Opening response

Make haste, O God, to deliver me.
Hurry, O LORD, to help me.

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

Live Our Great God on High

Charles Wesley

Live our great God on high
Eternally adored,
Who gave his Son to die,
Our dear redeeming Lord
He from his throne and bosom gave,
A world, a sinful world to save.

Worship and praise and power
Ascribe we to the Lamb,
His bleeding wounds adore,
And kiss his precious name,
Jesus the name to sinners given,
The name that lifts us up to heaven.

That blessed Spirit praise
Who shows the atoning blood,
Applies the Savior’s grace,
And seals the sons of God;
Spirit of grace and glory too
He claims eternal praise his due.

We with our friends above,
When time and death shall end,
In ecstasies of love
A heavenly life shall spend,
Spend in the great Jehovah’s praise
An age of everlasting days.

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 69

𝙍: Hide not Your face from Your servant, O LORD.

Save me, O God,
for the waters are up to my neck.
I have sunk into the miry depths,
where there is no footing;
I have drifted into deep waters,
where the flood engulfs me.
I am weary from my crying;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God. 𝙍

Those who hate me without cause
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are those who would destroy me—
my enemies for no reason.
Though I did not steal,
I must repay.

You know my folly, O God,
and my guilt is not hidden from You.
May those who hope in You not be ashamed through me,
O Lord GOD of Hosts;
may those who seek You not be dishonored through me,
O God of Israel.
For I have endured scorn for Your sake,
and shame has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers
and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,
because zeal for Your house has consumed me,
and the insults of those who insult You have fallen on me. 𝙍

I wept and fasted,
but it brought me reproach.
I made sackcloth my clothing,
and I was sport to them.
Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of drunkards. 𝙍

But my prayer to You, O LORD,
is for a time of favor.
In Your abundant loving devotion, O God,
answer me with Your sure salvation.
Rescue me from the mire
and do not let me sink;
deliver me from my foes
and out of the deep waters. 𝙍

Do not let the floods engulf me
or the depths swallow me up;
let not the Pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, O LORD,
for Your loving devotion is good;
turn to me in keeping with Your great compassion.
Hide not Your face from Your servant,
for I am in distress. 𝙍

Answer me quickly!
Draw near to my soul and redeem me;
ransom me because of my foes.

You know my reproach, my shame and disgrace.
All my adversaries are before You.
Insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found no one.
They poisoned my food with gall
and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst. 𝙍

May their table become a snare;
may it be a retribution and a trap.
May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.
Pour out Your wrath upon them,
and let Your burning anger overtake them.
May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents. 𝙍

For they persecute the one You struck
and recount the pain of those You wounded.
Add iniquity to their iniquity;
let them not share in Your righteousness.
May they be blotted out of the Book of Life
and not listed with the righteous. 𝙍

But I am in pain and distress;
let Your salvation protect me, O God.
I will praise God’s name in song
and exalt Him with thanksgiving.
And this will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with horns and hooves.
The humble will see and rejoice.
You who seek God, let your hearts be revived! 𝙍

For the LORD listens to the needy
and does not despise His captive people.

Let heaven and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah,
that they may dwell there and possess it.
The descendants of His servants will inherit it,
and those who love His name will settle in it.

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: Hide not Your face from Your servant, O LORD.

Psalm prayer

Thirsting on the cross,
your Son shared the reproach of the oppressed
and carried the sins of all;
in him, O God, may the despairing find you,
the afflicted gain life
and the whole creation know its true king,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

2 Kings 2:1-18

Shortly before the LORD took Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal, and Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.

But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So they went down to Bethel.

Then the sons of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”

And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho.”

But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So they went to Jericho.

Then the sons of the prophets at Jericho came up to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?”

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do not speak of it.”

And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.”

But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.”

So the two of them went on.

Then a company of fifty of the sons of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing Elijah and Elisha as the two of them stood by the Jordan. And Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the waters, which parted to the right and to the left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

After they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken away from you?”

“Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

“You have requested a difficult thing,” said Elijah. “Nevertheless, if you see me as I am taken from you, it will be yours. But if not, then it will not be so.”

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind.

As Elisha watched, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And he saw Elijah no more. So taking hold of his own clothes, he tore them in two.

Elisha also picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, and he went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the waters. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked.

And when he had struck the waters, they parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

When the sons of the prophets who were facing him from Jericho saw what had happened, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

“Look now,” they said to Elisha, “we your servants have fifty valiant men. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and put him on one of the mountains or in one of the valleys.”

“Do not send them,” Elisha replied.

But when they pressed him to the point of embarrassment, he said, “Send them.”

And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find Elijah.

When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Acts 24:24-25:12

After several days, Felix returned with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul expounded on righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “You may go for now. When I find the time, I will call for you.” At the same time, he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe. So he sent for Paul frequently and talked with him.

After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And wishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.

Three days after his arrival in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, where the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul. They urged Festus to grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

But Festus replied, “Paul is being held in Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. So if this man has done anything wrong, let some of your leaders come down with me and accuse him there.”

After spending no more than eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered that Paul be brought in. When Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove.

Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”

But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to stand trial before me on these charges?”

Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. If, however, I am guilty of anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is no truth to their accusations against me, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

Then Festus conferred with his council and replied, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

𝙍: You have done great things, O God, and holy is your name.

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: You have done great things, O God, 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.

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, in your mercy
hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
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.