Thursday evening July 19
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 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
Come, Thou All-Inspiring Spirit
Charles Wesley
Come, thou all-inspiring Spirit,
Into every longing heart!
Bought for us by Jesus' merit,
Now thy blissful self impart;
Sign our uncontested pardon,
Wash us in the atoning blood;
Make our hearts a watered garden,
Fill our spotless souls with God.
If thou gavest the enlarged desire
Which for thee we ever feel,
Now our longing souls inspire,
Now our cancelled sin reveal;
Claim us for thy habitation,
Dwell within our hallowed breast;
Seal us heirs of full salvation,
Fitted for our heavenly rest.
Give us quietly to tarry,
Till for all thy glory meet,
Waiting, like attentive Mary,
Happy at the Savior's feet.
Keep us from the world unspotted,
From all earthly passions free,
Wholly to thyself devoted,
Fixed to live and die for thee.
Wrestling on in mighty prayer,
Lord, we will not let thee go
Till thou all thy mind declare,
All thy grace on us bestow;
Peace, the seal of sin forgiven,
Joy and perfect love impart;
Present everlasting heaven,
All thou hast and all thou art.
Confession of sin
Seek the Lord when he can still be found;
call him while he is yet near.
Let the wicked abandon their ways
and the sinful their schemes.
Let them return to the Lord so that he may have mercy on them,
to our God, because he is generous with forgiveness.
cf Isaiah 55
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
Lord God,
we have sinned against you;
we have committed evil in your sight.
We are sorry and repent.
Have mercy on us according to your faithful love.
Wash us completely clean of our guilt; purify us from our sin.
Put a new, faithful spirit deep inside us,
and return the joy of your salvation to us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
cf Psalm 51
May the Father of all mercies
cleanse us from our sins,
and restore us in his image
to the praise and glory of his name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Bless the Lord,
because he has listened to our request for mercy.
Therefore our hearts will rejoice
and we will thank him with our song.
cf Psalm 28:7,9
The Word of God
Psalm 18
Refrain:
The Lord my God illumines my darkness.
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 illumines my darkness.
Psalm prayer
From your royal throne, 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
Jeremiah 30:1-11
Jeremiah received the Lord’s word: The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: Write down in a scroll all the words I have spoken to you. The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will bring back my people Israel and Judah from captivity, says the Lord. I will bring them home to the land that I gave to their ancestors, and they will possess it. Here are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
The Lord proclaims:
I hear screams of panic and terror;
no one is safe.
Ask and see:
Can men bear children?
Then why do I see every man
bent over in pain, as if he’s in labor?
Why have all turned pale?
That day is awful, beyond words.
A time of unspeakable pain
for my people Jacob.
But they will be delivered from it.
At that time, I will break the yoke off their necks and remove their shackles. Foreigners will no longer enslave them, declares the Lord of heavenly forces. They will serve the Lord their God and the king whom I will raise up for them from David’s family.
So don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,
declares the Lord,
Don’t lose hope, Israel.
I will deliver you from faraway places
and your children from the land of their exile.
My people Jacob will again be safe and sound,
with no one harassing them.
I am with you and will rescue you,
declares the Lord.
I will put an end to all the nations
where I have scattered you.
But I won’t put an end to you.
I won’t let you remain unpunished:
I will discipline you as you deserve.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
2 Corinthians 13
This is the third time that I’m coming to visit you. Every matter is settled on the evidence of two or three witnesses. When I was with you on my second visit, I already warned those who continued to sin. Now I’m repeating that warning to all the rest of you while I’m at a safe distance: if I come again, I won’t spare anyone. Since you are demanding proof that Christ speaks through me, Christ isn’t weak in dealing with you but shows his power among you. Certainly he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives by the power of God. Certainly we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power that is directed toward you.
Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. But I hope that you will realize that we don’t fail the test. We pray to God that you don’t do anything wrong, not because we want to appear to pass the test but so that you might do the right thing, even if we appear to fail.
We can’t do anything against the truth but only to help the truth. We are happy when we are weak but you are strong. We pray for this: that you will be made complete. This is why I’m writing these things while I’m away. I’m writing so that I won’t need to act harshly when I’m with you by using the authority that the Lord gave me. He gave it to me so that I could build you up, not tear you down.
Finally, brothers and sisters, good-bye. Put things in order, respond to my encouragement, be in harmony with each other, and live in peace—and the God of love and peace will be with you.
Say hello to each other with a holy kiss. All of God’s people say hello to you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Refrain:
You show mercy to everyone, from one generation to the next, who honors you as God.
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 show mercy to everyone, from one generation to the next, who honors you as God.
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:
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
Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
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.