Photo by Artem Podrez. Distributed freely under Pexels license.

Opening response

Hurry, God, to deliver us.
LORD, come quickly to help us.

Reveal among us the light of your presence
that we may behold your power and glory.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
creator of light and darkness,
to you be glory and praise forever.
As evening falls, you renew your promise
to reveal among us the light of your presence.
May your word be a lantern to our feet
and a light upon our path
that we may behold your coming among us.
Strengthen us in our stumbling weakness
and free our tongues to sing your praise.
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

O thou whom we adore

Charles Wesley

O thou whom we adore!
To bless our earth again,
Assume thine own almighty power,
And over the nations reign.

The world’s desire and hope,
All power to thee is given;
Now set the last great empire up,
Eternal Lord of heaven!

A gracious Savior, thou,
Wilt all thy creatures bless;
And every knee to thee shall bow,
And every tongue confess.

According to thy word;
Now be thy grace revealed;
And with the knowledge of the Lord,
Let all the earth be filled.

Confession of sin

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
very patient, and full of faithful love.
He doesn’t deal with us according to our sin
or repay us according to our wrongdoing.
Because as high as heaven is above the earth,
that’s how large God’s faithful love is for those who honor him.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.

As far as east is from west—
that’s how far God has removed our sin from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,
that’s how the Lord feels compassion for those who honor him.

Let my whole being bless the Lord.
Let everything inside me bless his holy name.

Let my whole being bless the Lord,
and never forget all his good deeds.

Psalm 89:1-37

Refrain:
Our shield belongs to Yahweh.

I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever.
    With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.
    You established the heavens.
    Your faithfulness is in them.”

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
    I have sworn to David, my servant,
‘I will establish your offspring forever,
    and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah.
The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh,
    your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
    Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,
a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones,
    to be feared above all those who are around him?
Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you?
    Yah, your faithfulness is around you.
You rule the pride of the sea.
    When its waves rise up, you calm them.
You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain.
    You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
The heavens are yours.
    The earth also is yours,
    the world and its fullness.
    You have founded them.
You have created the north and the south.
    Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
You have a mighty arm.
    Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
    Loving kindness and truth go before your face.
Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you.
    They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
In your name they rejoice all day.
    In your righteousness, they are exalted.
For you are the glory of their strength.
    In your favor, our horn will be exalted.
For our shield belongs to Yahweh,
    our king to the Holy One of Israel.

Then you spoke in vision to your saints,
    and said, “I have given strength to the warrior.
    I have exalted a young man from the people.
I have found David, my servant.
    I have anointed him with my holy oil,
with whom my hand shall be established.
    My arm will also strengthen him.
No enemy will tax him.
    No wicked man will oppress him.
I will beat down his adversaries before him,
    and strike those who hate him.
But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him.
    In my name, his horn will be exalted.
I will set his hand also on the sea,
    and his right hand on the rivers.
He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
    my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
I will also appoint him my firstborn,
    the highest of the kings of the earth.
I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.
    My covenant will stand firm with him.
I will also make his offspring endure forever,
    and his throne as the days of heaven.
If his children forsake my law,
    and don’t walk in my ordinances;
if they break my statutes,
    and don’t keep my commandments;
then I will punish their sin with the rod,
    and their iniquity with stripes.
But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him,
    nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
I will not break my covenant,
    nor alter what my lips have uttered.
Once I have sworn by my holiness,
    I will not lie to David.
His offspring will endure forever,
    his throne like the sun before me.
It will be established forever like the moon,
    the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah.

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:
Our shield belongs to Yahweh.

Psalm prayer

As we sing of your love, O Lord,
anoint us with the Spirit’s seal,
that we may praise your faithfulness
and proclaim your truth from age to age;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Nahum 1

A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies. Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time. For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble. One has gone out of you who devises evil against Yahweh, who counsels wickedness. Yahweh says: “Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so they will be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. Now I will break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart.” Yahweh has commanded concerning you: “No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, I will cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Matthew 23:13-28

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who has been living in it. He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

Refrain:
Lord Jesus, you are the one who is to come, the one whom we await with longing hearts.

My soul magnifies the Lord.
My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
for he has looked at the humble state of his servant.
For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
His mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear him.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down princes from their thrones,
and has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty.
He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and his offspring 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:
Lord Jesus, you are the one who is to come, the one whom we await with longing hearts.

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.

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 church, that she may be ready for the coming of Christ
The leaders of the church
The nations, that they may be subject to the rule of God
Those who are working for justice in the world
The broken, that they may find God’s healing

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

Response

Lord, hear your people
and answer our prayers.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

God our redeemer,
who prepared the Blessed Virgin Mary
to be the mother of your Son:
grant that, as she looked for his coming as our savior,
so we may be ready to greet him
when he comes again as our judge;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Awaiting his coming in glory, 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

May the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting.
Amen.