Welcome to this week’s Windmill United Benefice online service of Holy Communion for the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist, led and celebrated by the Revd Charles Sargent with a talk by the Revd Nicholas Calver.
To follow the service in one go, click on the bar below. The words can be found as you scroll down:
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The hymn ‘For all your saints still active’ is sung
For all your saints still active,
For those whose work is done;
For saints with you in glory
Whose earthly race is run.
You rose as King and Sov’reign,
That they the crown might wear,
Reserved for those who humbly
your earthly pathway share.
Give thanks for John the Baptist,
Forerunner of the Word
Who went ahead preparing
The way for Christ our Lord.
Greatest among the prophets,
He saw in Christ the One
Whom God had sent to save us,
Jesus, his only Son.
Apostles, prophets, martyrs,
Who served you here on earth,
Now reign with you in heaven,
Singing your praise and worth.
With them, and all whose witness
Is known to you alone,
We share our earthly journey
Towards your heavenly throne.
We praise you, God our Father,
We worship Christ, your Son,
We glorify your Spirit,
Forever three, yet one.
On earth we see you dimly,
In heaven face to face;
And then with all who’ve served you,
We’ll praise you, God of grace.
Introduction, confession and gloria
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
John the Baptist proclaimed,
‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’
Let us turn to the Lord in penitence and faith
and humbly confess our sin.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour
in thought and word and deed,
through negligence, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
who died for us, forgive us all that is past
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life
to the glory of your name.
Amen.
Almighty God, have mercy upon you,
pardon and deliver you from all your sins,
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,
and keep you in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
The Gloria is sung
Glory in the highest to the God of heaven!
Peace to all your people through the earth be given:
Mighty God and Father, thanks and praise we bring,
Singing alleluia to our heavenly king.
Jesus Christ is risen, God the Father’s Son:
Seated now and reigning from your Father’s throne,
Lamb of God the Saviour, all our sin to bear,
Show us now your mercy, now receive our prayer.
Christ the world’s true Saviour, high and holy One,
With the Holy Spirit, you are Lord alone!
Lord and God, we praise you; Highest heaven adores:
In the Father’s glory, all the praise be yours!
The Collect and reading
Let us pray
Collect for the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist
Almighty God,
by whose providence your servant John the Baptist
was wonderfully born,
and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Saviour
by the preaching of repentance:
lead us to repent according to his preaching
and, after his example,
constantly to speak the truth, boldly to rebuke vice,
and patiently to suffer for the truth’s sake;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Glory to you, O Lord.
The Gospel reading from Luke 1: 57-66, 80
by Rosie Yeldham
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Talk
by the Rev Nicholas Calver
The Intercessions
The responses to the intercessions are:
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer
and
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The Peace, leading into the Eucharistic Prayer
The Lord God of Israel has come to his people to set them free
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
The Eucharistic Prayer
The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give thanks and praise.
The priest continues the Eucharistic Prayer, until:
And now we give you thanks because you prepared the way of your Son Jesus Christ by the preaching of your servant John the Baptist, who proclaimed him as the Lamb of God, our Saviour.
Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you and singing:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
holy is the Lord God almighty.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
holy is the Lord God almighty.
Who was, and is, and is to come.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
The Eucharistic Prayer continues until:
Great is the mystery of faith:
Christ has died:
Christ is risen:
Christ will come again.
The Eucharistic Prayer concludes:
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray:
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 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.
Amen.
We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
Though we are many, we are one body,
because we all share in one bread.
All sing:
Let us break bread together on our knees,
Let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees
With my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.
God’s holy gifts for God’s holy people
Jesus Christ is holy,
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
After Charles receives Communion, he invites you to make your spiritual communion by using the following prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
since I cannot now receive you sacramentally
I ask you to come spiritually into my heart.
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,
may I know you more clearly, love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly, day by day.
Amen
The anthem is ‘O God, you search me’
(A setting of Psalm 139 by Bernadette Farrell, b 1957)
Recorded by members of the Windmill United Benefice choirs in 2020
O God, you search me and you know me.
All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.
When I walk or lie down you are before me:
Ever the maker and keeper of my days.
You know my resting and my rising.
You discern my purpose from afar,
And with love everlasting you besiege me:
In ev’ry moment of life or death, you are.
Before a word is on my tongue, Lord,
You have known its meaning through and through.
You are with me beyond my understanding:
God of my present, my past and future, too.
Although your Spirit is upon me,
Still I search for shelter from your light.
There is nowhere on earth I can escape you:
Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.
For you created me and shaped me,
Gave me life within my mother’s womb.
For the wonder of who I am, I praise you:
Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.
Closing prayers and blessing
Let us pray.
Merciful Lord,
whose prophet John the Baptist proclaimed your Son as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world:
grant that we who in this sacrament have known
your forgiveness and your life-giving love
may ever tell of your mercy and your peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Lord Jesus, give us your light in our eyes,
your word on our lips, and your love in our hearts.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit
to live and work to your praise and glory.
Amen.
Through the tender compassion of our God
may the dawn from on high break upon you
and guide your feet into the way of peace.
And the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ. Amen.
The hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ is sung
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I’m found;
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come.
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
Organist: Peter Nye
Hymn words reproduced under CCLI: 845257
Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (2000), material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.