Copy and paste into worship material, perhaps using a word or text processor - either complete services or parts. Use of bold for congregational vocal participation is suggestive only and usually follows on from the original.
General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (1932), Orders of Worship: For Use in Unitarian and Free Christian Congregations, London: The Lindsey Press, 76-88 (with reformatting and very slight editing).
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¶ The Service may commence with an Introit or a Hymn.
The Minister shall then read one or more of these sentences of Scripture, and the Call of Worship which follows. |
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Sentences
¶ All standing Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? The temple of God is holy: which temple ye are. Thoughts of peace, saith the Lord, do I think towards you: ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you: ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. |
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Call to Worship
Dearly beloved brethren, the heavenly Father in whose presence we now stand is always more ready to hear than we to pray: nor does anything hide him from us but the veil of our impure and earthly mind. And since the preparations of even the willing heart are not without him, let us inwardly pray for the grace of a humble and holy spirit that for a little while we may be alone with him; and, as his beloved Son went up into the mountain to pray, so we may rise above the haste and press of life, and commune with him in spirit and in truth. |
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Let us pray.
¶ All kneeling O GOD, who art, and wast, and art to come, before whose face the generations rise and pass away; age after age the living seek thee, and find that of thy faithfulness there is no end. Our fathers in their pilgrimage walked by thy guidance, and rested on thy compassion: still to their children be thou the cloud by day, the fire by night. Where but in thee have we a covert from the storm or shadow from the heat of life? In our manifold temptations, thou alone knowest and art ever nigh: in sorrow, thy pity revives the fainting soul: in our prosperity and ease, it is thy Spirit only that can wean us from our pride, and keep us low. O thou sole source of peace and righteousness; take now the veil from every heart, and join us in one communion with thy prophets and saints who have trusted in thee, and were not ashamed. Not of our worthiness, but of thy tender mercy, hear our prayer. Amen. The Lord's Prayer Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. |
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O Lord, open thou our lips. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise. ¶ All standing Lift up your hearts. We lift them up unto the Lord. ¶ Then may be said or sung one of the following Canticles. MORNING CANTICLE It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord: and to sing praise unto thy name O God Most High: To show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning: and thy faithfulness every night. The day is thine, the night also is thine, thou hast prepared the light and the sun. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised. I laid me down and slept: I awaked for the Lord tamed me. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord: in the morning will direct my prayer unto thee and I will look up. Lead me in thy truth and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation: on thee do wait all the day. Thou hast been a shelter for me will trost in the covert of thy wings. Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications; the Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him and I am helped. I will praise thee with my whole heart: I will bless thy name for thy lovingkindness and thy truth. Glory be to God most high the ever blessed God our Father; Who is and was and shall be: world without end. Amen. EVENING CANTICLE The Lord hath commanded his lovingkindness in the daytime and in the night season also my song shall be of him and my prayer unto the God of my life. As long as I live I will magnify thee and lift up my hands in thy name. Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as incense and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. For thou art the portion of my inheritance and of my I cup thou wilt maintain my lot. As for God his way is perfect he is a shield to them that trust in hIm. Behold he that keepeth his people: will neither slumber nor sleep. He is about my path and my lying down and acquainted with all my ways. I will lay me down in peace and take my rest: for it is thou only O Lord who makest me dwell in safety. Glory be to God most high the ever blessed God our Father: Who is and was and shall be: world without end. Amen. |
| THE FIRST LESSON |
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¶ Then may be said or sung the following Canticle or a Hyrnn may here be sung instead.
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS We praise thee O God we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud the Heavens and all the powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy holy holy: Lord God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory. The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee. The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee. The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee the Father of an infinite majesty. The everlasting light of all that live: Spirit of grace and truth the Comforter. Thou art the King of glory. O Lord: thou art the ever blessed God our Father. When thou lookest upon us in our low estate thou dost not despise our humble prayer. Thou settest us free from the bondage of sin and dost open the kingdom of heaven to all the faithful; And callest us to enter in and to dwell with thee for ever. We believe that thou art lodge of all the earth: we therefore pray thee help thy servants whom thou hast re deemed in thy boundless love. Make them to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting. O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage: govern them and lift them up for ever. Day by day we magnify thee: and we worship thy name ever world without end. Vouchsafe O Lord: to keep us ths day without sin. O Lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us. O Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us as our trust is in thee. O Lord in thee have trusted: let me never be confounded. Now unto the God of grace: for the might of his Spirit and the love of Christ: Be glory in the Church throughout all ages world without end. Amen. |
| THE SECOND LESSON |
| ¶ Here may be sung an ANTHEM. |
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¶ The Minister shall then read the Sentences which follow, the People responding.
