Opening response

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

Your saints bless you.
They tell of the glory of your kingdom.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
our light and our salvation,
to you be glory and praise forever.
Now, as darkness is falling,
wash away our transgressions,
cleanse us by your refining fire
and make us temples of your Holy Spirit.
By the light of Christ,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
and make us ready to enter your kingdom,
where songs of praise forever sound.
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

With Solemn Faith We Offer Up

Charles Wesley

With solemn faith we offer up
And spread, O God, before thine eyes
That only ground of all our hope,
That precious, once-made sacrifice,
Which brings thy grace on sinners down,
And perfects all our souls in one.

Acceptance through his holy name,
Forgiveness in his blood we have;
But more abundant life we claim
Through him who died our souls to save,
To sanctify us by his blood
And fill with all the life of God.

As it were slain behold thy Son,
And hear his blood that speaks above;
Oh let us all thy grace be shown,
Peace, righteousness, and joy, and love:
Thy kingdom come to every heart,
And all thou hast, and all thou art.

Confession of sin

When we cry out to the LORD in our trouble,
he will bring us out of 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 loving devotion,
and his wonders to the sons of men.

Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.

cf Psalm 107

Psalm 78:40-72

𝙍: Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord.

How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness
and grieved Him in the desert!
Again and again they tested God
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
They did not remember His power —
the day He redeemed them from the adversary,
when He performed His signs in Egypt
and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. 𝙍

He turned their rivers to blood,
and from their streams they could not drink.
He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
and frogs that devastated them.
He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
the fruit of their labor to the locust.
He killed their vines with hailstones
and their sycamore-figs with sleet. 𝙍

He abandoned their cattle to the hail
and their livestock to bolts of lightning.

He unleashed His fury against them,
wrath, indignation, and calamity—
a band of destroying angels.
He cleared a path for His anger;
He did not spare them from death
but delivered their lives to the plague.
He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,
the virility in the tents of Ham. 𝙍

He led out His people like sheep
and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
He led them safely, so they did not fear,
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
He brought them to His holy land,
to the mountain His right hand had acquired.
He drove out nations before them
and apportioned their inheritance;
He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. 𝙍

But they tested and disobeyed God Most High,
for they did not keep His decrees.
They turned back and were faithless like their fathers,
twisted like a faulty bow.
They enraged Him with their high places
and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

On hearing it, God was furious
and rejected Israel completely. 𝙍

He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent He had pitched among men.
He delivered His strength to captivity,
and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.
He surrendered His people to the sword
because He was enraged by His heritage.
Fire consumed His young men,
and their maidens were left without wedding songs.
His priests fell by the sword,
but their widows could not lament. 𝙍

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.
He beat back His foes;
He put them to everlasting shame.
He rejected the tent of Joseph
and refused the tribe of Ephraim.
But He chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which He loved. 𝙍

He built His sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth He has established forever.

He chose David His servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
from tending the ewes He brought him
to be shepherd of His people Jacob,
of Israel His inheritance.
So David shepherded them with integrity of heart
and guided them with skillful 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: Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord.

Psalm prayer

God our shepherd,
in all our wanderings and temptations,
teach us to rest in your mercy
and trust in your defence;
through him who laid down his life for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Isaiah 13:1-13

This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:

Raise a banner on a barren hilltop;
call aloud to them.
Wave your hand,
that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded My sanctified ones;
I have even summoned My warriors
to execute My wrath
and exult in My triumph.
Listen, a tumult on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations gathered together!
The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing
an army for war.
They are coming from faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—
to destroy the whole country.

Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near;
it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore all hands will fall limp,
and every man’s heart will melt.
Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look at one another,
their faces flushed with fear.

Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—
cruel, with fury and burning anger—
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy the sinners within it.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
will not give their light.
The rising sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light.
I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their iniquity.
I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant
and lay low the pride of the ruthless.
I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken from its place
at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts
on the day of His burning anger.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Matthew 9:1-17

Jesus got into a boat, crossed over, and came to His own town. Just then some men brought to Him a paralytic lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.”

On seeing this, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”

But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you harbor evil in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” Then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” And the man got up and went home.

When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him.

Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

At that time John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

𝙍: My spirit rejoices in you, O God, my soul proclaims your greatness.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me.
Holy is His name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud
in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
but has exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful,
as He promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and 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.

𝙍: My spirit rejoices in you, O God, my soul proclaims your greatness.

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 saints on earth, that they may live as citizens of heaven
All people, that they may hear and believe the word of God
All who fear the winter months
All sovereigns and political leaders, that they may imitate the righteous rule of Christ
All who grieve or wait with the dying

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

Eternal Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven
that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:
keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit
and in the bond of peace,
and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Uniting our prayers with the whole company of heaven,
as our Saviour 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 has opened the kingdom of heaven, bring us to reign with him in glory.
Amen.