is my Rock! *Exalted is the God of my salvation!

47He is the God who gave me victory *and cast down the peoples beneath me.

48You rescued me from the fury of my enemies; you exalted me above those who rose against me; *you saved me from my deadly foe.

49Therefore will I extol you among the nations, O Lord, *and sing praises to your Name.

50He multiplies the victories of his king; *he shows loving-kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants for ever.

Daily Office Readings

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Isa. 2:12-22

12 For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high; 13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; 14 against all the high mountains, and against all the lofty hills; 15 against every high tower, and against every fortified wall; 16 against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft. 17 The haughtiness of people shall be humbled, and the pride of everyone shall be brought low; and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. 18 The idols shall utterly pass away. 19 Enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. 20 On that day people will throw away to the moles and to the bats their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, 21 to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts in the crags, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. 22 Turn away from mortals, who have only breath in their nostrils, for of what account are they?

1 Thess. 3:1-13

1 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we decided to be left alone in Athens; 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in proclaiming the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you for the sake of your faith, 3 so that no one would be shaken by these persecutions. Indeed, you yourselves know that this is what we are destined for. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer persecution; so it turned out, as you know. 5 For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith; I was afraid that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor had been in vain. 6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always remember us kindly and long to see us—just as we long to see you. 7 For this reason, brothers and sisters, during all our distress and persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. 8 For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. 11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. 13 And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Luke 20:27-40

27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” 34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him another question.