Thursday evening October 20
Friday evening
Wednesday evening
Preparation
Opening response
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God, creator of day and night:
to you be praise and glory forever.
As darkness falls you renew your promise
to reveal among us the light of your presence.
By the light of Christ, your living Word,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
that we may walk as children of light
and sing your praise throughout the world.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
Blessed be God forever.
That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,
let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,
so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts
and set us free to sing your praise
now and forever.
Amen.
Hymn
Behold! I Come With Joy to Do
Charles Wesley
Behold! I come with joy to do
The Master’s blessed will;
My Lord in outward works pursue,
And serve his pleasure still.
Thus faithful to my Lord’s commands,
I choose the better part,
And serve with careful Martha’s hands,
But loving Mary’s heart.
Though careful, without care I am,
Nor feel my happy toil,
Preserved in peace by Jesus’ name,
Supported by his smile:
Rejoicing thus my faith to show,
His service my reward;
While every work I do below,
I do it to the Lord.
O! That the world the art might know
Of living thus to thee;
And find their heaven begun below,
And here thy glory see;
Walking in all the works prepared
To exercise their grace,
They gain at last their full reward,
And see thy glorious face.
Confession of sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord,
and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your being, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
After a period of reflection
Come, let us return to the Lord and say:
Lord our God,
in our sin we have avoided your call.
Our love for you is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
Have mercy on us;
deliver us from judgment;
bind up our wounds and revive us;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
cf Hosea 6
May almighty God,
who sent his Son into the world to save sinners,
bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.
The Word of God
Psalm 18
Refrain:
The Lord my God illumines my darkness.
He said: I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my solid rock,
my fortress, my rescuer.
My God is my rock—
I take refuge in him!—
he’s my shield,
my salvation’s strength,
my place of safety.
Because he is praiseworthy,
I cried out to the Lord,
and I was saved from my enemies.
Death’s cords were wrapped around me;
rivers of wickedness terrified me.
The cords of the grave surrounded me;
death’s traps held me tight.
In my distress I cried out to the Lord;
I called to my God for help.
God heard my voice from his temple;
I called to him for help,
and my call reached his ears.
The earth rocked and shook;
the bases of the mountains trembled and reeled
because of God’s anger.
Smoke went up from God’s nostrils;
out of his mouth came a devouring fire;
flaming coals blazed out in front of him!
God parted the skies and came down;
thick darkness was beneath his feet.
God mounted the heavenly creatures and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
God made darkness cloak him;
his covering was dark water and dense cloud.
God’s clouds went ahead
of the brightness before him;
hail and coals of fire went too.
The Lord thundered in heaven;
the Most High made his voice heard
with hail and coals of fire.
God shot his arrows, scattering the enemy;
he sent the lightning and threw them into confusion.
The seabeds were exposed;
the earth’s foundations were laid bare
at your rebuke, Lord,
at the angry blast of air coming from your nostrils.
From on high God reached down and grabbed me;
he took me out of all that water.
God saved me from my powerful enemy,
saved me from my foes,
who were too much for me.
They came at me on the very day of my distress,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out to wide-open spaces;
he pulled me out safe
because he is pleased with me.
The Lord rewarded me for my righteousness;
he restored me because my hands are clean,
because I have kept the Lord’s ways.
I haven’t acted wickedly against my God.
All his rules are right in front of me;
I haven’t turned away from any of his laws.
I have lived with integrity before him;
I’ve kept myself from wrongdoing.
And so the Lord restored me for my righteousness
because my hands are clean in his eyes.
You deal faithfully with the faithful;
you show integrity
toward the one who has integrity.
You are pure toward the pure,
but toward the crooked, you are tricky.
You are the one who saves people who suffer
and brings down those with proud eyes.
You are the one who lights my lamp—
the Lord my God illumines my darkness.
With you I can charge into battle;
with my God I can leap over a wall.
God! His way is perfect;
the Lord’s word is tried and true.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
Now really, who is divine except the Lord?
And who is a rock but our God?
Only God! The God who equips me with strength
and makes my way perfect,
who makes my step as sure as the deer’s,
who lets me stand securely on the heights,
who trains my hands for war
so my arms can bend a bronze bow.
You’ve given me the shield of your salvation;
your strong hand has supported me;
your help has made me great.
You’ve let me walk fast and safe,
without even twisting an ankle.
