Fri. evening Dec. 12
Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
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
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
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
After a period of reflection
Come, let us return to the Lord and say:
Lord our God, in our sin, we have avoided your call. Our faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. Have mercy on us; deliver us from judgment; bind up our wounds and revive us; in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
cf Hosea 6
May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.
Psalm 82
𝙍: Arise, O God, judge the earth.
God has taken His place in the divine council;
He renders judgment among the gods.
“How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
Defend the poor and the fatherless;
do justice to the afflicted and the needy.
Rescue the poor and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
𝙍: Arise, O God, judge the earth.
“They have neither knowledge nor understanding;
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”
I said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
but you shall die like men,
and fall like one of the princes.”
Arise, O God, judge the earth;
for You shall inherit all the nations.
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, judge the earth.
Psalm prayer
God our deliverer, when the foundations are shaken and justice has departed, defend the poor and needy and give your people strength to fight all wrong in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 90
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Lord, You have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You return man to the dust
and say, “Return, O sons of men.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
and like a watch in the night.
You carry them away like a flood;
they fall asleep; in the morning they are like grass that grows anew:
In the morning it flourishes and grows up;
in the evening it fades and withers.
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
For we are consumed by Your anger;
by Your wrath we are terrified.
You have set our iniquities before You,
our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
For all our days pass away under Your wrath;
we finish our years like a whisper.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even, by reason of strength, eighty;
yet their span is but toil and sorrow;
they soon pass away, and we fly away.
Who knows the power of Your anger?
For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
So teach us to number our days,
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
𝙍: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have compassion on Your servants!
Satisfy us in the early morning with Your mercy,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let Your work appear to Your servants,
and Your glory to their children.
Let the favor of the LORD our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands among us;
yes, establish the work of our hands.
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: O LORD my God, in You I put my trust.
Psalm prayer
Almighty God, our eternal refuge, teach us to live with the knowledge of our death and to rejoice in the promise of your glory, revealed to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.Silence may be kept.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 48:12-22
Listen to Me, O Jacob
and Israel, whom I called:
I am He;
I am the First, and I am the Last.
My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth,
and My right hand has spanned the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand up together.
Assemble, all of you, and listen.
Who among them has declared these things?
The LORD has loved him;
he will do His pleasure on Babylon,
and His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
I, even I, have spoken,
and I have called him;
I have brought him,
and his way will prosper.
Come near to Me, hear this:
I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;
from the time that it was, there I am.
And now the Lord GOD has sent me
and His Spirit.
Thus says the LORD,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the LORD your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
Oh, that you had listened to My commandments!
Then your peace would have been as a river
and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.
Your descendants also would have been as the sand
and your offspring like grains of sand;
their name would not have been cut off
nor destroyed from before Me.
Go forth from Babylon!
Flee from the Chaldeans!
With a voice of singing declare,
proclaim this,
utter it even to the ends of the earth;
say, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob.”
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts;
He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them;
He also split the rock,
and the waters gushed out.
“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
Finally, brothers, we urge and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as you have learned from us how you ought to walk and to please God, you should excel more and more. For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you should know how to possess his own body in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, even as the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man take advantage of and defraud his brother in any matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. Therefore he that despises does not despise man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
As concerning brotherly love, you do not need me to write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed, you do love all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more, to aspire to live a quiet life, to attend to your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may walk honestly toward those who are outsiders and that you may lack nothing.
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 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, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
O Lord, raise up, we pray, your power and come among us, and with great might assist us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Awaiting his coming in glory, 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 the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting.
Amen.