Mon. evening Dec. 15
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
Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown
Music by The Hymnodist: Spotify, Apple, Amazon, iHeart, YouTube Music, Pandora, Boomplay, Deezer
Lyrics by Charles Wesley
Verse 1
Come, O thou traveler unknown
Whom still I hold, but cannot see
My company before is gone
And I am left alone with thee
With thee all night I mean to stay
And wrestle till the break of day
Verse 2
I need not tell thee who I am
My misery or sin declare
Thyself hast called me by my name
Look on thy hands and read it there
But who, I ask thee, who art thou
Tell me thy name, and tell me now
Chorus
My strength is gone, my nature dies
I sink beneath thy weighty hand
Faint to revive, and fall to rise
I fall, and yet by faith I stand
I stand, and will not let thee go
Till I thy name, thy nature know
Thy nature know
Verse 3
Yield to me now—for I am weak
But confident in self-despair
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak
Be conquered by my instant prayer
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move
And tell me, if thy name is love
Chorus
Verse 4
’Tis love! ’tis love! Thou died for me
I hear thy whisper in my heart
The morning breaks, the shadows flee
Pure, universal love thou art
To me, to all thy passions move
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
Verse 5
My prayer hath power with God; the grace
Unspeakable I now receive
Through faith I see thee face to face
I see thee face to face and live
In vain I have not wept and strove
Thy nature and thy name is love
Verse 6
I know thee, Savior, who thou art
Jesus, the feeble sinner’s friend
Nor wilt thou with the night depart
But stay and love me to the end
Thy mercies never shall remove
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
My strength is gone, my nature dies
Thy nature and thy name is love
Thy nature and thy name is love
Thy nature and thy name is love
Confession of Sin
Let us confess our sins to God.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
My God, for love of you, I desire to hate and forsake all sins by which I have ever displeased you; and I resolve by the help of your grace to commit them no more; and to avoid all opportunities of sin. Help me to do this, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lord enrich us with his grace, and nourish us with his blessing; the Lord defend us in trouble and keep us from all evil; the Lord accept our prayers, and absolve us from our offenses, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen.
Psalm 25
𝙍: Remember, O LORD, Your mercies and Your lovingkindness.
To You, O LORD,
I lift up my soul.
O my God, I trust in You;
let me not be ashamed;
let not my enemies triumph over me.
Let no one who waits on You
be ashamed;
let them be ashamed
who transgress without cause.
Show me Your ways, O LORD;
teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are the God of my salvation;
on You I wait all day long.
Remember, O LORD, Your mercies and Your lovingkindness,
for they are from of old.
𝙍: Remember, O LORD, Your mercies and Your lovingkindness.
Do not remember the sins of my youth
or my transgressions;
according to Your lovingkindness remember me,
for Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in justice,
and teaches the humble His way.
All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth,
for those who keep His covenant and His decrees.
𝙍: Remember, O LORD, Your mercies and Your lovingkindness.
For Your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity,
for it is great.
Who is the man who fears the LORD?
He will teach him the way that he should choose.
He will dwell at ease,
and his descendants will inherit the land.
The secret counsel of the LORD is with those who fear Him,
and He will make His covenant known to them.
My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
for He will pluck my feet out of the net.
𝙍: Remember, O LORD, Your mercies and Your lovingkindness.
Turn to me, and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart have increased;
bring me out of my distresses.
Look on my affliction and my pain,
and forgive all my sins.
Consider my enemies, for they are many,
and with what violent hatred they hate.
Guard my soul, and deliver me;
do not let me suffer shame,
for I take refuge in You.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
for I wait for You.
Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all its troubles.
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: Remember, O LORD, Your mercies and Your lovingkindness.
Psalm prayer
Free us, God of mercy, from all that keeps us from you; relieve the misery of the anxious and the ashamed and fill us with the hope of peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 26
𝙍: LORD, I love the place where Your glory dwells.
Vindicate me, O LORD,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the LORD;
therefore I will not waver.
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me;
try my mind and my heart.
For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
and I have walked in Your truth.
I have not sat with the worthless,
nor will I consort with hypocrites.
𝙍: LORD, I love the place where Your glory dwells.
I have hated the assembly of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
I will wash my hands in innocence;
thus will I go around Your altar, O LORD,
that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all Your wondrous works.
LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house,
and the place where Your glory dwells.
𝙍: LORD, I love the place where Your glory dwells.
Do not gather my soul with sinners,
nor my life with murderers,
in whose hands is wickedness,
and whose right hand is full of bribes.
But as for me, I will walk in my integrity;
redeem me and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the congregations I will bless the LORD.
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: LORD, I love the place where Your glory dwells.
Psalm prayer
Have mercy on us and redeem us, Lord, for our merits are your mercies, and in your judgment is our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 49:14-25
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me.”
Can a woman forget her nursing child,
and have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget.
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;
your walls are continually before Me;
your builders hurry;
your destroyers and those who devastated you shall depart from you.
Lift up your eyes and look all around;
all these gather themselves together and come to you.
As I live, says the LORD,
you shall surely put on all of them as ornaments
and bind them on you as a bride does.
For your waste and your desolate places,
and the land of your destruction,
shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.
The children whom you shall have,
after you have lost the others,
shall say again in your ears,
“The place is too cramped for me;
make room for me that I may dwell here.”
Then you shall say in your heart,
“Who bore these for me,
since I have lost my children and am barren,
a captive and a wanderer?
And who has brought these up?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?”
Thus says the Lord GOD:
Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations
and set up My standard to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their arms,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders;
kings shall be your foster fathers
and their queens your nursing mothers;
they shall bow down to you with their faces toward the ground
and lick up the dust of your feet.
And you shall know that I am the LORD,
for those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.
Can the prey be taken from the mighty
or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?
For thus says the LORD:
Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
and the prey of the tyrant shall be delivered;
for I will contend with him who contends with you,
and I will save your sons.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that I write to you. For you know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the sons of light and the sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as others do. But let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we should live together with Him. So comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, just as you are doing.
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
Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; for you are alive and reign with the Father 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, 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.