Sun. evening Aug. 16
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
Take My Life and Let It Be
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 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.
Old Testament reading
2 Kings 4:1-37
Now one of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but a creditor has come to take my two sons as slaves.”
Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?”
She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.”
Then he said, “Go, ask for vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. Then go in, shut the door behind you and your sons, and pour the oil into all these vessels. When each is full, set it aside.”
So she left him and shut the door behind her and her sons, and they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”
But he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” And the oil ceased.
Then she went and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt, and you and your children can live on the rest.”
One day Elisha passed through Shunem, and a noble woman was there who urged him to eat a meal. So whenever he passed through, he stopped there to eat a meal. And she said to her husband, “Behold, I know that he is a holy man of God regularly passing through near us. Let us make a little walled upper room and put for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so when he comes to us he can stay there.”
One day he came by there, and he turned aside to the upper room and lay down. He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she stood before him. He said to him, “Say to her, Look, you have gone to all this trouble for us. What may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your behalf to the king, or to the captain of the army?”
And she answered, “I am living among my people.”
He said, “What may be done for her?”
And Gehazi said, “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the entrance. He said, “At this season, when it is time, you will embrace a son.”
And she said, “No, my lord, man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
But the woman conceived and bore a son at that season, at the time that Elisha had told her.
When the child was older, he went out one day to his father with the reapers. He said to his father, “My head, my head!”
And he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, the boy sat on her knees until noon, and died. She went up, and laid him down on the bed of the man of God, shut the door on him, and went out.
Then she called to her husband, “Send me one of the servants and one of the donkeys, so that I may run to the man of God and return.”
He said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither New Moon nor Sabbath.”
She said, “It will be all right.”
Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead on, and do not hold back for me unless I tell you.” So she went and came to the man of God at Mount Carmel.
And when the man of God saw her far off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Look, over there is the Shunammite woman. Now run to meet her, and say to her, Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is the child all right?”
And she said, “It is all right.”
When she came to the man of God at the mountain, she grabbed his feet. Gehazi approached to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone, for she is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
Then she said, “Did I ask for a son from my lord? Did I not say, Do not give me false hope?”
Then he said to Gehazi, “Prepare yourself, take my staff in your hand, and go. If you find anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer him, and lay my staff on the face of the boy.”
Then the boy’s mother said, “As the LORD lives, and as you live, I will not leave without you.” And he got up and followed her.
Gehazi passed through ahead of them and laid the staff on the face of the boy, but there was no sound or response. So he returned to meet him and told him, “The boy is not awake.”
When Elisha came into the house, he saw that the boy was dead, lying on his bed. So he went in, and shut the door on the two of them, and prayed to the LORD. He went up and lay on the child, put his face on his face, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. Then he bent over the child, and the child’s flesh warmed. Then he got down, walked once back and forth in the house, and went up, and bent over him; the boy sneezed seven times, and the boy opened his eyes.
Then Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her, and she came to him. Then he said, “Pick up your son.” Then she came in, fell at his feet, and bowed down to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 16:1-15
Then he came to Derbe and then to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who believed, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted him to travel with him. So he took him and circumcised him, because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to observe, that were set forth by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia and were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they came near Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night a vision appeared to Paul: A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.
From Troas we set sail on a straight course to Samothrace and the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the main city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. We stayed in this city several days.
On the Sabbath we went out of the city to a riverside, where prayer was customarily offered. And we sat down and spoke to the women who had assembled. A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabric, who worshipped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to acknowledge what Paul said. 15When she and her household were baptized, she entreated us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and remain there.” And she persuaded us.
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
O God, you declare your almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity: mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace, that we, running the way of your commandments, may receive your gracious promises, and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure; 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.