Thursday evening February 6

Friday evening
Wednesday 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 for ever.
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.

Hymn

God of All Power, and Truth, and Grace

Charles Wesley
           
God of all power, and truth, and grace,
Which shall from age to age endure,
Whose word, when heaven and earth shall pass,
Remains and stands for ever sure.

That I thy mercy may proclaim,
That all mankind thy truth may see,
Hallow thy great and glorious name,
And perfect holiness in me.

Thy sanctifying Spirit pour,
To quench my thirst, and make me clean;
Now, Father, let the gracious shower
Descend, and make me pure from sin.

Purge me from every sinful blot;
My idols all be cast aside;
Cleanse me from every sinful thought,
From all the filth of self and pride.

Give me a new, a perfect heart,
From doubt, and fear, and sorrow free;
The mind which was in Christ impart,
And let my spirit cleave to thee.

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:
‘Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, 
and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
with all your being, with all your mind, 
and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
All the 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 goes away 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.

The Word of God

Psalm 18

Refrain:
The Lord my God shall make my darkness to be bright.

He said: I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my solid rock,
    my fortress, my rescuer.
My God is my rock—
I take refuge in him!—
        he’s my shield,
        my salvation’s strength,
        my place of safety.
Because he is praiseworthy,
    I cried out to the Lord,
    and I was saved from my enemies.
Death’s cords were wrapped around me;
    rivers of wickedness terrified me.
The cords of the grave surrounded me;
    death’s traps held me tight.
In my distress I cried out to the Lord;
    I called to my God for help.
God heard my voice from his temple;
    I called to him for help,
    and my call reached his ears.
The earth rocked and shook;
    the bases of the mountains trembled and reeled
    because of God’s anger.
Smoke went up from God’s nostrils;
    out of his mouth came a devouring fire;
    flaming coals blazed out in front of him!
God parted the skies and came down;
    thick darkness was beneath his feet.
God mounted the heavenly creatures and flew;
    he soared on the wings of the wind.
God made darkness cloak him;
    his covering was dark water and dense cloud.
God’s clouds went ahead
    of the brightness before him;
    hail and coals of fire went too.
The Lord thundered in heaven;
    the Most High made his voice heard
    with hail and coals of fire.
God shot his arrows, scattering the enemy;
    he sent the lightning and threw them into confusion.
The seabeds were exposed;
    the earth’s foundations were laid bare
        at your rebuke, Lord,
        at the angry blast of air coming from your nostrils.
From on high God reached down and grabbed me;
    he took me out of all that water.
God saved me from my powerful enemy,
    saved me from my foes,
    who were too much for me.
They came at me on the very day of my distress,
    but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out to wide-open spaces;
    he pulled me out safe
    because he is pleased with me.
The Lord rewarded me for my righteousness;
    he restored me because my hands are clean,
    because I have kept the Lord’s ways.
    I haven’t acted wickedly against my God.
All his rules are right in front of me;
    I haven’t turned away from any of his laws.
I have lived with integrity before him;
    I’ve kept myself from wrongdoing.
And so the Lord restored me for my righteousness
    because my hands are clean in his eyes.
You deal faithfully with the faithful;
    you show integrity
        toward the one who has integrity.
You are pure toward the pure,
    but toward the crooked, you are tricky.
You are the one who saves people who suffer
    and brings down those with proud eyes.
You are the one who lights my lamp—
    the Lord my God illumines my darkness.
With you I can charge into battle;
    with my God I can leap over a wall.
God! His way is perfect;
    the Lord’s word is tried and true.
He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.

