Tuesday evening August 25

Wednesday evening
Monday 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

Prince of Universal Peace

Charles Wesley
           
Prince of universal peace,
Destroy the enmity,
Bid our jars and discords cease,
Unite us all in thee:
Cruel as wild beasts we are,
’Till vanquished by thy mercy’s power,
Men, like wolves, each other tear,
And their own flesh devour.

But if thou pronounce the word
That forms our souls again,
Love and harmony restored
Throughout the earth shall reign;
When thy wondrous love they feel,
The human savages are tame,
Ravenous wolves, and leopards dwell
And stable with the lamb.

Bears transformed with oxen graze,
Their young together feed,
With the calf the lion plays,
Nor rends the dandled kid;
Harshest natures reconciled
With soft, and fierce with meek agree,
Gentle, tractable, and mild
As harmless infancy.

O that now with pardon blest
We each might each embrace,
Quietly together rest,
And feed upon thy grace,
Like our sinless parents live!
Great shepherd, make thy goodness known,
All into thy fold receive,
And keep forever one.

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 89:19-52

Refrain: 
Teach me your way, Lord, so that I can walk in your truth.

Once you spoke in a vision
    to your faithful servants:
I placed a crown on a strong man.
    I raised up someone specially chosen from the people.
I discovered my servant David.
    I anointed him with my holy oil.
My hand will sustain him—
    yes, my arm will strengthen him!
No enemy will oppress him;
    no wicked person will make him suffer.
I will crush all his foes in front of him.
    I will strike down all those who hate him.
My faithfulness and my loyal love will be with him.
    He will be strengthened by my name.
I will set his hand on the sea.
    I will set his strong hand on the rivers.
He will cry out to me:
    “You are my father,
    my God, the rock of my salvation.”
Yes, I’ll make him the one born first—
    I’ll make him the high king of all earth’s kings.
I will always guard my loyal love toward him.
    My covenant with him will last forever.
I will establish his dynasty for all time.
    His throne will last as long as heaven does.
But if his children ever abandon my Instruction,
    stop following my rules—
        if they treat my statutes like dirt,
        stop keeping my commandments—
    then I will punish their sin with a stick,
        and I will punish their wrongdoing with a severe beating.
But even then I won’t withdraw my loyal love from him.
    I won’t betray my faithfulness.
    I won’t break my covenant.
    I won’t renege on what crossed my lips.
By my own holiness I’ve sworn one thing:
    I will not lie to David.
    His dynasty will last forever.
    His throne will be like the sun, always before me.
    It will be securely established forever;
    like the moon, a faithful witness in the sky. 
But you, God, have rejected and despised him.
    You’ve become infuriated with your anointed one.
    You’ve canceled the covenant with your servant.
    You’ve thrown his crown in the dirt.
    You’ve broken through all his walls.
    You’ve made his strongholds a pile of ruins.
All those who pass by plunder him.
    He’s nothing but a joke to his neighbors.
You lifted high his foes’ strong hand.
    You gave all his enemies reason to celebrate.
Yes, you dulled the edge of his sword
    and didn’t support him in battle.
    You’ve put an end to his splendor.
    You’ve thrown his throne to the ground.
    You’ve shortened the prime of his life.
    You’ve wrapped him up in shame. 
How long will it last, Lord?
    Will you hide yourself forever?
    How long will your wrath burn like fire?
Remember how short my life is!
    Have you created humans for no good reason?
Who lives their life without seeing death?
    Who is ever rescued from the grip of the grave?
Where now are your loving acts
    from long ago, my Lord—
    the same ones you promised to David
    by your own faithfulness?
Remember your servant’s abuse, my Lord!
    Remember how I bear in my heart
    all the insults of the nations,
        the ones your enemies, Lord, use—
        the ones they use to abuse
        every step your anointed one takes.
Bless the Lord forever!
    Amen and Amen!

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: 
Teach me your way, Lord, so that I can walk in your truth.

Psalm prayer

Faithful God,
remember your promise
fulfilled in your anointed Son Jesus Christ,
in whose strength alone we stand,
now and forever.

Old Testament reading
Micah 2

Doom to those who devise wickedness,
        to those who plan evil when they are in bed.
    By the light of morning they do it,
        for they are very powerful.
They covet fields and seize them,
        houses and take them away.
    They oppress a householder
    and those in his house,
        a man and his estate.
Therefore, the Lord proclaims:
    I myself am devising an evil against this family
        from which you will not be able to remove your necks!
    You will no longer be able to go about arrogantly,
        for it will be an evil time.
On that day, a taunt will be raised against you;
        someone will wail bitterly:
        “We are utterly destroyed!
        He exchanges the portion of my people;
            he removes what belongs to me;
            he gives away our fields to a rebel.”
Therefore, you will have no one to set boundary lines
    by lot in the Lord’s assembly.

“They mustn’t preach!” so they preach.
        “They mustn’t preach of such things!
            Disgrace won’t overtake us.”
    (Should this be said, house of Jacob?)
        “Is the Lord’s patience cut short? Are these his deeds?”
            Don’t my words help the one who behaves righteously?
But yesterday, my people, the Lord rose up as an enemy.
        You strip off the glorious clothes
            from trusting passersby, those who reject war.
You drive out the women of my people,
        each from her cherished house;
        from their young children
            you take away my splendor forever.
Rise up and go! This can’t be the resting place;
        because of its uncleanness,
            it destroys and the destruction is horrific.
If someone were to go about inspired and say deceitfully:
        “I will preach to you for wine and liquor,”
            such a one would be the preacher for this people!

I’ll surely gather Jacob—all of you!
        I’ll surely assemble you, those who are left of Israel!
        I’ll put them together like sheep in Bozrah,
            like a flock in its pen,
            noisy with people.
The one who breaks out will go before them;
        they will break out and pass through the gate;
        they will leave by it.
        They will pass on,
            their king before them,
            the Lord at their head.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
Mark 5:21-34

Jesus crossed the lake again, and on the other side a large crowd gathered around him on the shore. Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders, came forward. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded with him, “My daughter is about to die. Please, come and place your hands on her so that she can be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.

A swarm of people were following Jesus, crowding in on him. A woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a lot under the care of many doctors, and had spent everything she had without getting any better. In fact, she had gotten worse. Because she had heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothes. She was thinking, If I can just touch his clothes, I’ll be healed. Her bleeding stopped immediately, and she sensed in her body that her illness had been healed.

At that very moment, Jesus recognized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”

His disciples said to him, “Don’t you see the crowd pressing against you? Yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’” But Jesus looked around carefully to see who had done it.

The woman, full of fear and trembling, came forward. Knowing what had happened to her, she fell down in front of Jesus and told him the whole truth. He responded, “Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace, healed from your disease.”

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:

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

O God, you declare your almighty power
most chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace,
that we, running the way of your commandments,
may receive your gracious promises,
and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;
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.