Sun. evening Aug. 23
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
A Mighty Fortess Is Our God
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 95
𝙍: Come, let us worship and bow down.
O come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms!
For the LORD is a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
𝙍: Come, let us worship and bow down.
In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are His also.
The sea is His, for He made it,
and His hands formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our maker!
For He is our God,
and we are the people of His pasture,
and the sheep of His hand.
𝙍: Come, let us worship and bow down.
Today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me,
though they had seen My work.
For forty years I loathed that generation,
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they do not know My ways.”
Therefore I swore in My wrath,
“They shall not enter My rest.”
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: Come, let us worship and bow down.
Psalm prayer
Jesus our redeemer, you bore the cut of the lash for us and our salvation; help us to bear our sufferings and to share in the affliction of all who suffer for your holy name.
Old Testament reading
2 Kings 6:8-23
Then the king of Aram was fighting against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, “At such and such a place will be my camp.”
But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, “Take care not to pass through this place, for the Arameans are marching down there.” The king of Israel sent word to the place of which the man of God spoke. He warned him and was on his guard there more than once.
The mind of the king of Aram was troubled by this, so he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me who among us sides with the king of Israel?”
Then one of his servants said, “No one, my lord, O king. Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
He said, “Go and see where he is, so that I may send for him and take him.” And it was told to him, “Behold, he is in Dothan.” So he sent horses, chariots, and a great army there. They came by night and surrounded the city.
When a servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots surrounded the city. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What will we do?”
And he said, “Do not be afraid, for there are more with us than with them.”
Then Elisha prayed, “LORD, open his eyes and let him see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.
When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Strike this people with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and let me bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria.
When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men and let them see.” So the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw, and behold, they were in the middle of Samaria.
The king of Israel said to Elisha when he saw them, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
And he said, “You shall not kill them. Did you capture with your sword and with your bow those whom you want to kill? Set bread and water before them, and let them eat and drink and then go to their master.” So he prepared for them a great banquet. When they had eaten and had drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the Aramean raiders did not enter into the land of Israel again.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Acts 17:15-34
Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and departed with instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly.
While Paul waited for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Then some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What will this babbler say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection to them. They took hold of him and led him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is of which you speak? For you are bringing strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” For all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing else, but either telling or hearing something new.
Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious. For as I passed by and looked up at your objects of worship, I found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, whom you worship as unknown, Him I proclaim to you.
“God who made the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by hands. Nor is He served by men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives all men life and breath and all things. He has made from one blood every nation of men to live on the entire surface of the earth, having appointed fixed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord so perhaps they might reach for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’
“Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the Deity is like gold or silver or stone or an engraved work of art or an image of the reflection of man. God overlooked the times of ignorance, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent. For He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed, having given assurance of this to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed. But others said, “We will hear you again concerning this matter.” So Paul departed from them. However, some men joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius, member of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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
Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of 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.