Thursday evening June 16
Friday evening
Wednesday evening
Preparation
Opening response
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste 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.
Hymn
Lord, We Believe and Wait the Hour
Charles Wesley
Lord, we believe and wait the hour,
Which all thy great salvation brings;
The Spirit of love, and health, and power
Shall come and make us priests and kings,
Thou wilt perform thy faithful word:
“The servant shall be as his Lord.”
The promise stands forever sure,
And we shall in thine image shine,
Partakers of a nature pure,
Holy, angelical, divine;
In Spirit joined to thee, the Son,
And thou art with thy Father one.
Faithful and true we now receive,
The promise ratified by thee;
To thee the when and how we leave,
In time and in eternity;
We only hang upon thy word,
“The servant shall be as his Lord.”
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 78:40-72
Refrain:
Earth: Tremble before the Lord!
How often they rebelled against God in the wilderness
and distressed him in the desert!
Time and time again they tested God,
provoking the holy one of Israel.
They didn’t remember God’s power—
the day when he saved them from the enemy;
how God performed his signs in Egypt,
his marvelous works in the field of Zoan.
God turned their rivers into blood;
they couldn’t drink from their own streams.
God sent swarms against them to eat them up,
frogs to destroy them.
God handed over their crops to caterpillars,
their land’s produce to locusts.
God killed their vines with hail,
their sycamore trees with frost.
God delivered their cattle over to disease,
their herds to plagues.
God unleashed his burning anger against them—
fury, indignation, distress,
a troop of evil messengers.
God blazed a path for his wrath.
He didn’t save them from death,
but delivered their lives over to disease.
God struck down all of Egypt’s oldest males;
in Ham’s tents, he struck their pride and joy.
God led his own people out like sheep,
guiding them like a flock in the wilderness.
God led them in safety—they were not afraid!
But the sea engulfed their enemies!
God brought them to his holy territory,
to the mountain that his own strong hand had acquired.
God drove out the nations before them
and apportioned property for them;
he settled Israel’s tribes in their tents.
But they tested and defied the Most High God;
they didn’t pay attention to his warnings.
They turned away, became faithless just like their ancestors;
they twisted away like a defective bow.
They angered God with their many shrines;
they angered him with their idols.
God heard and became enraged;
he rejected Israel utterly.
God abandoned the sanctuary at Shiloh,
the tent where he had lived with humans.
God let his power be held captive,
let his glory go to the enemy’s hand.
God delivered his people up to the sword;
he was enraged at his own possession.
Fire devoured his young men,
and his young women had no wedding songs.
God’s priests were killed by the sword,
and his widows couldn’t even cry.
But then my Lord woke up—
as if he’d been sleeping!
Like a warrior shaking off wine,
God beat back his foes;
he made them an everlasting disgrace.
God rejected the tent of Joseph
and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim.
Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah,
the mountain of Zion, which he loves.
God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven
and like the earth, which he established forever.
And God chose David, his servant,
taking him from the sheepfolds.
God brought him from shepherding nursing ewes
to shepherd his people Jacob,
to shepherd his inheritance, Israel.
David shepherded them with a heart of integrity;
he led them with the skill of his hands.
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:
Earth: Tremble before the Lord!
Psalm prayer
God our shepherd,
in all our wanderings and temptations,
teach us to rest in your mercy
and trust in your defence;
through him who laid down his life for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Job 30
But now those younger than I mock me,
whose fathers I refused to put beside my sheepdogs.
Their strength, what’s it to me,
their energy having perished?
Stiff from want and hunger,
those who gnaw dry ground,
yesterday’s desolate waste,
who pluck off the leaves on a bush,
the root of the broom—
a shrub is their food.
People banish them from society,
shout at them as if to a thief;
so they live in scary ravines,
holes in the ground and rocks.
Among shrubs, they make sounds like donkeys;
they are huddled together under a bush,
children of fools and the nameless,
whipped out of the land.
And now I’m their song;
I’m their cliché!
They detest me, keep their distance,
don’t withhold spit from my face.
Because he loosened my bowstring and afflicted me,
they throw off restraint in my presence.
On the right, upstarts rise and target my feet,
build their siege ramps against me,
destroy my road, profit from my fall,
with no help.
They advance as if through a destroyed wall;
they roll along beneath the ruin.
Terrors crash upon me;
they sweep away my honor like wind;
my safety disappears like a cloud.
Now my life is poured out on me;
days of misery have seized me.
At night he bores my bones;
my gnawing pain won’t rest.
With great force he grasps my clothing;
it binds me like the neck of my shirt.
He hurls me into mud;
I’m a cliché, like dust and ashes.
I cry to you, and you don’t answer;
I stand up, but you just look at me.
You are cruel to me,
attack me with the strength of your hand.
You lift me to the wind and make me ride;
you melt me in its roar.
I know you will return me to death,
the house appointed for all the living.
Surely he won’t strike someone in ruins
if in distress he cries out to him,
if I didn’t weep for those who have a difficult day
or my soul grieve for the needy;
for I awaited good, but evil came;
I expected light, but gloom arrived.
My insides, churning, are never quiet;
days of affliction confront me.
I walk in the dark, lacking sunshine;
I rise in the assembly and cry out.
I have become a brother to jackals,
a companion to young ostriches.
My skin is charred;
my bones are scorched by the heat.
My lyre is for mourning,
my flute, a weeping sound.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Romans 13:1-7
Every person should place themselves under the authority of the government. There isn’t any authority unless it comes from God, and the authorities that are there have been put in place by God. So anyone who opposes the authority is standing against what God has established. People who take this kind of stand will get punished. The authorities don’t frighten people who are doing the right thing. Rather, they frighten people who are doing wrong. Would you rather not be afraid of authority? Do what’s right, and you will receive its approval. It is God’s servant given for your benefit. But if you do what’s wrong, be afraid because it doesn’t have weapons to enforce the law for nothing. It is God’s servant put in place to carry out his punishment on those who do what is wrong. That is why it is necessary to place yourself under the government’s authority, not only to avoid God’s punishment but also for the sake of your conscience. You should also pay taxes for the same reason, because the authorities are God’s assistants, concerned with this very thing. So pay everyone what you owe them. Pay the taxes you owe, pay the duties you are charged, give respect to those you should respect, and honor those you should honor.
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
Response
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
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.