THE BEATITUDES ¶ All standing. Jesus said Blessed are the poor in Spirit For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness For they shall he filled. Blessed are the merciful For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers For they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. |
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¶ The Minister shall then offer the following Prayers, or a selection from them.
Prayers ¶ All kneeling Let us pray for consecration. Eternal God, who committest to us the swift and solemn trust of life; since we know not what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving thee is always present, may we wake to the instant claims of thy holy will; not waiting for tomorrow, but yielding today. Lay to rest, by the persuasion of thy Spirit, the resistance of our passion, indolence, or fear. Consecrate with thy presence the way our feet may go; and the humblest work will shine, and the roughest places be made plain. Lift us above un righteous anger and mistrust into faith and hope and charity, by a simple and steadfast reliance on thy sure will and so may we be modest in our time of wealth, patient under dis appointment, ready for danger, serene in death. In all things, draw us to the mind of Christ, that thy lost image may be traced again, and thou mayest own us as at one with him and thee. Amen. Let us pray for faithfulness. O God, thou hast set us in the train of many martyrs and holy men; and given us, as author and finisher of our faith, one who offered himself up a living and dying sacrifice. We are not our own, but thine. Freely may we crucify our shrinking will, surrender ourselves to the uttermost claims of thy Spirit, and seek no peace but in harmony with thee. Amen. Let us pray for our King/ Queen and Country. Lord of all, whose balance trieth the nations, to lift up or to cast down; thou hast planted us, as a people, in quiet resting places, and stretched out our branches over the sea, and laid upon us a mighty trust. Never through vain conceit may we be blind to the unchanging conditions of thy blessing. The world and its fulness are thine our portion thereof may we hold, not in wanton selfwill, but reverently, as of thee; making it the stronghold of right, the refuge of the oppressed, and the moderator of lawless ambition. Crown thy servant, our King, with every personal and princely blessing. Higher than the eminence of his station raise him by the graces of thy Spirit: and may the glory of his rule be in the simplicity of his obedience. Enrich the mem bers of his house with inward and outward good. Make all who speak or act for this nation true organs of thine equity, that through their wisdom and faithfulness thou mayst be our Lawgiver and Judge. And let it be that, as with the people so with the chiefs, as with the servant so with the master, as with the buyer so with the seller, all may know thee as weighing the path of the just; that righteousness may be the girdle of our power. Amen. Let us pray for the Kingdom of God. O Thou whose eye is over all the children of men, and who hast called them, by thy Prince of Peace, into a kingdom not of this world; send forth his spirit speedily into the dark places of our guilt and woe, and arm it with the piercing power of thy grace. May it reach the heart of every oppression, and make arrogancy dumb before thee. Let it still the noise of our strife and the tumult of the people; put to shame the false idols of every mind; carry faith to the doubting, hope to the fearful, strength to the weak, light to the mourner; and more and more increase the pure in heart who see their God. Commit thy word, O Lord, to the lips of faithful men, or the free winds of thine invisible Providence; that soon the knowledge of thee may cover the earth, as the waters cover the channels of the deep. And so let thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. ¶ Here may be a brief pause for Silent Prayer Let us pray silently. [Pause] May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. |
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¶ The Service may then continue as follows, or in such other order as is preferred.
HYMN SERMON OFFERTORY HYMN |
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OTHER THAN AT CLOSE OF DAY
¶ COLLECT before the Morning Benediction O Lord, fill us with the simplicity of a divine purpose, that we may be inwardly at one with thy holy will, and lifted above vain wishes of our own. May we heartily surrender all our powers to the work which thou hast given us to do, counting it as our crown of blessing, if we may join the company of the faithful who have kept thy name and witnessed to thy kingdom in every age. Amen. DAYTIME BENEDICTION [END] |
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AT CLOSE OF DAY
¶ COLLECT before the Evening Benediction O God, who faintest not, neither art weary; whose everlasting work is still fresh as thy creative thought; we bless thee for the pity of night and sleep, givng us the rest thou never needest. We would lie down each evening in peace and thankfulness, and commit the folded hours to thee. But, O Lord, through toil and repose, save us from any fatal slumber of the spirit and keep us through life to the holy vigils of love and service, as they that watch for thy morning of eternity. Amen. CLOSE OF DAY BENEDICTION [END] |
Adrian Worsfold