I chased my enemies and caught them!
I didn’t come home until I finished them off.
I struck them down;
they couldn’t get up again;
they fell under my feet.
You equipped me with strength for war;
you brought my adversaries down underneath me.
You made my enemies turn tail from me;
I destroyed my foes.
They cried for help,
but there was no one to save them.
They cried for help to the Lord,
but he wouldn’t answer them.
I crushed them
like dust blown away by the wind;
I threw them out
like mud dumped in the streets.
You delivered me from struggles with many people;
you appointed me the leader of many nations.
Strangers come to serve me.
After hearing about me, they obey me;
foreigners grovel before me.
Foreigners lose their nerve;
they come trembling out of their fortresses.
The Lord lives! Bless God, my rock!
Let the God of my salvation be lifted high!
This is the God who avenges on my behalf,
who subdues people before me,
who delivers me from my enemies.
Yes, you lifted me high above my adversaries;
you delivered me from violent people.
That’s why I thank you, Lord,
in the presence of the nations.
That’s why I sing praises to your name.
You are the one who gives great victories to your king,
who shows faithful love to your anointed one—
to David and to his descendants forever.
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:
The Lord my God illumines my darkness.
Psalm prayer
From your royal throne, O God,
you sent your living Word
to pierce the gloom of oppression;
so, in our souls’ night,
come with your saving help
and penetrate our darkness with the
rays of your glory
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Micah 4:1-5:1
But in the days to come,
the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be the highest of the mountains;
it will be lifted above the hills;
peoples will stream to it.
Many nations will go and say:
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of Jacob’s God,
so that he may teach us his ways
and we may walk in God’s paths!”
Instruction will come from Zion
and the Lord’s word from Jerusalem.
God will judge between the nations
and settle disputes of mighty nations,
which are far away.
They will beat their swords into iron plows
and their spears into pruning tools.
Nation will not take up sword against nation;
they will no longer learn how to make war.
All will sit underneath their own grapevines,
under their own fig trees.
There will be no one to terrify them;
for the mouth of the Lord of heavenly forces has spoken.
Each of the peoples walks in the name of their own god;
but as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
forever and always.
On that day, says the Lord,
I will gather the lame;
I will assemble those who were driven away
and those whom I have harmed.
I will make the lame into survivors,
those driven away into a mighty nation.
The Lord will rule over them on Mount Zion
from now on and forever.
As for you, Tower of Eder, hill of Daughter Zion,
as for you it will come,
the former dominion will come,
the royal power belonging to Daughter Zion.
Now why do you cry out so loudly?
Isn’t the king in you?
Or has your counselor perished,
so that pain has seized you like that of a woman in labor?
Writhe and scream, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor!
Now you will leave the city and dwell in the open field;
you will go to Babylon.
There you will be rescued;
there the Lord will redeem you from the power of your enemies.
Now many nations may gather against you;
they say, “Let her be defiled,”
or “Let our eyes look with desire at Zion.”
But they don’t know the plans of the Lord;
they can’t understand his scheme,
namely, that he will bring them like grain to the threshing floor!
Arise and thresh, Daughter Zion,
for I will make your horn out of iron;
your hooves I will make out of bronze.
You will crush many peoples;
you will dedicate their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
Now muster your troops, Daughter Troop!
They have laid siege against us;
with a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
John 18:1-11
After he said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples and crossed over to the other side of the Kidron Valley. He and his disciples entered a garden there. Judas, his betrayer, also knew the place because Jesus often gathered there with his disciples. Judas brought a company of soldiers and some guards from the chief priests and Pharisees. They came there carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus knew everything that was to happen to him, so he went out and asked, “Who are you looking for?”
They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
He said to them, “I Am.” (Judas, his betrayer, was standing with them.) When he said, “I Am,” they shrank back and fell to the ground. He asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”
They said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
Jesus answered, “I told you, ‘I Am.’ If you are looking for me, then let these people go.” This was so that the word he had spoken might be fulfilled: “I didn’t lose anyone of those whom you gave me.”
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword away! Am I not to drink the cup the Father has given me?”
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Refrain:
God, you have done great things, and holy is your name.
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:
God, you have done great things, and holy is your name.
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
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Grant, we beseech you, merciful Lord,
to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that they may be cleansed from all their sins
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
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
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore.
Amen.