St. Giles’ Cathedral
Morning Service at 11am
3rd Sunday in Advent
Sunday 12th December 2021
Organ Music
J.S.Bach Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 645
Kenneth Leighton Fantasy on Veni Emmanuel
Introit
The truth from above
This is the truth sent from above,
The truth of God, the God of love,
Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
But hearken all both rich and poor.
Music: English traditional arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams
Scripture Sentences and Call to Worship
Hymn
Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free,
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver,
born a child, and yet a King,
born to reign in us for ever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal Spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all-sufficient merit
raise us to thy glorious throne.
Text: Charles Wesley 1707-88
Tune: Stuttgart CH4 472 Adapted from a melody in Witt’s Psalmodia Sacra, Gotha 1715
The Preces
O Lord open thou our lips
John Sanders 1933-2003
Bidding
Prayer
Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour out upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the mediation of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit: One God, now and for ever more. Amen.
First Lesson Zephaniah 3 14-20
The Choir sings the Benedictus
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: for he hath visited, and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us: in the house of his servant David;
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy Prophets: which have been since the world began;
That we should be saved from our enemies: and from the hands of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers: and to remember his holy Covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham: that he would give us;
That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies: might serve him without fear;
In holiness and righteousness before him: all the days of our life.
And thou, Child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people: for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God: whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Second Lesson St Luke 3 7-18
Hymn
Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat
where Jesus answers prayer;
there humbly fall before his feet,
for none can perish there.
Thy promise is my only plea;
with this I venture nigh:
thou callest burdened souls to thee,
and such, O Lord, am I.
Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
by Satan sorely pressed,
by war without and fears within,
I come to thee for rest.
Be thou my shield and hiding-place,
that, sheltered near thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
and tell him thou hast died.
O wondrous love! to bleed and die,
to bear the Cross and shame,
that guilty sinners, such as I,
might plead thy gracious name!
Text: John Newton 1725-1807
Music: Stracathro CH4 548 Charles Hutcheson 1792-1860
Sermon
Anthem
Lift up your head, O ye gates
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors :
and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is the King of glory?
It is the Lord strong and mighty, ev’n the Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.
Text: Psalm 24
Music: Orlando Gibbons 1583-1625
Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who 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.
Hymn
The Church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her
and for her life he died.
Called forth from every nation,
yet one o’er all the earth,
her charter of salvation
one Lord, one faith, one birth.
One holy name she blesses,
and shares one holy food,
as to one hope she presses
with every grace endued.
In toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.
Yet she on earth has union
with God the Three in One,
and mystical communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.
Text: Samuel John Stone 1839-1900
Tune: Aurelia CH4 739 S.S.Wesley 1810-76
Benediction
Organ Voluntary
Dieterich Buxtehude Praeludium in D minor
CCL Licence No 980930
Streaming Licence 57837
The service was conducted by The Rev Craig Meek