❖ Catechism

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Question 28

❖ Praise

Glory be to God the Father;

Glory be to God the Son;

Glory be to God the Spirit, ever three and ever one:

As it was in the beginning, now and evermore shall be.

[Gloria Patri]

❖ Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, 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 sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit;

the holy catholic church;

the communion of saints;

the forgiveness of sins;

the resurrection of the body;

and the life everlasting.

Amen.

❖ Assurance of Pardon

Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call upon him while he is near;

let the wicked forsake his way,

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

[Isaiah 55:6–9]

❖ Confession of Sin

O you plenteous source of every good and perfect gift, shed abroad the cheering light of your sevenfold grace over our hearts. Yes, Spirit of love and gentleness, we most humbly implore your assistance. You know our faults, our failings, our necessities, the dullness of our understanding, the waywardness of our affections, the perverseness of our will. When, therefore, we neglect to practice what we know, visit us, we ask you, with your grace; enlighten our minds, rectify our desires, correct our wanderings, and pardon our omissions, so that by your guidance we may be preserved from making shipwreck of faith, and keep a good conscience, and may at length be landed safe in the haven of eternal rest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Anselm]

❖ Reading of the Law

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

[1 John 4:7–11]

❖ Adoration

We bless your name, O Lord, as those that are redeemed from death and hell! As those who are advanced to the dignity of sons! As those whom you save from all their enemies, but especially from ourselves, and from our sins. We bless your name, as those who are entering into glory, and hope to be with Christ forever, where sin and sorrow, enemies and fears, shall be shut out, and shall molest our souls no more forever! We foresee, by faith, that happy day! We see, by faith, the New Jerusalem! The innumerable angels! The perfected spirits of the just! Their glorious light! Their flaming love! Their perfect harmony! We hear, by faith, their joyful songs of thanks and praise. Lately they were as low and sad as we; in sins and sorrows, in manifold weaknesses, sufferings, and fears! But by faith and patience, they have overcome! And in faith and patience we desire to follow our Lord and them! The time is near! This flesh will quickly turn to dust, and our delivered souls shall come to you! Our life is short, and our sins and sorrows will be short! Then we shall have sight! We shall no more groan and cry out in darkness, O that we could know the Lord! Then shall we love you with pure, unmixed, perfect love, and need no more to groan and cry. O that our souls were inflamed with your love! Then shall we praise you with thankful cheerful readiness and joy, which will exceed our present apprehensions and desires! Amen.

[Richard Baxter]

❖ Call to Worship

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

[Hebrews 12:28–29]

The sirens you hear on a distant street are a consequence of the Fall

❖ Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name;

your kingdom come;

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

Amen.

❖ Prayer of Intercession

Restore my soul, O God. There are green pastures around me for which my eye has no lens; there are quiet waters beside me for which my ear has no chord; restore my soul. The path on which I go is already the path of your righteousness; open my eyes, that I may behold its windows. The place I call dreadful is even now the house of the Lord; the heavens shall cease to hide you when you have restored my soul. May I be content to know that your goodness and mercy shall follow me without waiting to see them in advance of me. Amen.

[George Matheson]

❖ Scripture Reading

• Exodus 11:1-12:21

• Luke 14

• Job 29

• 1 Corinthians 15

❖ Prayer for Illumination

Grant, Almighty God, that as you shine on us by your Word, we may not be blind at midday, nor willfully seek darkness, and thus lull our minds asleep; but may we be roused daily by your words, and may we stir up ourselves more and more to fear your name and thus present ourselves and all our pursuits as a sacrifice to you, that you may peaceably rule, and perpetually dwell in us, until you gather us to your celestial habitation, where there is reserved for us eternal rest and glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[John Calvin]

❖ Catechism

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Question 27

❖ Praise

Glory be to God the Father;

Glory be to God the Son;

Glory be to God the Spirit, ever three and ever one:

As it was in the beginning, now and evermore shall be.

[Gloria Patri]

❖ Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God;

begotten of the Father before all worlds;

God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God;

begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father;

by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation,

came down from heaven

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered and was buried;

and the third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures;

and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father;

and he shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead;

whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life;

who proceeds from the Father and the Son;

who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified;

who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.

I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins;

and I look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

❖ Assurance of Pardon

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

[Galatians 6:14–16]