Saturday evening November 19
Preparation
Opening response
Favor us, Lord, and deliver us.
Lord, come quickly and help us.
All your faithful ones bless you.
They speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
our light and our salvation,
to you be glory and praise forever.
Now, as darkness is falling,
wash away our transgressions,
cleanse us by your refining fire
and make us temples of your Holy Spirit.
By the light of Christ,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
and make us ready to enter your kingdom,
where songs of praise forever sound.
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
With Solemn Faith We Offer Up
Charles Wesley
With solemn faith we offer up
And spread, O God, before thine eyes
That only ground of all our hope,
That precious, once-made sacrifice,
Which brings thy grace on sinners down,
And perfects all our souls in one.
Acceptance through his holy name,
Forgiveness in his blood we have;
But more abundant life we claim
Through him who died our souls to save,
To sanctify us by his blood
And fill with all the life of God.
As it were slain behold thy Son,
And hear his blood that speaks above;
Oh let us all thy grace be shown,
Peace, righteousness, and joy, and love:
Thy kingdom come to every heart,
And all thou hast, and all thou art.
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 78:40-72
Refrain:
Earth: Tremble before the Lord!
How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness
and distressed him in the desert!
Time and time again they tested God,
provoking the holy one of Israel.
They didn’t remember God’s power—
the day when he saved them from the enemy;
how God performed his signs in Egypt,
his marvelous works in the field of Zoan.
God turned their rivers into blood;
they couldn’t drink from their own streams.
God sent swarms against them to eat them up,
frogs to destroy them.
God handed over their crops to caterpillars,
their land’s produce to locusts.
God killed their vines with hail,
their sycamore trees with frost.
God delivered their cattle over to disease,
their herds to plagues.
God unleashed his burning anger against them—
fury, indignation, distress,
a troop of evil messengers.
God blazed a path for his wrath.
He didn’t save them from death,
but delivered their lives over to disease.
God struck down all of Egypt’s oldest males;
in Ham’s tents, he struck their pride and joy.
God led his own people out like sheep,
guiding them like a flock in the wilderness.
God led them in safety—they were not afraid!
But the sea engulfed their enemies!
God brought them to his holy territory,
to the mountain that his own strong hand had acquired.
God drove out the nations before them
and apportioned property for them;
he settled Israel’s tribes in their tents.
But they tested and defied the Most High God;
they didn’t pay attention to his warnings.
They turned away, became faithless just like their ancestors;
they twisted away like a defective bow.
They angered God with their many shrines;
they angered him with their idols.
God heard and became enraged;
he rejected Israel utterly.
God abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh,
the tent where he had lived with humans.
God let his power be held captive,
let his glory go to the enemy’s hand.
God delivered his people up to the sword;
he was enraged at his own possession.
Fire devoured his young men,
and his young women had no wedding songs.
God’s priests were killed by the sword,
and his widows couldn’t even cry.
But then my Lord woke up—
as if he’d been sleeping!
Like a warrior shaking off wine,
God beat back his foes;
he made them an everlasting disgrace.
God rejected the tent of Joseph
and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim.
Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah,
the mountain of Zion, which he loves.
God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven
and like the earth, which he established forever.
And God chose David, his servant,
taking him from the sheepfolds.
God brought him from shepherding nursing ewes
to shepherd his people Jacob,
to shepherd his inheritance, Israel.
David shepherded them with a heart of integrity;
he led them with the skill of his hands.
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:
Earth: Tremble before the Lord!
Psalm prayer
God our shepherd,
in all our wanderings and temptations,
teach us to rest in your mercy
and trust in your defence;
through him who laid down his life for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 13:1-13
An oracle about Babylon, which Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw.
On a bare mountain raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave a hand;
let them enter the officials’ gates.
I have commanded my holy ones;
I have called my warriors,
my proud, jubilant ones,
to execute my wrath.
Listen! A roar on the mountains like that of a great crowd.
Listen! An uproar of kingdoms,
of nations coming together.
The Lord of heavenly forces is mustering an army for battle.
They are coming from a distant land,
from the faraway heavens,
the Lord and the instruments of his fury, to destroy the whole land.
Wail, for the day of the Lord is near.
Like destruction from the Almighty it will come.
Then all hands will fall limp;
every human heart will melt,
and they will be terrified.
Like a woman writhing in labor,
they will be seized by spasms and agony.
They will look at each other aghast,
their faces blazing.
Look, the day of the Lord is coming with cruel rage and burning anger,
making the earth a ruin,
and wiping out its sinners.
Heaven’s stars and constellations won’t show their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises;
the moon will no longer shine.
I will bring disaster upon the world for its evil,
and bring their own sin upon the wicked.
I will end the pride of the insolent,
and the conceit of tyrants I will lay low.
I will make humans scarcer than fine gold;
people rarer than the gold of Ophir.
I will rattle the heavens;
the earth will shake loose from its place—because of the rage
of the Lord of heavenly forces
on the day his anger burns.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 9:1-17
Boarding a boat, Jesus crossed to the other side of the lake and went to his own city. People brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a cot. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man who was paralyzed, “Be encouraged, my child, your sins are forgiven.”
Some legal experts said among themselves, “This man is insulting God.”
But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you fill your minds with evil things? Which is easier—to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so you will know that the Human One has authority on the earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“Get up, take your cot, and go home.” The man got up and went home. When the crowds saw what had happened, they were afraid and praised God, who had given such authority to human beings.
As Jesus continued on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. He said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. As Jesus sat down to eat in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples at the table.
But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard it, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”
At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?”
Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast.
“No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes because the patch tears away the cloth and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wineskins would burst, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, people pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are kept safe.”
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
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Uniting our prayers with the whole company of heaven,
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 Christ, who has opened the kingdom of heaven, bring us to reign with him in glory.
Amen.