Saturday evening December 19
View Sunday evening
View Friday evening
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
The Lord is King and Earth Submits
Charles Wesley
The Lord is King, and earth submits,
However impatient, to his sway,
Between the cherubim he sits,
And makes his restless foes obey.
All power is to our Jesus given,
Over earth's rebellious sons he reigns;
He mildly rules the hosts of heaven,
And holds the powers of hell in chains.
In vain doth Satan rage his hour,
Beyond his chain he cannot go;
Our Jesus shall stir up his power,
And soon avenge us of our foe.
Jesus shall his great arm reveal;
Jesus, the woman's conquering seed,
Though now the Serpent bruise his heel
Jesus shall bruise the Serpent's head.
The enemy his tares hath sown,
But Christ shall shortly root them up,
Shall cast the dire accuser down,
And disappoint his children's hope;
Shall still the proud Philistine's noise,
Baffle the sons of unbelief,
Nor long permit them to rejoice,
But turn their triumph into grief.
Come, glorious Lord, the rebels spurn,
Scatter thy foes, victorious King!
And Gath and Askelon shall mourn,
And all the sons of God shall sing;
Shall magnify the sovereign grace
Of him that sits upon the throne;
And earth and heaven conspire to praise
Jehovah and his conquering Son.
Confession of sin
When we cry out to the Lord in our distress,
he will save us from our desperate circumstances.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us
by the death of his Son
and strengthen us
to live in the power of the Spirit
all our days.
Amen.
Let us thank the Lord for his faithful love,
and his wondrous works for all people.
Let us offer thanksgiving sacrifices
and declare what God has done in songs of joy.
cf Psalm 107
The Word of God
Psalm 10
Refrain:
Lord, you have not abandoned any who seek you.
Why do you stand so far away, Lord,
hiding yourself in troubling times?
Meanwhile, the wicked are proudly
in hot pursuit of those who suffer.
Let them get caught
in the very same schemes they’ve thought up!
The wicked brag about their body’s cravings;
the greedy reject the Lord, cursing.
At the peak of their wrath,
the wicked don’t seek God:
There’s no God—
that’s what they are always thinking.
Their ways are always twisted.
Your rules are too lofty for them.
They snort at all their foes.
They think to themselves,
We’ll never stumble.
We’ll never encounter any resistance.
Their mouths are filled
with curses, dishonesty, violence.
Under their tongues lie
troublemaking and wrongdoing.
They wait in a place perfect for ambush;
from their hiding places
they kill innocent people;
their eyes spot those who are helpless.
They lie in ambush
in secret places,
like a lion in its lair.
They lie in ambush
so they can seize those who suffer!
They seize the poor, all right,
dragging them off in their nets.
Their helpless victims are crushed;
they collapse, falling prey to the strength of the wicked.
The wicked think to themselves:
God has forgotten.
God has hidden his face.
God never sees anything!
Get up, Lord!
Get your fist ready, God!
Don’t forget the ones who suffer!
Why do the wicked reject God?
Why do they think to themselves
that you won’t find out?
But you do see!
You do see troublemaking and grief,
and you do something about it!
The helpless leave it all to you.
You are the orphan’s helper.
Break the arms of those
who are wicked and evil.
Seek out their wickedness
until there’s no more to find.
The Lord rules forever and always!
The nations will vanish from his land.
Lord, you listen to the desires of those who suffer.
You steady their hearts;
you listen closely to them,
to establish justice
for the orphan and the oppressed,
so that people of the land
will never again be terrified.
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, you have not abandoned any who seek you.
Psalm prayer
When wickedness triumphs
and the poor are betrayed,
come to your kingdom, strong and holy God,
destroy the masks of evil
and reign in our broken hearts;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 57
Have mercy on me, God;
have mercy on me
because I have taken refuge in you.
I take refuge
in the shadow of your wings
until destruction passes by.
I call out to God Most High—
to God, who comes through for me.
He sends orders from heaven and saves me,
rebukes the one who tramples me.
God sends his loyal love and faithfulness.
My life is in the middle of a pack of lions.
I lie down among those who devour humans.
Their teeth are spears and arrows;
their tongues are sharpened swords.
Exalt yourself, God, higher than heaven!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
They laid a net for my feet to bring me down;
they dug a pit for me,
but they fell into it instead!
