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Sunday, December 28 |
| The Midday Office To Be Observed on the Hour or Half Hour Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. |
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The Feast of St. Stephen |
The Call to Prayer |
| Come and listen, all you who fear God,* and I will tell you what he has done for me. |
| Psalm 66:14 |
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The Request for Presence |
| I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me;* incline your ear to me and hear my words. |
| Psalm 17:6 |
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The Greeting |
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| The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. Amen. |
| Traditional |
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The Refrain for the Midday Lessons |
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| The LORD is my strength and my song,* and he has become my salvation. |
| Psalm 118:14 |
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A Reading |
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| Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. Then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not stand up against him because of his wisdom, and the Spirit that prompted what he said. So they procured some men to say, ‘We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.’ Having turned people against him as well as the elders and scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. There they put up false witnesses to say, ‘This man is always making speeches against this holy place and the Law. We have heard him say that Jesus, the Nazarene, is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.’ The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel . . . They were infuriated . . . and ground their teeth at him. But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand. ‘Look! I can see heaven thrown open,’ he said, ‘and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.’ All the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they made a concerted rush at him, thrust him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul. As they were stoning him, Stephen said in invocation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and said aloud, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ And with these words he fell asleep. |
| Acts 6:8–15, 7:54–60 |
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The Refrain |
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| The LORD is my strength and my song,* and he has become my salvation. |
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The Midday Psalm |
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My Times Are in Your Hands |
| I have become a reproach to all my enemies and even to my neighbors,* a dismay to those of my acquaintance; when they see me in the street they avoid me. I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;* I am as useless as a broken pot. For I have heard the whispering of the crowd; fear is all around;* they put their heads together against me; they plot to take my life. But as for me, I have trusted in you, O LORD.* I have said, “You are my God. My times are in your hand;* rescue me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. Make your face to shine upon your servant.*” |
| Psalm 31:11–16 |
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The Refrain |
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| The LORD is my strength and my song,* and he has become my salvation. |
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The Gloria |
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| Glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, so it is now and so it shall ever be, world without end. Alleluia.* Amen. |
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The Lord's Prayer |
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| Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name. May your kingdom come, and your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. |
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The Prayer Appointed for the Week |
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| Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that I, who have been born again and made your child by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through my Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.† |
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Concluding Prayers of the Church |
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| Almighty God, who gave to your servant Stephen boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that I may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in me, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.† O God, you make me glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son my Lord: Give me this day such blessing through my worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.† |
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