In you, infinite God, we live and move and have our being.

You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

Before the mountains were born

or you brought forth the whole world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

But we are creatures of dust who return to dust.

In the morning you wake us up into the thunder of life.

In the evening you sweep us away in the sleep of death.

We are only mortals, mere transients in the world.

Our days quickly pass, and we fly away.

Our times are in your hands, because

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

So teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

You could condemn us with just cause.

Because of our sin, you could consume us with your anger,

yet you surround us with compassion.

Your unfailing love is all we need.

May we sing for joy all our days.

Bless our work and our lives

so that they may testify to your glory.

—based on Psalm 90

Let us pray our confession to the all-holy Trinity:

Father God, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Spirit, have mercy!

[silence for personal prayers confessing sins of commission]

Father God, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Spirit, have mercy!

[silence for personal prayers confessing sins of omission]

Father God, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Spirit, have mercy! Amen.

—based on Isaiah 12:2

Triune God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

we adore you for your threeness and oneness, a holy mystery.

We are in awe of that same unfathomable mystery reflected in

the creation around us . . .

the complexity of an atom . . .

the birth of a child . . .

your work in our lives . . .

Your ways are higher than our ways,

your thoughts greater than our thoughts,

so although we acknowledge

that we do not always understand your ways,

we continue to offer you our prayers for

creation and its care . . .

the nations of the world . . .

our nation and its leaders . . .

this community and those in authority . . .

the church universal as it works on your behalf . . .

this local church in its ministry . . .

persons with particular needs . . .

We pray in the name of the triune God,

three in one, from eternity to eternity. Amen.

 

Gracious God, from all eternity you dwelled in Trinitarian community and yet saw fit to expand the realm of love. You made us finite creatures to love you and to love each other. But we are mortals, subject to sin and death. So have mercy on us, God most high, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thought by some scholars to date back to the Middle Ages, KINGSFOLD is a folk tune set to a variety of texts in England and Ireland.

 

The tune was published in English Country Songs (1893), an anthology compiled by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. Fuller Maitland. After having heard the tune in Kingsfold, Sussex, England (thus its name), Ralph Vaughan Williams introduced it as a hymn tune in The English Hymnal (1906) as a setting for Horatius Bonar's “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.”

 

Shaped in classic rounded bar form (AABA), KINGSFOLD has modal character and is both dignified and strong. 

Raised in the Church of England, Frederick W. Faber (b. Calverly, Yorkshire, England, 1814; d. Kensington, London, England, 1863) came from a Huguenot and strict Calvinistic family background. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and ordained in the Church of England in 1839. Influenced by the teaching of John Henry Newman, Faber followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845 and served under Newman's supervision in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Because he believed that Roman Catholics should sing hymns like those written by John Newton, Charles Wesley, and William Cowpe, Faber wrote 150 hymns himself. One of his best known, "Faith of Our Fathers," originally had these words in its third stanza: "Faith of Our Fathers! Mary's prayers/Shall win our country back to thee." He published his hymns in various volumes and finally collected all of them in Hymns (1862).