Sun. evening Jul. 19
Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God, creator of day and night: to you be praise and glory forever. As darkness falls, you renew your promise to reveal among us the light of your presence. By the light of Christ, your living Word, dispel the darkness of our hearts that we may walk as children of light and sing your praise throughout the world.
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
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
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 67
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make His face to shine upon us,
that Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all nations.
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You will judge the people righteously,
and guide the nations upon the earth.
Let the peoples praise You, O God;
let all the peoples praise You.
Then will the earth yield its produce,
and God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear Him.
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
In the face of Jesus Christ, your light and glory have blazed forth, O God of all the nations; with all your people, may we make known your grace and walk in the ways of peace; for your name’s sake.
Psalm 70
𝙍: Make haste to me, O God.
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
Let those be ashamed and confused
who seek my life;
let those be turned back and dishonored
who desire to hurt me.
Let them be turned back because of their shame,
who say, “Aha, aha!”
𝙍: Make haste to me, O God.
Let all those who seek You
rejoice and be glad in You;
and let those who love Your salvation say continually,
“Let God be magnified!”
But I am poor and needy;
make haste to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay!
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: Make haste to me, O God.
Psalm prayer
God, our helper and defender, deliver us in our weakness, answer our longings and vindicate our faith, that we may see your glory in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:16-28
So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.
David reigned over Israel forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.
At that time, two women who were prostitutes came and stood before the king. The first woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I bore a child with her in the house. Three days after I gave birth, she also had a child, and we were together. There was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house.
“Then this woman’s child died during the night because she rolled over on it. She got up at midnight and took my son from beside me while your servant slept and laid him at her bosom and laid her dead child at my bosom. When I rose in the morning to feed my child, behold, it was dead. But when I looked closely in the morning light, behold, I recognized that it was not my son whom I bore.”
The other woman said, “No, the living is my son, and the dead is your son.”
And she said, “No, the dead is your son, and the living is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.
Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead,’ and the other says, ‘No, but your son is dead, and my son is the living.’ ”
So the king said, “Bring me a sword.” And they brought a sword before the king. The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”
Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son, and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and do not kill it.”
But the other said, “Let it be neither mine nor yours and divide it.”
Then the king replied, “Give her the living child, and do not slay it. She is its mother.”
All Israel heard of the king’s judgment, and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute sound judgment.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 4:1-22
As they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly troubled, because they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they seized them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men grew to about five thousand.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes were assembled at Jerusalem with Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and all who were of the family of the high priest. When they had stood them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we today are being examined concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, how this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands before you whole. He is
‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the cornerstone.’
There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were untrained and uneducated men, they marveled. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against it. So when they had commanded them to go outside of the Sanhedrin, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that an acknowledged miracle has been done through them is revealed to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But lest it spread further among the people, let us warn them no more to speak to anyone in this name.”
Then they called them and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot help but declare what we have seen and heard.”
When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people. For all glorified God for what was done, for the man on whom this miracle of healing was performed was over forty years old.
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 universal church
Bishops, superintendents and all who lead the church
The leaders of the nations
The natural world and the resources of the earth
All who are in any kind of need
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
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: graft in our hearts the love of your name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of your great mercy keep us in the same; 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
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
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.
Amen.