Opening response

Hurry, God, to deliver us.
LORD, come quickly to help us.

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

Ah! What Avails My Strife

Charles Wesley

Ah! what avails my strife,
My wandering to and fro?
Thou hast the words of endless life;
Ah! whither should I go?

Thy condescending grace
To me did freely move;
It calls me still to seek thy face,
And stoops to ask my love.

My worthless heart to gain,
The God of all that breathe,
Was found in fashion as a man,
And died a curséd death.

And can I yet delay
My little all to give?
To tear my soul from earth away,
For Jesus to receive?

Ah! no; I all forsake,
I all to thee resign:
Gracious Redeemer, take, oh, take,
And seal me ever thine!

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 26

Refrain:
LORD, I love the place where your glory dwells.

Judge me, LORD, for I have walked in my integrity.
I have trusted also in the LORD without wavering.
Examine me, LORD, and prove me.
Try my heart and my mind.
For your loving kindness is before my eyes.
I have walked in your truth.
I have not sat with deceitful men,
neither will I go in with hypocrites.
I hate the assembly of evildoers,
and will not sit with the wicked.
I will wash my hands in innocence,
so I will go about your altar, LORD,
that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard
and tell of all your wondrous deeds.
LORD, I love the habitation of your house,
the place where your glory dwells.
Don’t gather my soul with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men
in whose hands is wickedness;
their right hand is full of bribes.

But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me, and be merciful to me.
My foot stands in an even place.
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.

Refrain:
LORD, I love the place where your glory dwells.

Psalm prayer

Have mercy on us and redeem us, O Lord,
for our merits are your mercies
and in your judgment is our salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 28

Refrain:
The LORD is my strength and my shield.

To you, LORD, I call.
My rock, don’t be deaf to me,
lest, if you are silent to me,
I would become like those who go down into the pit.
Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you,
when I lift up my hands towards your Most Holy Place.
Don’t draw me away with the wicked,
with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbours,
but mischief is in their hearts.
Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings.
Give them according to the operation of their hands.
Bring back on them what they deserve.
Because they don’t respect the works of the LORD,
nor the operation of his hands,
he will break them down and not build them up.

Blessed be the LORD,
because he has heard the voice of my petitions.
The LORD is my strength and my shield.
My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped.
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.
With my song I will thank him.
The LORD is their strength.
He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.
Save your people,
and bless your inheritance.
Be their shepherd also,
and bear them up 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.

Refrain:
The LORD is my strength and my shield.

Psalm prayer

Hear us, Shepherd of your people,
forgive us our sins
and, in a world of pretenses,
make us true in heart and mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 29

Refrain:
The LORD will bless his people with peace.

Ascribe to the LORD, you sons of the mighty,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name.
Worship the LORD in holy array.

The LORD’s voice is on the waters.
The God of glory thunders, even the LORD on many waters.
The LORD’s voice is powerful.
The LORD’s voice is full of majesty.
The LORD’s voice breaks the cedars.
Yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes them also to skip like a calf;
Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox.
The LORD’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning.
The LORD’s voice shakes the wilderness.
The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The LORD’s voice makes the deer calve,
and strips the forests bare.
In his temple everything says, “Glory!”

The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood.
Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.
The LORD will give strength to his people.
The LORD will bless his people with peace.

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.

Refrain:
The LORD will bless his people with peace.

Psalm prayer

Open our ears, glorious Lord Christ,
to hear the music of your voice
above the chaos of this world;
open our eyes to see the vision of your glory,
for you are our King, now and forever.

Old Testament reading

1 Samuel 14:24-46

The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food.

All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground. When the people had come to the forest, behold, honey was dripping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan didn’t hear when his father commanded the people with the oath. Therefore he put out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened. Then one of the people answered, and said, “Your father directly commanded the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’ ” So the people were faint.

Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. How much more, if perhaps the people had eaten freely today of the plunder of their enemies which they found? For now there has been no great slaughter amongst the Philistines.” They struck the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. The people were very faint; and the people pounced on the plunder, and took sheep, cattle, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood. Then they told Saul, saying, “Behold, the people are sinning against the LORD, in that they eat meat with the blood.”

He said, “You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone to me today!” Saul said, “Disperse yourselves amongst the people, and tell them, ‘Every man bring me here his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat; and don’t sin against the LORD in eating meat with the blood.’ ” All the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there.

Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar that he built to the LORD. Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines by night, and take plunder amongst them until the morning light. Let’s not leave a man of them.”

They said, “Do whatever seems good to you.”

Then the priest said, “Let’s draw near here to God.”

Saul asked counsel of God: “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But he didn’t answer him that day. Saul said, “Draw near here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see in whom this sin has been today. For as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it is in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” But there was not a man amongst all the people who answered him. Then he said to all Israel, “You be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side.”

The people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.”

Therefore Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel, “Show the right.”

Jonathan and Saul were chosen, but the people escaped.

Saul said, “Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son.”

Jonathan was selected.

Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done!”

Jonathan told him, and said, “I certainly did taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and behold, I must die.”

Saul said, “God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan.”

The people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it! As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with God today!” So the people rescued Jonathan, so he didn’t die. Then Saul went up from following the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Luke 23:13-25

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one that perverts the people, and behold, having examined him before you, I found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him. Neither has Herod, for I sent you to him, and see, nothing worthy of death has been done by him. I will therefore chastise him and release him.”

Now he had to release one prisoner to them at the feast. But they all cried out together, saying, “Away with this man! Release to us Barabbas!”— one who was thrown into prison for a certain revolt in the city, and for murder.

Then Pilate spoke to them again, wanting to release Jesus, but they shouted, saying, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has this man done? I have found no capital crime in him. I will therefore chastise him and release him.” But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed. Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done. He released him who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus up to their will.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

Refrain:
He who is mighty has done great things for me.

My soul magnifies the Lord.
My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
for he has looked at the humble state 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.
Holy is his name.
His mercy is for generations and generations on those who fear him.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down princes from their thrones,
and has exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
He has sent the rich away empty.
He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and his offspring 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.

Refrain:
He who is mighty has done great things for me.

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,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
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,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and 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 media and the arts
Farming and fishing
Commerce and industry
Those whose work is unfulfilling, stressful or fraught with danger
All who are unemployed

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

Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
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 in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and 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.