Opening response

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

In your resurrection, O Christ,
let heaven and earth rejoice. Alleluia.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign Lord,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to you be glory and praise forever.
From the deep waters of death
you brought your people to new birth
by raising your Son to life in triumph.
Through him dark death has been destroyed
and radiant life is everywhere restored.
As you call us out of darkness into his marvelous light
may our lives reflect his glory
and our lips repeat the endless song.
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

O When Shall We Supremely Blest

Charles Wesley

O when shall we supremely blest
Enter the rapturous unrest,
Partake the triumph of the sky,
And holy, holy, holy, cry?

We render thanks with one accord
To our Almighty God and Lord,
Who was, and is, and is to come,
Let Jesus all his power assume.

Jesus let his whole church adore
The elders, and the living four,
Worship divine to Christ be given
By every citizen of heaven!

With all that angel-host, with all
Those blessed saints we long to fall,
And sing in ecstasies unknown,
And praise him on his dazzling throne.

Honor, and majesty, and power,
And thanks and blessing evermore,
Who dost through endless ages live,
Thou, Lord, art worthy to receive.

For thou hast bid the creatures be,
And still subsist to pleasure thee,
From thee they came, to thee they tend,
Their gracious source, their glorious end!

Confession of sin

Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

Almighty God,
patient and of great goodness:
I confess to you,
I confess with my whole heart
my neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments,
my wrong doing, thinking, and speaking;
the hurts I have done to others,
and the good I have left undone.
O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you;
and raise me to newness of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Psalm 106

𝙍: The LORD remembered his covenant.

Hallelujah!

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His loving devotion endures forever.
Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD
or fully proclaim His praise?
Blessed are those who uphold justice,
who practice righteousness at all times.

Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people;
visit me with Your salvation,
that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
and give glory with Your inheritance. 𝙍

We have sinned like our fathers;
we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders
or remember Your abundant kindness;
but they rebelled by the sea,
there at the Red Sea.
Yet He saved them for the sake of His name,
to make His power known.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
He led them through the depths as through a desert.
He saved them from the hand that hated them;
He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
The waters covered their foes;
not one of them remained.
Then they believed His promises
and sang His praise. 𝙍

Yet they soon forgot His works
and failed to wait for His counsel.
They craved intensely in the wilderness
and tested God in the desert.
So He granted their request,
but sent a wasting disease upon them.

In the camp they envied Moses,
as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan;
it covered the assembly of Abiram.
Then fire blazed through their company;
flames consumed the wicked. 𝙍

At Horeb they made a calf
and worshiped a molten image.
They exchanged their Glory
for the image of a grass-eating ox.
They forgot God their Savior,
who did great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
So He said He would destroy them—
had not Moses His chosen one
stood before Him in the breach
to divert His wrath from destroying them. 𝙍

They despised the pleasant land;
they did not believe His promise.
They grumbled in their tents
and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
So He raised His hand and swore
to cast them down in the wilderness,
to disperse their offspring among the nations
and scatter them throughout the lands. 𝙍

They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor
and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
But Phinehas stood and intervened,
and the plague was restrained.
It was credited to him as righteousness
for endless generations to come.

At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD,
and trouble came to Moses because of them.
For they rebelled against His Spirit,
and Moses spoke rashly with his lips. 𝙍

They did not destroy the peoples
as the LORD had commanded them,
but they mingled with the nations
and adopted their customs.
They worshiped their idols,
which became a snare to them.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
They shed innocent blood—
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
They defiled themselves by their actions
and prostituted themselves by their deeds. 𝙍

So the anger of the LORD burned against His people,
and He abhorred His own inheritance.
He delivered them into the hand of the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies oppressed them,
and subdued them under their hand.
Many times He rescued them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and sank down in their iniquity.

Nevertheless He heard their cry;
He took note of their distress.
And He remembered His covenant with them,
and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
He made them objects of compassion
to all who held them captive. 𝙍

Save us, O LORD our God,
and gather us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to Your holy name,
that we may glory in Your praise.

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.

Let all the people say, “Amen!”

Hallelujah!

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.

𝙍: The LORD remembered his covenant.

Psalm prayer

Holy God,
when our memories blot out your kindness
and we ignore your patient love,
remember us, remake us,
and give to us poor sinners
the rich inheritance of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Song of Solomon 5:2-6:3

I sleep, but my heart is awake.
A sound! My beloved is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”

I have taken off my robe—
must I put it back on?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?
My beloved put his hand to the latch;
my heart pounded for him.
I rose up to open for my beloved.
My hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh
on the handles of the bolt.
I opened for my beloved,
but he had turned and gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I sought him, but did not find him.
I called, but he did not answer.

I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city.
They beat me and bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those guardians of the walls.
O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you,
if you find my beloved,
tell him I am sick with love.

How is your beloved better than others,
O most beautiful among women?
How is your beloved better than another,
that you charge us so?

My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,
outstanding among ten thousand.
His head is purest gold;
his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves
beside the streams of water,
bathed in milk
and mounted like jewels.
His cheeks are like beds of spice,
towers of perfume.
His lips are like lilies,
dripping with flowing myrrh.
His arms are rods of gold
set with beryl.
His body is an ivory panel
bedecked with sapphires.
His legs are pillars of marble
set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
as majestic as the cedars.
His mouth is most sweet;
he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.

Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Which way has he turned?
We will seek him with you.

My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
I belong to my beloved and he belongs to me;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Luke 7:11-17

Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain. His disciples went with Him, accompanied by a large crowd. As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.

When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.” Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. “Young man,” He said, “I tell you, get up!” And the dead man sat up and began to speak! Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.

A sense of awe swept over all of them, and they glorified God. “A great prophet has appeared among us!” they said. “God has visited His people!” And the news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding region.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

𝙍: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me.
Holy is His name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud
in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
but has exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful,
as He promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and 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.

𝙍: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.

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.

Thanksgiving and intercession

Thanksgiving may be made for the day.

Intercessions are offered
for peace
for individuals and their needs

Prayers may include the following concerns:

The people of God, that they may proclaim the risen Lord
God’s creation, that the peoples of the earth may meet their responsibility to care
Those in despair and darkness, that they may find the hope and light of Christ
Those in fear of death, that they may find faith through the resurrection
Prisoners and captives

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

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honor, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Rejoicing in God’s new creation, 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 risen Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.
Amen.