Opening response

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

Reveal among us the light of your presence
that we may behold your power and glory.

Prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
creator of light and darkness,
to you be glory and praise forever.
As evening falls, you renew your promise
to reveal among us the light of your presence.
May your word be a lantern to our feet
and a light upon our path
that we may behold your coming among us.
Strengthen us in our stumbling weakness
and free our tongues to sing 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

Infinite God, To Thee We Raise

Charles Wesley

Infinite God, to thee we raise
Our hearts in solemn songs of praise,
By all thy works on earth adored,
We worship thee, the common Lord;
The everlasting Father own,
And bow our souls before thy throne.

Thee all the choir of angels sings,
The Lord of hosts, the King of kings;
Cherubs proclaim thy praise aloud,
And seraphs shout the triune God;
And, holy, holy, holy, cry,
Thy glory fills both earth and sky!

Head of the martyrs’ noble host,
Of thee they justly make their boast;
The church, to earth’s remotest bounds,
Her heavenly Founder’s praise resounds;
And strives, with those around the throne,
To hymn the mystic three in one.

Father of endless majesty,
All might and love they render thee;
Thy true and only Son adore,
The same in dignity and power;
And God the Holy Ghost declare,
The saints’ eternal Comforter.

Confession of sin

Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind
and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Amen. Lord, have mercy.

After a period of reflection

Come, let us return to the Lord and say:

Lord our God,
in our sin, we have avoided your call.
Our love for you is like a morning mist,
like the early dew that vanishes.
Have mercy on us;
deliver us from judgment;
bind up our wounds and revive us;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

cf Hosea 6

May almighty God,
who sent his Son into the world to save sinners,
bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.

Psalm 40

𝙍: Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done.

I waited patiently for the LORD;
He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me up from the pit of despair,
out of the miry clay;
He set my feet upon a rock,
and made my footsteps firm.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

Blessed is the man
who has made the LORD his trust,
who has not turned to the proud,
nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders You have done,
and the plans You have for us—
none can compare to You—
if I proclaim and declare them,
they are more than I can count. 𝙍

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
but my ears You have opened.
Burnt offerings and sin offerings
You did not require.
Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll:
I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my heart.”

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
behold, I do not seal my lips,
as You, O LORD, do know.
I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation;
I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness
from the great assembly.

O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me;
Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.
For evils without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart has failed within me.
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
hurry, O LORD, to help me.

May those who seek my life
be ashamed and confounded;
may those who wish me harm
be repelled and humiliated.
May those who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
be appalled at their own shame. 𝙍

May all who seek You
rejoice and be glad in You;
may those who love Your salvation
always say, “The LORD be magnified!”

But I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my helper and deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

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: Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done.

Psalm prayer

Free us from our sins, God,
and may our sacrifices be of praise
to the glory of your Son,
our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in times of trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth is transformed
and the mountains are toppled
into the depths of the seas,
though their waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake in the surge.

There is a river whose streams delight the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her; she will not be moved.
God will help her when morning dawns.
Nations rage, kingdoms crumble;
the earth melts when He lifts His voice.
The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come, see the works of the LORD,
who brings devastation upon the earth.
He makes wars to cease throughout the earth;
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
He burns the shields in the fire.

“Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted over the earth.”

The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

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.

Psalm prayer

God of Jacob,
when the earth shakes
and the nations are in uproar,
speak, and let the storm be still;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Isaiah 28:14-29

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
For you said, “We have made a covenant with death;
we have fashioned an agreement with Sheol.
When the overwhelming scourge passes through
it will not touch us,
because we have made lies our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place.”

So this is what the Lord GOD says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
the one who believes will never be shaken.
I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the level.
Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies,
and water will flood your hiding place.
Your covenant with death will be dissolved,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be trampled by it.
As often as it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will sweep through morning after morning,
by day and by night.”

The understanding of this message
will bring sheer terror.
Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and the blanket too small to wrap around you.
For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim.
He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon,
to do His work, His strange work,
and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

So now, do not mock,
or your shackles will become heavier.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord GOD of Hosts
a decree of destruction against the whole land.

Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.
Does the plowman plow for planting every day?
Does he continuously loosen and harrow the soil?
When he has leveled its surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
and rye within its border.

For his God instructs
and teaches him properly.
Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin.
But caraway is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
Grain for bread must be ground,
but it is not endlessly threshed.
Though the wheels of the cart roll over it,
the horses do not crush it.
This also comes from the LORD of Hosts,
who is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Matthew 13:1-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore.

And He told them many things in parables, saying, “A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings.

Still other seed fell on good soil and produced a crop—a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.

He who has ears, let him hear.”

Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:

‘Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled:

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
For this people’s heart has grown callous;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn, and I would heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Consider, then, the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

But the seed sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and produces a crop—a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.”

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 church, that she may be ready for the coming of Christ
The leaders of the church
The nations, that they may be subject to the rule of God
Those who are working for justice in the world
The broken, that they may find God’s healing

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.

Response

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armor of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Awaiting his coming in glory,
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 the Lord, when he comes, find us watching and waiting.
Amen.