Dear friends,

We are pleased to announce that we will be having  Morning Prayer   service this Sunday 31 January 2021 at St. Stephen’s Tuck Hall at 10:30 am   (Covid 19 Protocols in place).

 

We will also be live streaming service for The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.

 

Stephen +

  

St. Stephen’s Anglican Parish

On- Line Bulletin

10:30 St. Stephens Comm. Ctr

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

31 January 2021

 

Our mission is to worship God and care for

God’s people in the spirit of Christ.

 

The Rev. Ian Wissler, Rector

Rev. Canon Dr. Stephen Paul Booth, Priest-in-Charge

Wardens:  Mary Casavant, Jon Waddell

Choir Director: Dawn Harwood-Jones

Organist: Margaret Machum

ststephensparish@ns.sympatico.ca

saintstephenschester.ca

Parish Office Hours:  Monday-Thursday, 9am – 1pm

54 Regent St. Chester NS B0J 1J0      902-275-3804 

 

 

 

 

 

MORNING PRAYER

 

Welcome and Opening Sentence

 

The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2. 14.

 

Exhortation

 

DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness; and that we should not dissemble nor cloke them before the face of Almighty God our heavenly Father; but confess them with an humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart; to the end that we may obtain forgiveness of the same, by his infinite goodness and mercy.
     And although we ought at all times humbly to acknowledge our sins before God; yet ought we most chiefly so to do, when we assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most holy Word, and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul.
     Wherefore I pray and beseech you, as many as are here present, to accompany me with a pure heart and humble voice unto the throne of the heavenly grace.

 

A general Confession to be said of the whole Congregation with the Minister

 

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, We have offended against thy holy laws, We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

The Absolution, or Remission of sins, to be pronounced by the Priest alone.

 

     ALMIGHTY God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he may turn from his wickedness, and live, hath given power and commandment to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins.
     He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel.
     Wherefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do at this present, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

The people shall answer here, and at the end of all other prayers:

Amen.

Here the Lord’s Prayer may be said; the people repeating it with the Minister.

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.

Minister. O Lord, open thou our lips;
People. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.
Minister. O God, make speed to save us;
People. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Here, the Minister shall say:

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
People. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Minister. Praise ye the Lord;
People. The Lord’s Name be praised.

 

VENITE EXULTEMUS DOMINO. PSALM 95

 

O COME, let us sing unto the LORD: / let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, / and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, / and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth: / and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: / and his hands prepared the dry land.

O COME, let us worship, and fall down, / and kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God; / and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

TO-DAY, O that ye would hear his voice: / ‘Harden not your hearts as in the Provocation, and as in the day of Temptation in the wilderness;
When your fathers tempted me, / proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, and said, / “It is a people that do err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways”;
Unto whom I sware in my wrath, / that they should not enter into my rest.’

GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

 

Then shall follow THE PSALM.

Psalm 111

Confitebor tibi

1 Hallelujah!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, *
in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.

2 Great are the deeds of the Lord! *
they are studied by all who delight in them.

3 His work is full of majesty and splendor, *
and his righteousness endures for ever.

4 He makes his marvelous works to be remembered; *
the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

5 He gives food to those who fear him; *
he is ever mindful of his covenant.

6 He has shown his people the power of his works *
in giving them the lands of the nations.

7 The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; *
all his commandments are sure.

8 They stand fast for ever and ever, *
because they are done in truth and equity.

9 He sent redemption to his people;
he commanded his covenant for ever; *
holy and awesome is his Name.

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; *
those who act accordingly have a good understanding;
his praise endures for ever.

 

 

Then shall be read the

First Reading

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. This is what you requested of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said: “If I hear the voice of the Lord my God any more, or ever again see this great fire, I will die.” Then the Lord replied to me: “They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.”

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 hosts;
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;
Thine honourable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

THOU art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.

 

Second Reading

Mark 1:21-28

Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jubilate Deo, the 100th Psalm

 

O BE joyful in the LORD, all ye lands: / serve the LORD with gladness, and come before his presence with a song.
2 Be ye sure that the LORD he is God; / it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
3 O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; / be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name.
4 For the LORD is gracious, his mercy is everlasting; / and his truth endureth from generation to generation

 

 

 

Then shall be said the Confession of the Faith, called the Apostles’ Creed.

 

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
     And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
     I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

 

And after the Creed these prayers following, the Minister first pronouncing:

 

The Lord be with you;
People. And with thy spirit.
Minister. Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

 

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. Amen.

Then the Priest shall say:

O Lord, show thy mercy upon us;
People. And grant us thy salvation.
Priest. O Lord, save the Queen;
People. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Priest. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness;
People. And make thy chosen people joyful.
Priest. O Lord, save thy people;
People. And bless thine inheritance.
Priest. Give peace in our time, O Lord;
People. And evermore mightily defend us.
Priest. O God, make clean our hearts within us;
People. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

 

Then shall follow THE COLLECT OF THE DAY

 

Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

The Second Collect, for Peace.

O GOD, who art the author of peace and lover of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom: Defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

The Third Collect, for Grace.

O LORD our heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day: Defend us in the same with thy mighty power; and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

The Sermon

 

Closing Prayers and Blessing

 

 

 

Announcements

 

Well, that’s about it for January!! Still, we look forward to getting back to as normal as we can, carefully and safely of course! and in-Church (in Tuck Hall) Worship is a wonderful start!

 

For those who cannot attend in person, we are pleased to remind folks that along with mail in and pre authorized withdrawal; we can accept e-transfers that make it simple to send your weekly offerings! so easy and so kindly appreciated. Thank you!

 

Here are the steps

 

1.       From your Accounts page, select Transfers.

2.       Select Interac e-Transfer.

3.       Select Send money.

4.       Select a contact to send money to    ststephensparish@ns.sympatico.ca

5.       Select the account you want to send money from.

6.       Enter the amount of your transfer.

7.       Enter a security question and answer, and then select Continue