Wednesday evening February 27

Thursday evening
Tuesday evening

Preparation

Opening response

Favor us, Lord, and deliver us.
Lord, come quickly and 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

Stupendous Height of Heavenly Love

Charles Wesley

Stupendous height of heavenly love, 
Of pitying tenderness divine; 
It brought the Saviour from above, 
It caused the springing day to shine; 
The Sun of Righteousness to appear,
And gild our gloomy hemisphere.

God did in Christ himself reveal,
To chase our darkness by his light,
Our sin and ignorance dispel, 
Direct our wandering feet, aright:
And bring our souls, with pardon blest,
To realms of everlasting rest.

Come, then, O Lord, thy light impart, 
The faith that bids our terrors cease; 
Into thy love direct our heart,
Into thy way of perfect peace: 
And cheer the souls, of death afraid, 
And guide them through the dreadful shade.

Answer thy mercy's whole design, 
My God incarnated for me.
My spirit make thy radiant shrine, 
My Light and full Salvation be; 
And through the shades of death unknown,
Conduct me to thy dazzling throne.

Confession of sin

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor. 

Silence may be kept.

Most merciful God, 
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed, 
by what we have done, 
and by what we have left undone. 
We have not loved you with our whole heart; 
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. 
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. 
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, 
have mercy on us and forgive us; 
that we may delight in your will, 
and walk in your ways, 
to the glory of your name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in
eternal life. 
Amen.

The Word of God

Psalm 119:81-104

Refrain:
God, your way is holiness! Who is as great a god as you, God?

My whole being yearns for your saving help!
    I wait for your promise.
    My eyes are worn out looking for your word.
“When will you comfort me?” I ask,
    because I’ve become like a bottle dried up by smoke,
    though I haven’t forgotten your statutes.
How much more time does your servant have?
    When will you bring my oppressors to justice?
The arrogant have dug pits for me—
    those people who act against your Instruction.
All your commandments are true,
    but people harass me for no reason.
    Help me!
They’ve almost wiped me off the face of the earth!
    Meanwhile, I haven’t abandoned your precepts!
Make me live again according to your faithful love
    so I can keep the law you’ve given!

Your word, Lord,
    stands firm in heaven forever!
Your faithfulness extends from one generation to the next!
    You set the earth firmly in place, and it is still there.
Your rules endure to this day
    because everything serves you.
If your Instruction hadn’t been my delight,
    I would have died because of my suffering.
I will never forget your precepts
    because through them you gave me life again.
I’m yours—save me
    because I’ve pursued your precepts!
The wicked wait for me,
wanting to kill me, but I’m studying your laws.
I’ve seen that everything,
    no matter how perfect, has a limit,
    but your commandment is boundless.

I love your Instruction!
    I think about it constantly.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies
    because it is always with me.
I have greater insight than all my teachers
    because I contemplate your laws.
I have more understanding than the elders
    because I guard your precepts.
I haven’t set my feet on any evil path
    so I can make sure to keep your word.
I haven’t deviated from any of your rules
    because you are the one who has taught me.
Your word is so pleasing to my taste buds—
    it’s sweeter than honey in my mouth!
I’m studying your precepts—
    that’s why I hate every false path.

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, your way is holiness! Who is as great a god as you, God?

Psalm prayer

Lord Christ,
as we sit at your feet,
teach us your living way;
for you are our Word and Wisdom,
one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
now and forever.

Old Testament reading
Genesis 31:25-32:2

Laban reached Jacob after Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountains. So Laban and his brothers also pitched theirs in the mountains of Gilead. Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and taken off with my daughters as if they were prisoners of war. Why did you leave secretly, deceiving me, and not letting me know? I would’ve sent you off with a celebration, with songs and tambourines and harps. You didn’t even let me kiss my sons and my daughters good-bye. Now you’ve acted like a fool, and I have the power to punish you. However, your father’s God told me yesterday, ‘Be careful and don’t say anything hastily to Jacob one way or the other.’ You’ve rushed off now because you missed your father’s household so much, but why did you steal my gods?”

Jacob responded to Laban, “I was afraid and convinced myself that you would take your daughters away from me. Whomever you find with your divine images won’t live. Identify whatever I have that is yours, in front of your brothers, and take it.” Jacob didn’t know that Rachel had stolen them. Laban went into Jacob’s tent, Leah’s tent, and her two servants’ tent and didn’t find them.

