Thu. evening Nov. 20
Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
All your saints shall bless you.
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God, our light and our salvation, to you be glory and praise forever. Now, as darkness is falling, wash away our transgressions, cleanse us by your refining fire and make us temples of your Holy Spirit. By the light of Christ, dispel the darkness of our hearts and make us ready to enter your kingdom, where songs of praise forever sound.
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
Blow Ye the Trumpet, Blow
Music by The Hymnodist: Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart, YouTube Music, Pandora, Boomplay, Deezer
Lyrics by Charles Wesley
Verse 1
Blow ye the trumpet, blow
The gladly solemn sound
Let all the nations know
To earth's remotest bound
Chorus
The year of jubilee is come
The year of jubilee is come
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home
Verse 2
Jesus, our great high priest
Hath full atonement made
Ye weary spirits, rest
Ye mournful souls, be glad
Chorus
Verse 3
Extol the Lamb of God
The all-atoning Lamb
Redemption in His blood
Throughout the world proclaim
Chorus
Verse 4
Ye slaves of sin and hell
Your liberty receive
And safe in Jesus dwell
And blest in Jesus live
Chorus
Verse 5
Ye who have sold for nought
Your heritage above
Shall have it back unbought
The gift of Jesus' love
Chorus
Verse 6
The gospel trumpet hear
The news of heavenly grace
And saved from earth, appear
Before your Savior's face
Chorus
Confession of Sin
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from our distress.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son, and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days.
Amen.
Let us give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 74
𝙍: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance,
and this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.
Direct Your steps to the irreparable ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.
Your enemies have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
they set up their ensigns as signs.
They seem like men who wield axes
in a thicket of trees.
But now they break down all its carved work
with axes and hammers.
They set Your sanctuary on fire;
they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name, bringing it to the ground.
They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them altogether.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.
We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
nor is there any among us who knows how long.
O God, how long will the adversary revile?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
Why do You withdraw Your hand, Your right hand?
Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them!
𝙍: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
For God is my King from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces,
and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
You split open springs and torrents;
You dried up mighty rivers.
The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have prepared the light and the sun.
You have established all the boundaries of the earth;
You have made summer and winter.
𝙍: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
Remember this, that the enemy has reviled, O LORD,
and that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.
Do not give the life of Your turtledove to a wild animal;
do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
Have respect for the covenant,
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
Let not the oppressed return ashamed;
let the poor and needy praise Your name.
Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily.
Do not forget the voice of Your enemies,
the tumult of those who rise up against You, which increases continually.
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.
𝙍: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
Psalm prayer
Redeeming God, renew your broken people with your Holy Spirit, that they may walk your narrow way, and greet your coming dawn in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 76
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
In Judah God is known;
His name is great in Israel.
His abode is in Salem,
His dwelling place in Zion.
There He broke the flaming arrows of the bow,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
You are more glorious and excellent
than the mountains of prey.
The stouthearted were plundered;
they sank into sleep;
and none of the mighty men
could use his hands.
At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both the rider and horse lay stunned.
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
But You indeed are to be feared;
who may stand in Your presence once You are angry?
You caused judgment to be heard from heaven;
the earth feared and was still,
when God arose to judgment,
to save all the meek of the earth.
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
Surely the wrath of man shall praise You;
with the remainder of wrath You will gird Yourself.
Make your vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them;
let all who are around Him
bring tribute to Him who is to be feared.
He will cut off the spirit of princes;
He is feared by the kings of the earth.
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.
𝙍: The LORD has established His throne for judgment.
Psalm prayer
Majestic and gracious God, more awesome than the agents of war, more powerful than the wrath of nations, restrain the violence of the peoples, and draw the despised of the earth into the joyful life of your kingdom, where you live and reign forever and ever.
Old Testament reading
Daniel 9:20-27
While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, indeed, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering. He informed me and talked with me, and said, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore understand the matter and consider the vision:
“Seventy weeks have been determined for your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make atonement for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
“Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem until the Prince Messiah shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of trouble. After the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the troops of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall come with a flood. And until the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Revelation 12:1-17
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: Behold, there was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew one-third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as He was born. She gave birth to a male Child, “who was to rule all nations with an iron scepter.” And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. The woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, that they may nourish her there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was there a place for them in heaven any longer. The great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying:
“Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brothers,
who accused them before our God day and night,
has been cast down.
They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives
unto the death.
Therefore rejoice, O heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!
For the devil has come down to you in great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short.”
When the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. Then the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and he went to wage war with the remnant of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Silence may be kept.
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Luke 1:46-55
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded
the low estate 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,
and holy is His name.
His mercy is on those who fear Him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has pulled down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham 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.
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.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He 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,
and is seated at the
right hand of the Father.
He 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 saints on earth, that they may live as citizens of heaven
All people, that they may hear and believe the word of God
All who fear the winter months
All sovereigns and political leaders, that they may imitate the righteous rule of Christ
All who grieve or wait with the dying
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil, and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
As our Savior taught us, so we pray
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
Conclusion
May Christ, who has opened the kingdom of heaven, bring us to reign with him in glory.
Amen.