Tue. evening Feb. 24
Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
Hear my voice according to your lovingkindness.
O LORD, give me life according to your judgment.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation, to you be glory and praise forever. In the darkness of our sin you have shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Open our eyes to acknowledge your presence, that freed from the misery of sin and shame we may grow into your likeness from glory to glory.
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
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from 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 goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth trembles,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains shake with its swelling.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when the morning dawns.
The nations raged; the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice; the earth melted.
The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the LORD,
who brings desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.
The LORD of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
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.
Psalm 49
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
both low and high,
rich and poor together.
My mouth shall speak wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
I will incline my ear to a parable;
I will reveal my riddle with the music of the harp.
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Why should I fear in the days of evil,
when the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,
those who trust in their wealth
and boast in the abundance of their riches?
None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
nor give to God a ransom for him,
for the redemption of their souls is costly;
and it shall cease forever,
that he should live on eternally,
and never see the pit.
For he sees that wise men die;
the fool and the stupid perish,
and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves are their perpetual homes,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they call their lands by their own names.
Nevertheless man cannot remain in his splendor;
he is like the beasts that perish.
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
This is the way of those who are foolish,
and of their posterity who approve their sayings.
Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd;
the upright shall rule over them in the morning;
their form shall waste away in Sheol,
far from their dwelling.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,
for He will receive me.
𝙍: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Do not fear when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house is increased,
for when he dies he will take nothing away;
his glory will not descend after him.
Though while he lives he blesses himself —
for men will praise you when you do well for yourself—
he will go to the generation of his fathers;
they will never see light.
A man who is in his splendor, yet without understanding,
is like the animals that perish.
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: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD.
Psalm prayer
Save us from envy, God our Redeemer, and deliver us from the chains of wealth, that, ransomed through your Son, we may inherit the crown of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Jeremiah 5:1-19
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
see now and know;
seek in the open places
if you can find a man,
if there is any who executes justice, who seeks the truth,
that I may pardon her.
Though they say, “The LORD lives,”
surely they swear falsely.
O LORD, are not Your eyes upon the truth?
You have stricken them, but they have not grieved.
You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.
They have made their faces harder than a rock;
they have refused to return.
Therefore I said, “Surely these are the poor.
They are foolish;
for they know not the way of the LORD
or the judgment of their God.
I will go to the great men
and will speak to them,
for they have known the way of the LORD
and the judgment of their God.”
But these have altogether broken the yoke
and burst the bonds.
Therefore a lion out of the forest will slay them,
and a wolf from the deserts will destroy them;
a leopard will watch over their cities.
Everyone who goes out from there will be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many
and their backslidings have increased.
How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them to the full,
then they committed adultery
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
They were as fed horses in the morning;
everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
Shall I not punish for these things? says the LORD,
and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
Go up upon her walls and destroy,
but make not a full end.
Take away her battlements.
For they are not the LORD’s.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have dealt very treacherously against Me,
says the LORD.
They have lied about the LORD,
and said, “Not He.
Neither shall evil come upon us,
nor shall we see sword or famine.”
And the prophets shall become wind,
and the word is not in them.
Thus it shall be done to them!
Therefore thus says the LORD God of Hosts:
Because you speak this word,
behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire
and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
Behold, I will bring a nation upon you from far,
O house of Israel, says the LORD.
It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
nor do you understand what they say.
Their quiver is as an open sepulcher,
they all are mighty men.
They will eat up your harvest and your bread
which your sons and your daughters should eat.
They will eat up your flocks and your herds;
they will eat up your vines and your fig trees;
they will impoverish your fenced cities,
in which you trusted, with the sword.
Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you. It shall come to pass when they say, “Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us?” then you shall answer them, “As you have forsaken Me and served strange gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
John 5:19-29
Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
“Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and shall not come into condemnation, but has passed from death into life. Truly, truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
“Do not marvel at this. For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
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:
Those preparing for baptism and confirmation
Those serving through leadership
Those looking for forgiveness
Those misled by the false gods of this present age
All who are hungry
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
Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, yet without sin: give us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your Spirit; and, as you know our weakness, so may we know your power to save; 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
Trusting in the compassion 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 God our Redeemer show us compassion and love.
Amen.