Cantica Gaudia

Advent: Saturday Morning Prayer

Opening: In the light of the morning, Lord, tune our hearts to sing your praise.

Canticle: Providing God of the wheat in the desert,
You nourish our lives.
Sustaining God, you sent food for your people –
You supply all our needs.
With honey from the rocks you fed them
Your presence is joy.
God of the manna from heaven,
You are bread for our souls.

Refreshing God of the rain and the dewfall,
You revive the land.
God of the rock and the river,
Your love overflows.
Our God, you are healing and cleansing—
Renew us in you.
God of the crystal waters,
The water of life.

Lord Jesus, by your life you feed us,
For you are our bread.
Lord Jesus, by your body broken
Our souls are fed.
River of life-giving water,
Refresh and renew.
Creator, Savior, and Spirit,
We thirst for you.

Psalm: Let the heavens rejoice
Let the earth dance
Let the sea churn with all the life that’s in it
Let the fields burst with plenty
And the trees of the forest brim with dignity
In song to you who comes with justice
Who comes with the sweetness of truth

Antiphon: O King of the nations, and their desire,
the cornerstone making both one:
Come and save the human race,

which you fashioned from clay.

Reading: When first he painted the Virgin the friar filled
the space around her with angels' bright wings,
scalloped and plated, with skies of gold,

heavy with matter. He thought that he knew
that heaven was everywhere. He grew
older, wiser and found that he drew

more homely rooms with pots and beds,
but lavished his art on soft furnishings
and the turn of the waiting angel's wings

(still gorgeous with colour and precious dust).
Much later, he sensed that his God had withdrawn,
was spacious. On smaller frescoes he painted less,

let wall be wall, but drew in each lawn
the finer detail of sorrel and weeds.
Still later, he found his devotion drawn

to nothing - shadows hinted at hidden rooms,
at improbable arches, while angel's news
shattered the Virgin, who became a view

As open as virtue, her collapsing planes
easy and vacant as the evening breeze
that had brought a plain angel to his grateful knees

The Lord’s Prayer:

Abba our God,
Whom the heavens disclose,
May your name be held holy,
Your authority come.
May your longing be fulfilled
As in heaven, so on earth.
Give us today the bread of tomorrow,
And cancel our debts
As we have already forgiven our debtors.
Do not draw us in
To sinful enticement,
But set us free
From the grip of evil;
For authority and power and glory
Are yours alone, for ever.  Amen.

Prayer: Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in us a wonder at the wisdom and power of Your Father and ours. Receive our prayer as part of our service of the Lord, who enlists us in God's own work for justice. 

Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in us a hunger for peace: peace in the world, peace in our homes, peace in ourselves. 

Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in us a joy responsive to the Father's joy. We seek God’s will so we can serve with gladness, singing and love. 

Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in us the joy and love and peace it is right to bring to the manger of our Lord. Raise in us, too, sober reverence for the God who acted there, hearty gratitude for the life begun there, and spirited resolution to serve the Father and Son. 

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, whose advent we hail. Amen

Collect:  O Christ for whom we search, our help when help has failed: give us courage to expose our need and ask to be made whole; that, being touched by you, we may be raised to new life in the power of your name. Amen.

Going Forth: God's strength, Christ's compassion and the Spirit's wisdom be with us in all we do. Amen.