Advent 1

Watch, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.

(Mark 13:35,36 in the Book of Common Prayer, 1979)

Psalm 122

I was glad when they said to me,

    “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

2 Our feet have been standing

    within your gates, O Jerusalem!

3 Jerusalem—built as a city

    that is bound firmly together,

4 to which the tribes go up,

    the tribes of the Lord,

as was decreed for Israel,

    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5 There thrones for judgment were set,

    the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

    “May they be secure who love you!

7 Peace be within your walls

    and security within your towers!”

8 For my brothers and companions' sake

    I will say, “Peace be within you!”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

    I will seek your good.

Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days

    that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

    and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

3     and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

    to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

    and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go the law,

    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations,

    and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

    and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

    neither shall they learn war anymore.

5 O house of Jacob,

    come, let us walk

    in the light of the Lord.

Hymn

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

 (video, hymn with the tune "Cross of Jesus")

Romans 13: 8-14

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Prayer (Collect)

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 life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, 1979

Matthew 24:37-44

37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Anthem: Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying

1. Wake, awake, for night is flying,

The watchmen on the heights are crying;

Awake, Jerusalem, at last!

Midnight hears the welcome voices,

And at the thrilling cry rejoices:

Come forth, ye virgins, night is past!

The Bridegroom comes, awake,

Your lamps with gladness take;

Hallelujah!

And for His marriage-feast prepare,

For ye must go to meet Him there.

2. Zion hears the watchmen singing,

And all her heart with joy is springing,

She wakes, she rises from her gloom;

For her Lord comes down all-glorious,

The strong in grace, in truth victorious,

Her Star is risen, her Light is come!

Ah come, Thou blessed Lord,

O Jesus, Son of God,

Hallelujah!

We follow till the halls we see

Where Thou hast bid us sup with Thee!

3. Now let all the heavens adore Thee,

And men and angels sing before Thee,

With harp and cymbal's clearest tone;

Of one pearl each shining portal,

Where we are with the choir immortal

Of angels round Thy dazzling throne;

Nor eye hath seen, nor ear

Hath yet attain'd to hear

What there is ours,

But we rejoice, and sing to Thee

Our hymn of joy eternally.

(But the standard choral version in English has a modified text)

  

Prayer

O Lord, enlighten our waking hours, and guard us when asleep, that awake we may be found ready and waiting for Christ, and asleep may rest in the peace of his love, until that great day when he returns in clouds of glory to lift us to your heavenly throne. Amen.

Gordon Giles, The Music of Prayer: Meditations on Great Hymns of the Church

(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2004), 19

Unless noted, biblical passages are from the English Standard Version