Opening response

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

In your resurrection, O Christ,
let heaven and earth rejoice.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign Lord,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to you be glory and praise forever.
From the deep waters of death
you brought your people to new birth
by raising your Son to life in triumph.
Through him dark death has been destroyed
and radiant life is everywhere restored.
As you call us out of darkness into his marvelous light
may our lives reflect his glory
and our lips repeat the endless song.
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

Christ, Whose Glory Fills The Skies

Charles Wesley

Christ, whose glory fills the skies,
Christ, the true, the only light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise!
Triumph over the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high, be near;
Daystar, in my heart appear.

Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by thee;
Joyless is the day's return,
Till thy mercy's beams I see;
Till they inward light impart,
Glad my eyes, and warm my heart.

Visit then this soul of mine;
Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, Radiancy Divine;
Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more thyself display,
Shining to the perfect day.

Confession of sin

Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

Almighty God,
patient and of great goodness:
I confess to you,
I confess with my whole heart
my neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments,
my wrong doing, thinking, and speaking;
the hurts I have done to others,
and the good I have left undone.
O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you;
and raise me to newness of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Psalm 104

𝙍: I will sing to the LORD all my life.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

O LORD my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
He wraps Himself in light as with a garment;
He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
laying the beams of His chambers
in the waters above,
making the clouds His chariot,
walking on the wings of the wind.
He makes the winds His messengers,
flames of fire His servants. 𝙍

He set the earth on its foundations,
never to be moved.
You covered it with the deep like a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At Your rebuke the waters fled;
at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—
the mountains rose and the valleys sank
to the place You assigned for them—
You set a boundary they cannot cross,
that they may never again cover the earth. 𝙍

He sends forth springs in the valleys;
they flow between the mountains.
They give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
The birds of the air nest beside the springs;
they sing among the branches.
He waters the mountains from His chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works. 𝙍

He makes the grass grow for the livestock
and provides crops for man to cultivate,
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil that makes his face to shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.
The trees of the LORD have their fill,
the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,
where the birds build their nests;
the stork makes her home in the cypresses.
The high mountains are for the wild goats,
the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers. 𝙍

He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows when to set.
You bring darkness, and it becomes night,
when all the beasts of the forest prowl.
The young lions roar for their prey
and seek their food from God.
The sun rises, and they withdraw;
they lie down in their dens.
Man goes forth to his work
and to his labor until evening. 𝙍

How many are Your works, O LORD!
In wisdom You have made them all;
the earth is full of Your creatures.
Here is the sea, vast and wide,
teeming with creatures beyond number,
living things both great and small.
There the ships pass,
and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.

All creatures look to You
to give them their food in due season.
When You give it to them,
they gather it up;
when You open Your hand,
they are satisfied with good things.
When You hide Your face,
they are terrified;
when You take away their breath,
they die and return to dust.
When You send Your Spirit,
they are created,
and You renew
the face of the earth. 𝙍

May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in His works.
He looks on the earth,
and it trembles;
He touches the mountains,
and they smolder.
I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
May my meditation be pleasing to Him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.
May sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more.

Bless the LORD, O my soul.

Hallelujah!

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: I will sing to the LORD all my life.

Psalm prayer

Creator God,
send your Holy Spirit to renew this living world,
that the whole creation,
in its groaning and striving,
may know your loving purpose
and come to reflect your glory;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Deuteronomy 19

When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses, then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.

Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him: If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.

Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in a rage, overtake him if the distance is great, and strike him dead though he did not deserve to die, since he did not intend any harm. This is why I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as He swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land He promised them, and if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you today, loving the LORD your God and walking in His ways at all times, then you are to add three more cities to these three.

Thus innocent blood will not be shed in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

If a false witness testifies against someone, accusing him of a crime, both parties to the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD, before the priests and judges who are in office at that time. The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is proven to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. So you must purge the evil from among you. Then the rest of the people will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything so evil among you. You must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

1 Peter 2:11-25

Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable. For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended. How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:

“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in His mouth.”
When they heaped abuse on Him,
He did not retaliate;
when He suffered, He made no threats,
but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.
He Himself bore our sins
in His body on the tree,
so that we might die to sin
and live to righteousness.
“By His stripes you are healed.”

For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

𝙍: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.

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: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.

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:

The people of God, that they may proclaim the risen Lord
God’s creation, that the peoples of the earth may meet their responsibility to care
Those in despair and darkness, that they may find the hope and light of Christ
Those in fear of death, that they may find faith through the resurrection
Prisoners and captives

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

Response

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen 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

Rejoicing in God’s new creation, 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

May the risen Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.
Amen.