Now really, who is divine except the Lord?
    And who is a rock but our God?
Only God! The God who equips me with strength
    and makes my way perfect,
    who makes my step as sure as the deer’s,
    who lets me stand securely on the heights,
    who trains my hands for war
    so my arms can bend a bronze bow.
You’ve given me the shield of your salvation;
    your strong hand has supported me;
    your help has made me great.
You’ve let me walk fast and safe,
    without even twisting an ankle.
I chased my enemies and caught them!
    I didn’t come home until I finished them off.
I struck them down;
    they couldn’t get up again;
    they fell under my feet.
You equipped me with strength for war;
    you brought my adversaries down underneath me.
You made my enemies turn tail from me;
    I destroyed my foes.
They cried for help,
        but there was no one to save them.
    They cried for help to the Lord,
        but he wouldn’t answer them.
I crushed them
        like dust blown away by the wind;
    I threw them out
        like mud dumped in the streets.
You delivered me from struggles with many people;
    you appointed me the leader of many nations.
        Strangers come to serve me.
After hearing about me, they obey me;
    foreigners grovel before me.
Foreigners lose their nerve;
    they come trembling out of their fortresses.
The Lord lives! Bless God, my rock!
    Let the God of my salvation be lifted high!
This is the God who avenges on my behalf,
    who subdues people before me,
    who delivers me from my enemies.
Yes, you lifted me high above my adversaries;
        you delivered me from violent people.
    That’s why I thank you, Lord,
        in the presence of the nations.
    That’s why I sing praises to your name.
You are the one who gives great victories to your king,
    who shows faithful love to your anointed one—
    to David and to 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.

Refrain:
The Lord my God shall make my darkness to be bright.

Psalm prayer

From your royal throne, O God, 
you sent your living Word
to pierce the gloom of oppression;
so, in our souls’ night,
come with your saving help
and penetrate our darkness with the
rays of your glory
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading
Joel 2:18-27

Then the Lord became passionate about this land, and had pity on his people.

The Lord responded to the people:
See, I am sending you
    the corn, new wine, and fresh oil,
        and you will be fully satisfied by it;
    and I will no longer make you
        a disgrace among the nations.
I will remove the northern army far from you
    and drive it into a dried-up and desolate land,
        its front into the eastern sea,
        and its rear into the western sea.
    Its stench will rise up;
        its stink will come to the surface.
The Lord is about to do great things!
Don’t fear, fertile land;
    rejoice and be glad,
    for the Lord is about to do great things!
Don’t be afraid, animals of the field,
        for the meadows of the wilderness will turn green;
    the tree will bear its fruit;
        the fig tree and grapevine will give their full yield.
Children of Zion,
        rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God,
    because he will give you the early rain as a sign of righteousness;
        he will pour down abundant rain for you,
            the early and the late rain, as before.
The threshing floors will be full of grain;
        the vats will overflow with new wine and fresh oil.
I will repay you for the years
        that the cutting locust,
    the swarming locust, the hopping locust, and the devouring locust have eaten—
        my great army, which I sent against you.
You will eat abundantly and be satisfied,
        and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
    who has done wonders for you;
        and my people will never again be put to shame.
You will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
        and that I am the Lord your God—no other exists;
        never again will my people be put to shame.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
John 16:1-15

I have said these things to you so that you won’t fall away. They will expel you from the synagogue. The time is coming when those who kill you will think that they are doing a service to God. They will do these things because they don’t know the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their time comes, you will remember that I told you about them.

“I didn’t say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go away to the one who sent me. None of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ Yet because I have said these things to you, you are filled with sorrow. I assure you that it is better for you that I go away. If I don’t go away, the Companion won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will show the world it was wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. He will show the world it was wrong about sin because they don’t believe in me. He will show the world it was wrong about righteousness because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. He will show the world it was wrong about judgment because this world’s ruler stands condemned.

“I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. That’s why I said that the Spirit takes what is mine and will proclaim it to you.

Silence may be kept.

Gospel canticle
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Refrain: 
You have filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed.

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: 
You have filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed.

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

Prayers may be offered for:

the day and its tasks
the world and its needs
the church and her life

Prayers may include the following concerns:

 Local government, community leaders
All who provide local services
Those who work with young or elderly people
Schools, colleges and universities
Emergency and rescue organizations

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,
by whose grace alone we are accepted
      and called to your service:
strengthen us by your Holy Spirit
and make us worthy of our calling;
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.