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

Infinite God, To Thee We Raise

Charles Wesley

Infinite God, to thee we raise
Our hearts in solemn songs of praise,
By all thy works on earth adored,
We worship thee, the common Lord;
The everlasting Father own,
And bow our souls before thy throne.

Thee all the choir of angels sings,
The Lord of hosts, the King of kings;
Cherubs proclaim thy praise aloud,
And seraphs shout the triune God;
And, holy, holy, holy, cry,
Thy glory fills both earth and sky!

Head of the martyrs’ noble host,
Of thee they justly make their boast;
The church, to earth’s remotest bounds,
Her heavenly Founder’s praise resounds;
And strives, with those around the throne,
To hymn the mystic three in one.

Father of endless majesty,
All might and love they render thee;
Thy true and only Son adore,
The same in dignity and power;
And God the Holy Ghost declare,
The saints’ eternal Comforter.

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:
‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind
and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
All the Law and the Prophets hang 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 mist,
like the early dew that vanishes.
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.

Psalm 22

𝙍: Be not far off, O LORD.

My God, my God,
why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from saving me,
so far from my words of groaning?
I cry out by day, O my God,
but You do not answer,
and by night,
but I have no rest.

Yet You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In You our fathers trusted;
they trusted and You delivered them.
They cried out to You and were set free;
they trusted in You and were not disappointed. 𝙍

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they sneer and shake their heads:
“He trusts in the LORD,
let the LORD deliver him;
let the LORD rescue him,
since He delights in him.”

Yet You brought me forth from the womb;
You made me secure at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast upon You;
from my mother’s womb You have been my God.
Be not far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help. 𝙍

Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
They open their jaws against me
like lions that roar and maul.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are disjointed.
My heart is like wax;
it melts away within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You lay me in the dust of death. 𝙍

For dogs surround me;
a band of evil men encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet.
I can count all my bones;
they stare and gloat over me.
They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

But You, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of wild dogs.
Save me from the mouth of the lion;
at the horns of the wild oxen You have answered me! 𝙍

I will proclaim Your name to my brothers;
I will praise You in the assembly.
You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All descendants of Jacob, honor Him!
All offspring of Israel, revere Him!
For He has not despised or detested
the torment of the afflicted.
He has not hidden His face from him,
but has attended to his cry for help.

My praise for You resounds in the great assembly;
I will fulfill my vows before those who fear You.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the LORD will praise Him.
May your hearts live forever! 𝙍

All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD.
All the families of the nations
will bow down before Him.
For dominion belongs to the LORD
and He rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—
even those unable to preserve their lives.
Posterity will serve Him;
they will declare the Lord to a new generation.
They will come and proclaim His righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
all that He has done.

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: Be not far off, O LORD.

Psalm prayer

Restless with grief and fear,
the abandoned turn to you:
in every hour of trial,
good Lord, deliver us,
O God most holy, God most strong,
whose wisdom is the cross of Christ.

Old Testament reading

1 Chronicles 21:1-22:1

Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”

But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem. And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah. But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him.

This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel.

Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

And the LORD instructed Gad, David’s seer, “Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’ ”

So Gad went and said to David, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You must choose between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”

David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead.

Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!”

At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, but do not let this plague remain upon Your people.”

Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD.

Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked out and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed facedown before David.

Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.”

Ornan said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever seems good. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I will give it all.”

“No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site. And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put his sword back into its sheath.

At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. For the tabernacle of the LORD that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were presently at the high place in Gibeon, but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God, as well as the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Mark 10:35-45

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and declared, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.”

“What do you want Me to do for you?” He inquired.

They answered, “Grant that one of us may sit at Your right hand and the other at Your left in Your glory.”

“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I will drink, or be baptized with the baptism I will undergo?”

“We can,” the brothers answered.

“You will drink the cup that I drink,” Jesus said, “and you will be baptized with the baptism that I undergo. But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

𝙍: God proves his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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: God proves his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He 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,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He 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:

National leaders, public officials and the armed forces
Peace and justice in the world
Those who work for reconciliation
All whose lives are devastated by war and civil strife
Prisoners, refugees and homeless people

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Response

Lord, hear your people
and answer our prayers.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,
whose only Son has opened for us
a new and living way into your presence:
give us pure hearts and steadfast wills
to worship you in spirit and in truth;
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, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
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.