Opening response

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

From the rising of the sun to its setting
your glory is proclaimed in all the world.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
our light and our salvation,
to you be glory and praise forever.
You gave your Christ as a light to the nations,
and through the anointing of the Spirit
you established us as a royal priesthood.
As you call us into your marvelous light,
may our lives bear witness to your truth
and our lips never cease to proclaim 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

A Thousand Oracles Divine

Charles Wesley

A thousand oracles divine
Their common beams unite,
That sinners may with angels join
To worship God aright.

To praise a Trinity adored
By all the hosts above,
And one thrice-holy God and Lord
Through endless ages love.

Triumphant host! they never cease
To laud and magnify
The triune God of holiness,
Whose glory fills the sky.

Whose glory to this earth extends,
When God himself imparts,
And the whole Trinity descends
Into our faithful hearts.

By faith the upper choir we meet,
And challenge them to sing
Jehovah on his shining seat,
Our maker and our king.

But God made flesh is wholly ours,
And asks our nobler strain;
The Father of celestial powers,
The friend of earthborn man!

Ye seraphs nearest to the throne,
With rapturous amaze
On us, poor ransomed worms look down
For heaven’s superior praise.

The king whose glorious face ye see,
For us his crown resigned;
That fullness of the Deity,
He died for all mankind!

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.

Psalm 47

Refrain:
Sing praises to God! Sing praises!

Oh clap your hands, all you nations.
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
For the LORD Most High is awesome.
He is a great King over all the earth.
He subdues nations under us,
and peoples under our feet.
He chooses our inheritance for us,
the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.

God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
Sing praises to God! Sing praises!
Sing praises to our King! Sing praises!
For God is the King of all the earth.
Sing praises with understanding.
God reigns over the nations.
God sits on his holy throne.
The princes of the peoples are gathered together,
the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God.
He is greatly exalted!

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:
Sing praises to God! Sing praises!

Psalm prayer

As Christ was raised by your glory, Father,
so may we be raised to new life
and rejoice to be called your children,
both now and forever.

Psalm 48

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
in the city of our God, in his holy mountain.
Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion, on the north sides,
the city of the great King.
God has shown himself in her citadels as a refuge.
For, behold, the kings assembled themselves,
they passed by together.
They saw it, then they were amazed.
They were dismayed.
They hurried away.
Trembling took hold of them there,
pain, as of a woman in travail.
With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.
As we have heard, so we have seen,
in the city of the LORD of Armies, in the city of our God.
God will establish it forever. Selah.

We have thought about your loving kindness, God,
in the middle of your temple.
As is your name, God,
so is your praise to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is full of righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgements.
Walk about Zion, and go around her.
Number its towers.
Notice her bulwarks.
Consider her palaces,
that you may tell it to the next generation.
For this God is our God forever and ever.
He will be our guide even to death.

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.

Psalm prayer

Father of lights,
raise us with Christ to your eternal city,
that, with kings and nations,
we may wait in the midst of your temple
and see your glory forever and ever.

Old Testament reading

Genesis 2:4-25

This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. No plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth. There was not a man to till the ground, but a mist went up from the earth, and watered the whole surface of the ground. The LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The LORD God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted, and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon: it flows through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the same river that flows through the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel. This is the one which flows in front of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field, and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called every living creature became its name. The man gave names to all livestock, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper comparable to him. The LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. The LORD God made a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Matthew 21:33-46

“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers to receive his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they treated them the same way. But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the farmers, when they saw the son, said amongst themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, then killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”

They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit in its season.”

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The stone which the builders rejected
was made the head of the corner.
This was from the Lord.
It is marvelous in our eyes’?

“Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation producing its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them. When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

Refrain:
Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
the anointed one on whom my Spirit rests.

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:
Behold, my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
the anointed one on whom my Spirit rests.

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 unity of the church
The peace of the world
The healing of the sick
The revelation of Christ to those from whom his glory is hidden
All who travel

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

Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
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

Believing the promises of God, 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 Christ, who sends us to the nations, give us the power of his Spirit.
Amen.