The Daily Liturgy FOR USE IN PRAYER AT GRACE CHURCH IN WACO, TX CRAFTED BY CORAM DEO CHURCH IN OMAHA, NE I Published 2020 for Grace Church in Waco, Tx. The liturgies in this book were written and compiled by the staff and pastors of Coram Deo Church in Omaha, Nebraska and used with permission. Design is by Jon Woods. Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ou are holding in your hands a special book, but not a unique one. It’s special because the prayers, readings, and reflection in the book are meant to guide the people of the church into the very presence of the Triune God of theY universe: to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. And yet, a book like this is not unique. For thousands of years, Christians have been praying and reading Scripture. Most of those Christians were guided into prayer by a book similar to this one, full of chosen passages and reflections oriented around the celebrations of the church calendar. These books of prayer, like this one, consisted of liturgies—rhythms of worship by the people, for the people—written and passed down as a means of devotional worship. Being ushered to God together by the means of liturgy isn’t a novel idea. It’s through this ordinary act of daily liturgy where we begin to be shaped by spiritual realities far outside what we can perceive. The truth is, we are always being formed. We are constantly taking in information and ideas and values. But when we place ourselves under the formation of God’s Word, coming to him in the humble confession and adoration of prayer, turning from the noise of life into the quiet and penetrating truth of communion with him: that is when we are formed not into the image of ourselves or our world, but into the very image of God. So the book you hold now is an ordinary one, a daily one. But the liturgies inside are special. They are God’s words and the responses of God’s people. In a changing world, here is solid ground. It may take months, years, or decades to really immerse yourself in the rhythms of grace, but here is a start. Here are daily liturgies for our daily need. III Contents HOW TO USE THIS BOOK ��������������������������������������������� vi ADVENT ������������������������������������������������������������������������1 CHRISTMASTIDE ��������������������������������������������������������� 26 EPIPHANY ������������������������������������������������������������������ 39 LENT �������������������������������������������������������������������������� 94 HOLY WEEK ��������������������������������������������������������������� 129 EASTERTIDE �������������������������������������������������������������� 136 PENTECOST ��������������������������������������������������������������� 179 ORDINARY TIME ��������������������������������������������������������205 How to use this book his book contains liturgies for every day of the year, unless that day is a Sunday. This is because Sundays are for corporate worship, where the people of God gather together to take part in a worship liturgy of their own. TMonday,-Saturday, this book can be used to guide prayer for families, communities, small groups, or individuals. You may have noticed that none of liturgies are dated. Instead of a set liturgy for each calendar day, the liturgies in this book follow the liturgical calendar of the church, a set of ancient markers meant to lead the church into rhythms of worship. The liturgical calendar is made up of seasons which split up the year. Because different seasons start on different days of the week depending on the year, each liturgy will be marked Mon-Sat for each “week” of the liturgical season. The week begins on Sunday. For example, if you are opening up this book on Wednesday, December 5th, the liturgy for your day is the one marked “Wednesday, Week 1 of Advent”. Since some seasons begin during the week on different days depending on the year, you may occasionally read a liturgy out of place. If you are unsure of where you are in the liturgical year, ask your church leaders to help you. Take a look at how the liturgical seasons are broken up during the calendar year: ADVENT Advent is about waiting for the coming of Christ. A time of longing and fasting, it lasts four weeks and progresses from darkness to light. CHRISTMASTIDE Christmastide starts with Christmas Day and is a season of celebration and joy as we rejoice in the incarnation of Christ. It lasts until epiphany on January 6th, which usually means it is celebrated for two Sundays after Christmas Day. EPIPHANY Epiphany begins on January 6th and is the season of renewal as we contemplate the revealing of Jesus’ divinity in his birth and life. It lasts until Ash Wednesday, about 6 weeks. LENT AND HOLY WEEK Lent is the season of fasting and repentance of sin leading up to Easter. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, lasting 40 days until Holy Week (a remembrance of Jesus’ last days) which begins with Palm Sunday, one week before Easter. VI EASTERTIDE celebrates the resurrection of Christ and is a season of celebration and hope. It lasts for seven weeks. PENTECOST Pentecost is the season for reflecting on the ascension of Christ, the sending of the Holy Spirit, and the mission of the church. It kicks off what is known as ordinary time, a season lasting all the way until Advent, four weeks before Christmas Day. TMASTID CHRIS E NT VE AD E PI PH A N Y O L E R N D T I N A R Y T K I M E E E W Y L O H E D I T R E T S A E ST O EC NT PE VII THE DAILY LITURGY VIII THE DAILY LITURGY Advent Advent is about waiting for the coming of Christ. A time of longing and fasting, it lasts four weeks and progresses from darkness to light. THE DAILY LITURGY 2 MONDAY, WEEK 1 OPENING PRAYER ord God Almighty: Open my Pray personally praising God for his eyes, that I may behold wondrous attributes and his work in your life. things in your law. Open my ears, Lthat I may tremble at your Word. Open PSALM READING: Psalm 122 my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. Guide me in your truth and teach PRAYER OF CONSECRATION me, for you are the God of my salvation. Gracious Father, this psalm calls me to For you I wait all the day long turn away from the rush of the world and come to the peaceful house of the Lord. Pray personally for humility before God. I answer that invitation with gladness, looking ahead to Sunday when I’ll gather CONFESSION OF SIN & PRAYER with your people, but also grateful that I FOR GRACE can enter your house now in prayer. Today, Merciful God, I confess before you that I Lord, I offer myself to you, inviting your have sinned. I have sinned in what I have life to flow through me. Guide my work, thought and said; in the wrong I have and give me the capacity to attend to it, free done and in the good I have not done. I from distraction. Direct my interactions have sinned in ignorance; I have sinned in with others so that I honor them as fellow weakness; I have sinned through my own image-bearers, loved and valued by you. deliberate fault. I repent and turn to you. Most of all, as I walk with you today, take Forgive me, for the sake of my merciful me beyond outward compliance with your Savior Jesus. By your Spirit, transform my laws, into true friendship with you. In this desires, renew my affections, and strengthen psalm, you urge me to pray for peace, so I my obedience, for the glory of your name. invite your peace to rule in my soul, in my work, in my interactions, and in the lives Pray personally for God to forgive your sin of those who love you all around the world. and offer his grace in Christ. Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in you. OT READING: Isaiah 2:1-5 NT READING: Romans 1:1-7 Pray for the needs of the church, the city, and the world. PRAYER OF ADORATION O God: I worship you because you have BENEDICTION called me to belong to Jesus Christ. And I And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus thank you that you are bringing about the Christ, and the love of God, and the fellow- obedience of faith for the sake of his name ship of the Holy Spirit, be with us now among all the nations, through the glorious and always, until the day of Christ’s return. gospel of Christ. ADVENT 3 TUESDAY, WEEK 1 OPENING PRAYER: PSALM 139 & 19 earch me, O God, and know Pray personally praising God for his my heart; test me and know my attributes and his work in your life. ADVENT anxious thoughts; and see if there Sbe any hurtful way in me, And lead me in PSALM READING: Psalm 80 the way everlasting. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be PRAYER OF CONSECRATION acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock O Lord, this psalm unfolds my family and my redeemer. history. It tells the story of your work with your people; how you brought them to free- Pray personally for humility before God. dom, how you cleared a space for them, and then how they fell under the weight CONFESSION OF SIN & PRAYER of their own sin. It’s punctuated by their FOR GRACE repeated cry for restoration, and I echo that O Lord of heaven and earth, remember me, cry in my own soul.