Opening response

Hurry, God, to deliver us.
LORD, come quickly 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

Jesus, My Lord, Mighty to Save

Charles Wesley

Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
What can my hopes withstand,
While thee, my advocate, I have
Enthroned at God’s right hand?

Nature is subject to thy word,
All power to thee is given,
The uncontrolled, almighty Lord
Of hell, and earth, and heaven.

And shall my sins thy will oppose?
Master, thy right maintain;
Oh, let not thy usurping foes,
In me, thy servant, reign.

Come, then and claim me for thine own,
Savior thy right assert,
Come gracious Lord, set up thy throne,
And reign within my heart.

So shall I bless thy pleasing sway,
And, sitting at thy feet,
Thy laws with all my heart obey,
With all my soul submit.

So shall I do thy will below,
As angels do above,
The virtue of thy passion show,
The triumphs of thy love.

Thy love, the conquest more than gains,
To all I shall proclaim,
“Jesus, the King, the Conqueror reigns,
Bow down to Jesus’ name.”

To thee shall earth and hell submit,
And every foe shall fall,
Till death expires beneath thy feet,
And God is all in all.

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, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
The whole law and the prophets depend 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 cloud,
like the dew that disappears early.
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 35

Refrain:
Vindicate me, LORD my God, according to your righteousness.

Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me.
Fight against those who fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for my help.
Brandish the spear and block those who pursue me.
Tell my soul, “I am your salvation.”
Let those who seek after my soul be disappointed and brought to dishonour.
Let those who plot my ruin be turned back and confounded.
Let them be as chaff before the wind,
the LORD’s angel driving them on.
Let their way be dark and slippery,
the LORD’s angel pursuing them.
For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me.
Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
Let destruction come on him unawares.
Let his net that he has hidden catch himself.
Let him fall into that destruction.

My soul shall be joyful in the LORD.
It shall rejoice in his salvation.
All my bones shall say, “LORD, who is like you,
who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him;
yes, the poor and the needy from him who robs him?”
Unrighteous witnesses rise up.
They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
They reward me evil for good,
to the bereaving of my soul.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.
I afflicted my soul with fasting.
My prayer returned into my own bosom.
I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother.
I bowed down mourning, as one who mourns his mother.
But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together.
The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it.
They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
Like the profane mockers in feasts,
they gnashed their teeth at me.
Lord, how long will you look on?
Rescue my soul from their destruction,
my precious life from the lions.
I will give you thanks in the great assembly.
I will praise you amongst many people.
Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me;
neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.
For they don’t speak peace,
but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land.
Yes, they opened their mouth wide against me.
They said, “Aha! Aha! Our eye has seen it!”
You have seen it, LORD. Don’t keep silent.
Lord, don’t be far from me.
Wake up! Rise up to defend me, my God!
My Lord, contend for me!
Vindicate me, LORD my God, according to your righteousness.
Don’t let them gloat over me.
Don’t let them say in their heart, “Aha! That’s the way we want it!”
Don’t let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”
Let them be disappointed and confounded together who rejoice at my calamity.
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonour who magnify themselves against me.

Let those who favour my righteous cause shout for joy and be glad.
Yes, let them say continually, “May The LORD be magnified,
who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant!”
My tongue shall talk about your righteousness and about your praise all day long.

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:
Vindicate me, LORD my God, according to your righteousness.

Psalm prayer

Free us, righteous God, from all oppression,
and bring justice to the nations,
that all the world may know you
as King of kings and Lord of lords,
now and forever.

Old Testament reading

1 Kings 11:26-43

Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. This was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of his father David’s city. The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour; and Solomon saw the young man that he was industrious, and he put him in charge of all the labour of the house of Joseph. At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the way. Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment; and the two of them were alone in the field. Ahijah took the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces; for the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you (but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.

“ ‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant’s sake whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes, but I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand and will give it to you, even ten tribes. I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for myself to put my name there. I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel. It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. I will afflict the offspring of David for this, but not forever.’ ”

Therefore Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, aren’t they written in the book of the acts of Solomon? The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in his father David’s city; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Acts 18:1-21

After these things Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth. He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them, and because he practised the same trade, he lived with them and worked, for by trade they were tent makers. He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”

He departed there and went into the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshipped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptised. The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God amongst them. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgement seat, saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”

But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you; but if they are questions about words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves. For I don’t want to be a judge of these matters.” So he drove them from the judgement seat.

Then all the Greeks seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgement seat. Gallio didn’t care about any of these things.

Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers, and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow. He came to Ephesus, and he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay with them a longer time, he declined; but taking his leave of them, he said, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

Refrain:
Your mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear you.

My soul magnifies the Lord.
My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
for he has looked at the humble state of his servant.
For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
His mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear him.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down princes from their thrones,
and has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty.
He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and his offspring 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.

Refrain:
Your mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear you.

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

Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit
upon your church in the burning fire of your love:
grant that your people may be fervent
in the fellowship of the gospel
that, always abiding in you,
they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service;
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.