My heart is unwavering, God—
my heart is unwavering.
I will sing and make music.
Wake up, my glory!
Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake the dawn itself!
I will give thanks to you,
my Lord,
among all the peoples;
I will make music to you among the nations
because your faithful love
is as high as heaven;
your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
Exalt yourself, God, higher than heaven!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
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.
Psalm prayer
Tender God,
gentle protector in time of trouble,
pierce the gloom of despair
and give us, with all your people,
the song of freedom and the shout of praise;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 52:1-12
Awake, awake,
put on your strength, Zion!
Put on your splendid clothing,
Jerusalem, you holy city;
for the uncircumcised and unclean
will no longer come into you.
Shake the dust off yourself;
rise up; sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Loose the bonds from your neck,
captive Daughter Zion!
The Lord proclaims:
You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.
The Lord God proclaims:
Long ago my people went down
to reside in Egypt.
Moreover, Assyria has oppressed them without cause.
And now what have I here? says the Lord.
My people are taken away for nothing.
Their rulers wail, says the Lord,
and continually all day long my name is despised.
Therefore, my people will know my name on that day;
I’m the one who promises it; I’m here.
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of a messenger
who proclaims peace,
who brings good news,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God rules!”
Listen! Your lookouts lift their voice;
they sing out together!
Right before their eyes they see the Lord returning to Zion.
Break into song together, you ruins of Jerusalem!
The Lord has comforted his people and has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm in view of all the nations;
all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory.
Depart! Depart! Go out from there!
Unclean! Don’t touch!
Get out of that place; purify yourselves,
carriers of the Lord’s equipment!
You won’t go out in a rush,
nor will you run away,
because the one going before you is the Lord;
your rear guard is the God of Israel.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Jude
Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James.
To those who are called, loved by God the Father and kept safe by Jesus Christ.
May you have more and more mercy, peace, and love.
Dear friends, I wanted very much to write to you concerning the salvation we share. Instead, I must write to urge you to fight for the faith delivered once and for all to God’s holy people. 4 Godless people have slipped in among you. They turn the grace of our God into unrestrained immorality and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Judgment was passed against them a long time ago.
I want to remind you of something you already know very well. The Lord, who once saved a people out of Egypt, later destroyed those who didn’t maintain their faith. I remind you too of the angels who didn’t keep their position of authority but deserted their own home. The Lord has kept them in eternal chains in the underworld until the judgment of the great day. In the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and neighboring towns practiced immoral sexual relations and pursued other sexual urges. By undergoing the punishment of eternal fire, they serve as a warning.
Yet, even knowing this, these dreamers in the same way pollute themselves, reject authority, and slander the angels. The archangel Michael, when he argued with the devil about Moses’ body, did not dare charge him with slander. Instead, he said, “The Lord rebuke you!” But these people slander whatever they don’t understand. They are destroyed by what they know instinctively, as though they were irrational animals.
They are damned, for they follow in the footsteps of Cain. For profit they give themselves over to Balaam’s error. They are destroyed in the uprising of Korah. These people are like jagged rocks just below the surface of the water waiting to snag you when they join your love feasts. They feast with you without reverence. They care only for themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; fruitless autumn trees, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom the darkness of the underworld is reserved forever.
Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied about these people when he said, “See, the Lord comes with his countless holy ones, to execute judgment on everyone and to convict everyone about every ungodly deed they have committed in their ungodliness as well as all the harsh things that sinful ungodly people have said against him.” These are faultfinding grumblers, living according to their own desires. They speak arrogant words and they show partiality to people when they want a favor in return.
But you, dear friends, remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the end time scoffers will come living according to their own ungodly desires.” These people create divisions. Since they don’t have the Spirit, they are worldly.
But you, dear friends: build each other up on the foundation of your most holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep each other in the love of God, wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will give you eternal life. Have mercy on those who doubt. Save some by snatching them from the fire. Fearing God, have mercy on some, hating even the clothing contaminated by their sinful urges.
To the one who is able to protect you from falling,
and to present you blameless and rejoicing before his glorious presence,
to the only God our savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
belong glory, majesty, power, and authority,
before all time, now and forever. Amen.
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
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
God our redeemer,
who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
grant that, as she looked for his coming as our savior,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
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.