So he left Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s. Now Rachel had taken the divine images and put them into the camel’s saddlebag and sat on them. Laban felt around in the whole tent but couldn’t find them. Rachel said to her father, “Sir, don’t be angry with me because I can’t get up for you; I’m having my period.” He searched but couldn’t find the divine images.

Jacob was angry and complained to Laban, “What have I done wrong and what’s my crime that you’ve tracked me down like this? You’ve now felt through all of my baggage, and what have you found from your household’s belongings? Put it in front of our relatives, and let them decide between us. For these twenty years I’ve been with you, your female sheep and goats haven’t miscarried, and I haven’t eaten your flock’s rams. When animals were killed, I didn’t bring them to you but took the loss myself. You demanded compensation from me for any animals poached during the day or night. The dry heat consumed me during the day, and the frost at night; I couldn’t sleep. I’ve now spent twenty years in your household. I worked for fourteen years for your two daughters and for six years for your flock, and you changed my pay ten times. If the God of my father—the God of Abraham and the awesome one of Isaac—hadn’t been with me, you’d have no doubt sent me away without anything. God saw my harsh treatment and my hard work and reprimanded you yesterday.”

Laban responded and told Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks. Everything you see is mine. But what can I do now about my daughters and about their sons? Come, let’s make a treaty, you and me, and let something be our witness.”

So Jacob took a stone, set it up as a sacred pillar, and said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” So they took stones, made a mound, and ate there near the mound. Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

Laban said, “This mound is our witness today,” and, therefore, he too named it Galeed. He also named it Mizpah, because he said, “The Lord will observe both of us when we are separated from each other. If you treat my daughters badly and if you marry other women, though we aren’t there, know that God observed our witness.”

Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this mound and here is the sacred pillar that I’ve set up for us. This mound and the sacred pillar are witnesses that I won’t travel beyond this mound and that you won’t travel beyond this mound and this pillar to do harm. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor will keep order between us.” So Jacob gave his word in the name of the awesome one of his father Isaac. Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and invited his relatives to a meal. They ate together and spent the night on the mountain.  Laban got up early in the morning, kissed his sons and daughters, blessed them, and left to go back to his own place.

Jacob went on his way, and God’s messengers approached him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp,” and he named that sacred place Mahanaim.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
Titus 1

From Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I’m sent to bring about the faith of God’s chosen people and a knowledge of the truth that agrees with godliness.

Their faith and this knowledge are based on the hope of eternal life that God, who doesn’t lie, promised before time began. God revealed his message at the appropriate time through preaching, and I was trusted with preaching this message by the command of God our savior.

To Titus, my true child in a common faith.

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our savior.

The reason I left you behind in Crete was to organize whatever needs to be done and to appoint elders in each city, as I told you. Elders should be without fault. They should be faithful to their spouse, and have faithful children who can’t be accused of self-indulgence or rebelliousness. This is because supervisors should be without fault as God’s managers: they shouldn’t be stubborn, irritable, addicted to alcohol, a bully, or greedy. Instead, they should show hospitality, love what is good, and be reasonable, ethical, godly, and self-controlled. They must pay attention to the reliable message as it has been taught to them so that they can encourage people with healthy instruction and refute those who speak against it.

In fact, there are many who are rebellious people, loudmouths, and deceivers, especially some of those who are Jewish believers. They must be silenced because they upset entire households. They teach what they shouldn’t to make money dishonestly. Someone who is one of their own prophets said, “People from Crete are always liars, wild animals, and lazy gluttons.” This statement is true. Because of this, correct them firmly, so that they can be healthy in their faith. They shouldn’t pay attention to Jewish myths and commands from people who reject the truth. Everything is clean to those who are clean, but nothing is clean to those who are corrupt and without faith. Instead, their mind and conscience are corrupted. They claim to know God, but they deny God by the things that they do. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.

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

Prayers may include the following concerns:

All who are sick in body, mind or spirit
Those in the midst of famine or disaster
Victims of abuse and violence, intolerance and prejudice
Those who are bereaved
All who work in the medical and healing professions

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

Response

Lord of life
In your mercy, hear us.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
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.