Sat. evening Jan. 24
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Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
your glory is proclaimed in all the world.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign God, our light and our salvation, to you be glory and praise forever. You gave your Christ as a light to the nations, and through the anointing of the Spirit, you established us as a royal priesthood. As you call us into your marvelous light, may our lives bear witness to your truth and our lips never cease to proclaim 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
Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
Words: Henry F. Lyte (1834)
Music: John Goss (1869)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#22)
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
to his feet your tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
evermore his praises sing.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King!
Praise him for his grace and favor
to his people in distress.
Praise him, still the same as ever,
slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glorious in his faithfulness!
Fatherlike he tends and spares us;
well our feeble frame he knows.
In his hand he gently bears us,
rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Widely yet his mercy flows!
Angels, help us to adore him;
you behold him face to face.
Sun and moon, bow down before him,
dwellers all in time and space.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise with us the God of grace!
Confession of Sin
Seek the LORD while He may be found,
call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
cf Isaiah 55
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
Lord God, I have sinned against you; I have done what is evil in your sight. I am sorry and repent. Have mercy on me according to your lovingkindness. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Renew a right spirit within me, and restore unto me the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
cf Psalm 51
May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Blessed be the LORD,
because He has heard the voice of my supplications.
Therefore my heart rejoices,
and with my song I will thank Him.
cf Psalm 28:7,9
Psalm 61
𝙍: You are my refuge, O Lord, a strong tower against the enemy.
Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
From the end of the earth will I call to You,
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For You have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.
I will abide in Your tent forever;
I will take refuge in the shelter of Your wings.
𝙍: You are my refuge, O Lord, a strong tower against the enemy.
For You, O God, have heard my vows;
You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.
Prolong the life of the king,
and may his years be like many generations!
May he sit enthroned before God forever;
appoint mercy and truth to guard him.
So will I sing praise to Your name forever,
as I fulfill my vows day by day.
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: You are my refuge, O Lord, a strong tower against the enemy.
Psalm prayer
Risen Christ, as you knew the discipline of suffering and the victory that brings us salvation, so grant us your presence in our weakness and a place in your unending kingdom now and forevermore.
Psalm 66
𝙍: All the earth will worship You, O God.
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth!
Sing the glory of His name;
make His praise glorious.
Say to God, “How awesome are Your works!
Through the greatness of Your power
Your enemies will cringe before You.
All the earth will worship You
and sing praises to You;
they will sing praises to Your name.”
𝙍: All the earth will worship You, O God.
Come and see the works of God;
He is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men.
He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There we will rejoice in Him.
He rules by His power forever;
His eyes keep watch on the nations;
do not let the rebellious exalt themselves.
𝙍: All the earth will worship You, O God.
Oh, bless our God, you peoples,
and let the voice of His praise be heard,
who keeps our soul among the living,
and does not allow our feet to slip.
For You, O God, have tried us;
You have refined us, as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
You laid afflictions on our backs.
You let men ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
but You brought us out to a place of abundance.
𝙍: All the earth will worship You, O God.
I will come into Your house with burnt offerings;
I will perform my vows to You,
which my lips have uttered,
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals,
with the incense of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls with goats.
𝙍: All the earth will worship You, O God.
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will declare what He has done for my soul.
I cried to Him with my mouth,
and He was extolled with my tongue.
If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me;
but certainly God has heard me;
He has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Blessed be God,
who has not turned away my prayer,
nor His mercy from me.
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: All the earth will worship You, O God.
Psalm prayer
How generous is your goodness, God, how great is your salvation, how faithful is your love; help us to trust you in trial and praise you in deliverance; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Hosea 2:2-17
Plead with your mother, plead—
for she is not My wife,
and am I not her husband —
that she put away her harlotry from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts,
lest I strip her naked
and leave her as in the day that she was born,
and turn her into a wilderness,
and turn her into a dry land,
and kill her with thirst.
I will not have mercy upon her children,
for they are children of harlotry.
For their mother has played the whore.
She that conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will pursue my lovers,
who provide my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns,
and make a wall, so that she will not find her paths.
She will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them;
and she will seek them but will not find them.
Then she will say,
“I will go and return to my first husband,
for it was better for me then than now.”
But she did not know that it was I who provided her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold
that they used for Baal.
Therefore I will take back My grain in its time
and My wine in its season,
and I will recover My wool and My flax,
given to cover her nakedness.
Therefore I will uncover her shame
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one will deliver her from My hand.
I will also bring to an end all her joy,
her annual feasts, her New Moons,
and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
I will destroy her vines and her fig trees,
of which she has said, “These are my rewards that my lovers have given me.”
I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field will eat them.
I will punish her for the days of the Baals,
when she burned incense to them
and adorned herself with her earrings and her jewelry,
and pursued her lovers,
but forgot Me,
declares the LORD.
Therefore, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
From there, I will give her vineyards to her,
and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.
She will respond there as in the days of her youth,
and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
On that day, declares the LORD,
you will call Me, “My husband,”
and will no longer call Me, “My Baal.”
I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth,
and they will no longer be remembered by their name.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 Corinthians 9:1-14
Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet indeed I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
This is my answer to those who examine me. Do we have no right to eat and to drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife as do other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?
Who goes to war at any time at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, but does not eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, but does not drink of the flock’s milk? Do I say these things as a man? Or does the law not say the same thing also? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox while it treads out the grain.” Is God concerned about oxen? Or does He say it completely for our sake? For our sake, no doubt, this is written so that he who plows should plow in hope, and that he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. If we have sown for you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your material things? If others partake of this right over you, should not we instead?
Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but suffer all things, lest we might hinder the gospel of Christ.
Do you not know that those who minister unto holy things live from the things of the temple? And do you not know that those who wait at the altar partake of the altar? In the same way, the Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
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 unity of the Church
The peace of the world
The healing of the sick
The revelation of Christ to those from whom his glory is hidden
All who travel
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God, whose Son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of your saving presence: renew your people with your heavenly grace, and in all our weakness sustain us by your mighty power; 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
Believing the promises of God, 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 Christ, who sends us to the nations, give us the power of his Spirit.
Amen.