Mon. evening Jan. 26
Feast of the Conversion of Paul the Apostle
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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
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Words: Robert Robinson (1758)
Music: Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part II (1813)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#37)
Come, thou Fount of every blessing;
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above;
praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of God’s unchanging love!
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I’m come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.
Confession of Sin
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Silence may be kept.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.
Amen.
Psalm 119:41-56
𝙍: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Let Your mercies also come to me, O LORD,
Your salvation according to Your word.
So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me,
for I trust in Your word.
And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
for I hope in Your ordinances.
So shall I keep Your law continually,
forever and ever.
𝙍: I will take delight in Your commandments.
And I will walk at liberty,
for I seek Your precepts.
I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings
and shall not be ashamed.
I will take delight in Your commandments,
which I love.
My hands will I lift up to Your commandments, which I love,
and I will meditate on Your statutes.
𝙍: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Remember Your word to Your servant,
in which You have caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction,
that Your word has given me life.
The proud have me in utter derision,
yet I do not forsake Your law.
I have remembered Your judgments of old, O LORD,
and I take comfort.
𝙍: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Indignation has seized me because of the wicked,
those who forsake Your law.
Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my sojourning.
I remember Your name in the night, O LORD,
and keep Your law.
This has become mine,
because I have kept Your precepts.
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: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Psalm prayer
Faithful God, let your word be the treasure of our hearts, that we may delight in your truth and walk in the glorious liberty of your Son Jesus Christ.
Old Testament reading
Isaiah 56:1-8
Thus says the LORD:
Preserve justice
and do righteousness,
for My salvation is about to come
and My righteousness to be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who takes hold of it,
who keeps from polluting the Sabbath
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
Do not let the son of the foreigner
who has joined himself to the LORD
speak, saying,
“The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”;
do not let the eunuch say,
“Behold, I am a dry tree.”
For thus says the LORD:
To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
and choose the things that please Me,
and take hold of My covenant,
to them I will give in My house and within My walls
a memorial, and a name
better than that of sons and of daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD
to serve Him,
and to love the name of the LORD,
and to be His servants,
to everyone who keeps from polluting the Sabbath
and takes hold of My covenant,
even them I will bring to My holy mountain
and make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
shall be accepted on My altar;
for My house shall be called
a house of prayer for all people.
The Lord GOD
who gathers the outcasts of Israel says,
Yet I will gather others to them
besides those who already are gathered to him.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Colossians 1:24-2:7
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and fill up in my flesh that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church. I have been made a servant of it according to the commission of God, which has been given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which has been hidden from past ages and generations, but now is revealed to His saints. To them God would make known what is the glorious riches of this mystery among the nations. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present them complete in Christ Jesus. In this I labor, striving according to His power, which effectively works in me.
I would like you to know what a great struggle I am having for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for everyone who has not seen my face in the body, hat their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and receive all the riches and assurance of full understanding, and knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, In whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now this I say lest anyone beguile you with enticing words. For though I am absent in the body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your orderliness and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, just as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
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, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty God, who caused the light of the gospel to shine throughout the world through the preaching of your servant Paul: grant that we who celebrate his wonderful conversion may follow him in bearing witness to your truth; 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.