Sunday evening November 29
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Preparation
Opening response
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Reveal among us the light of your presence
that we may behold your power and glory.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
creator of light and darkness,
to you be glory and praise forever.
As evening falls, you renew your promise
to reveal among us the light of your presence.
May your word be a lantern to our feet
and a light upon our path
that we may behold your coming among us.
Strengthen us in our stumbling weakness
and free our tongues to sing your praise.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.
Hymn
Hearken to the Solemn Voice
Charles Wesley
Hearken to the solemn voice,
the awful midnight cry;
Waiting souls, rejoice, rejoice,
and see the Bridegroom nigh;
Lo! He comes to keep his word,
light and joy his looks impart;
Go ye forth to meet your Lord,
and meet him in your heart.
Ye who faint beneath the load
of sin, your heads lift up;
See your great redeeming God,
He comes, and bids you hope:
In the midnight of your grief,
Jesus doth his mourners cheer;
Lo! He brings you sure relief;
believe, and feel him here.
Ye whose loins are girt, stand forth!
Whose lamps are burning bright,
Worthy, in your Savior’s worth,
to walk with him in white:
Jesus bids your hearts be clean,
bids you all his promise prove;
Jesus comes to cast out sin,
and perfect you in love.
Wait we all in patient hope,
till Christ, the judge, shall come,
We shall soon be all caught up
to meet the general doom:
In an hour to us unknown,
as a thief in deepest night,
Christ shall suddenly come down,
with all his saints in light.
Happy he whom Christ shall find
watching to see him come;
Him the judge of all mankind
shall bear triumphant home:
Who can answer to his Word?
Which of you dares meet his day?
Rise, and come to judgment!—Lord,
we rise, and come away.
Confession of sin
Let us confess our sins to God.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
My God, for love of you
I desire to hate and forsake all sins
by which I have ever displeased you;
and I resolve by the help of your grace
to commit them no more;
and to avoid all opportunities of sin.
Help me to do this,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Lord enrich us with his grace,
and nourish us with his blessing;
the Lord defend us in trouble and keep us from all evil;
the Lord accept our prayers,
and absolve us from our offenses,
for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen.
The Word of God
Psalm 9
Refrain:
You have not abandoned any who seek you, Lord.
I will thank you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will talk about all your wonderful acts.
I will celebrate and rejoice in you;
I will sing praises to your name, Most High.
When my enemies turn and retreat,
they fall down and die right in front of you
because you have established justice
for me and my claim,
because you rule from the throne,
establishing justice rightly.
You’ve denounced the nations,
destroyed the wicked.
You’ve erased their names for all time.
Every enemy is wiped out,
like something ruined forever.
You’ve torn down their cities—
even the memory of them is dead.
But the Lord rules forever!
He assumes his throne
for the sake of justice.
He will establish justice in the world rightly;
he will judge all people fairly.
The Lord is a safe place for the oppressed—
a safe place in difficult times.
Those who know your name trust you
because you have not abandoned
any who seek you, Lord.
Sing praises to the Lord, who lives in Zion!
Proclaim his mighty acts among all people!
Because the one who avenges bloodshed
remembers those who suffer;
the Lord hasn’t forgotten their cries for help.
Have mercy on me, Lord!
Just look how I suffer
because of those who hate me.
But you are the one who brings me back
from the very gates of death
so I can declare all your praises,
so I can rejoice in your salvation
in the gates of Daughter Zion.
The nations have fallen
into the hole they themselves made!
Their feet are caught
in the very net they themselves hid!
The Lord is famous for the justice he has done;
it’s his own doing that the wicked are trapped.
Let the wicked go straight to the grave,
the same for every nation that forgets God.
Because the poor won’t be forgotten forever,
the hope of those who suffer won’t be lost for all time.
Get up, Lord! Don’t let people prevail!
Let the nations be judged before you.
Strike them with fear, Lord.
Let the nations know they are only human.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen.
Refrain:
You have not abandoned any who seek you, Lord.
Psalm prayer
Remember, Lord, all who cry to you
from death’s dark gates;
do not forget those whom the world forgets,
but raise your faithful ones to Zion’s gate,
with your all-conquering Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Joel 3:9-21
Announce this among the nations:
Prepare a holy war,
wake up the warriors;
let all the soldiers draw near,
let them come up!
Beat the iron tips of your plows into swords
and your pruning tools into spears;
let the weakling say, “I am mighty.”
Come quickly,
all you surrounding nations;
gather yourselves there;
bring your mighty ones, Lord.
Let the nations prepare themselves,
and come up to the Jehoshaphat Valley;
for there I will sit to judge
all the surrounding nations.
Cut with the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Go and crush grapes,
for the winepress is full.
The jars overflow with wine,
for their wickedness is great.
Crowd after crowd fills the valley of judgment,
for the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of judgment.
The sun and the moon are darkened;
the stars have ceased shining.
The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the heavens and the earth quake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people,
a shelter for the people of Israel.
So you will know that I am the Lord your God,
settle down in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be holy,
and never again will strangers pass through it.
In that day
the mountains will drip sweet wine,
the hills will flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
will flow with water;
a spring will come forth from the Lord’s house
and water the Shittim Valley.
Egypt will become desolate
and Edom a desolate wilderness.
This is because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they have shed innocent blood.
But Judah will be inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem for all generations.
I will forgive their bloodguilt,
which I had not forgiven.
I will act on their account;
I will not pardon the guilty.
The Lord dwells in Zion.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Revelation 14:13-15:4
And I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Favored are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”
“Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their labors, because their deeds follow them.”
Then I looked, and there was a white cloud. On the cloud was seated someone who looked like the Human One. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Another angel came out of the temple, calling in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud: “Use your sickle to reap the harvest, for the time to harvest has come, and the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who has power over fire, came out from the altar. He said in a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle to cut the clusters in the vineyard of the earth, because its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle into the earth, and cut the vineyard of the earth, and he put what he reaped into the great winepress of God’s passionate anger. Then the winepress was trampled outside the city, and the blood came out of the winepress as high as the horses’ bridles for almost two hundred miles.
Then I saw another great and awe-inspiring sign in heaven. There were seven angels with seven plagues—and these are the last, for with them God’s anger is brought to an end. Then I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire. Those who gained victory over the beast, its image, and the number of its name were standing by the glass sea, holding harps from God. They sing the song of Moses, God’s servant, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and awe-inspiring are your works,
Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
king of the nations.
Who won’t fear you, Lord, and glorify your name?
You alone are holy.
All nations will come and fall down in worship before you,
for your acts of justice have been revealed.”
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Refrain:
Lord Jesus, you are the one who is to come, the one whom we await with longing hearts.
With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.
Luke 1:46-55
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen.
Refrain:
Lord Jesus, you are the one who is to come, the one whom we await with longing hearts.
Brief silence
The Apostle’s Creed
Let us unite in this historic confession of the Christian faith:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and will come again 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.
Prayers
Thanksgiving and intercession
Thanksgiving may be made for the day.
Intercessions are offered
for peace
for individuals and their needs
Response
Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armor of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Awaiting his coming in glory,
as our Savior taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
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 the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.
Conclusion
May the Lord, when he comes,
find us watching and waiting.
Amen.