Opening response

Make haste, O God, to deliver us.
Hurry, O LORD, to help us.

Hear our voice, Lord, according to your faithful love,
according to your judgment give us life.

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

Stupendous Height of Heavenly Love

Charles Wesley

Stupendous height of heavenly love,
Of pitying tenderness divine;
It brought the Saviour from above,
It caused the springing day to shine;
The Sun of Righteousness to appear,
And gild our gloomy hemisphere.

God did in Christ himself reveal,
To chase our darkness by his light,
Our sin and ignorance dispel,
Direct our wandering feet, aright:
And bring our souls, with pardon blest,
To realms of everlasting rest.

Come, then, O Lord, thy light impart,
The faith that bids our terrors cease;
Into thy love direct our heart,
Into thy way of perfect peace:
And cheer the souls, of death afraid,
And guide them through the dreadful shade.

Answer thy mercy's whole design,
My God incarnated for me.
My spirit make thy radiant shrine,
My Light and full Salvation be;
And through the shades of death unknown,
Conduct me to thy dazzling throne.

Confession of sin

Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

Almighty God,
patient and of great goodness:
I confess to you,
I confess with my whole heart
my neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments,
my wrong doing, thinking, and speaking;
the hurts I have done to others,
and the good I have left undone.
O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you;
and raise me to newness of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Psalm 52

𝙍: I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.

Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The loving devotion of God endures all day long.
Your tongue devises destruction
like a sharpened razor,
O worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
falsehood more than speaking truth.

You love every word that devours,
O deceitful tongue.
Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin;
He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent;
He will uproot you from the land of the living.

The righteous will see and fear;
they will mock the evildoer, saying,
“Look at the man
who did not make God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his wealth
and strengthened himself by destruction.”

But I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in the loving devotion of God
forever and ever.
I will praise You forever,
because You have done it.
I will wait on Your name—
for it is good—
in the presence of Your saints.

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 trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.

Psalm prayer

Faithful and steadfast God,
nourish your people in this wicked world,
and, through prayer and the Scriptures,
give us our daily bread;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 91

𝙍: Keep me as the apple of Your eye.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the LORD, “You are my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely He will deliver you
from the snare of the fowler,
and from the deadly plague.
He will cover you with His feathers;
under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and rampart. 𝙍

You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the calamity that destroys at noon.
Though a thousand may fall at your side,
and ten thousand at your right hand,
no harm will come near you.
You will only see it with your eyes
and witness the punishment of the wicked. 𝙍

Because you have made the LORD your dwelling—
my refuge, the Most High—
no evil will befall you,
no plague will approach your tent.
For He will command His angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
They will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and cobra;
you will trample the young lion and serpent. 𝙍

“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him;
because he knows My name, I will protect him.
When he calls out to Me,
I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him My salvation.”

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: Keep me as the apple of Your eye.

Psalm prayer

Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy
and, as you have bound us to yourself in love,
leave us not who call upon your name,
but grant us your salvation,
made known in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Jeremiah 18:13-23

Therefore this is what the LORD says:

“Inquire among the nations:
Who has ever heard things like these?
Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.
Does the snow of Lebanon
ever leave its rocky slopes?
Or do its cool waters flowing from a distance
ever run dry?
Yet My people have forgotten Me.
They burn incense to worthless idols
that make them stumble in their ways,
leaving the ancient roads
to walk on rutted bypaths
instead of on the highway.
They have made their land a desolation,
a perpetual object of scorn;
all who pass by will be appalled
and shake their heads.
I will scatter them before the enemy
like the east wind.
I will show them My back and not My face
in the day of their calamity.”

Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

Attend to me, O LORD.
Hear what my accusers are saying!
Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for me.
Remember how I stood before You
to speak good on their behalf,
to turn Your wrath from them.

Therefore, hand their children over to famine;
pour out the power of the sword upon them.
Let their wives become childless and widowed;
let their husbands be slain by disease,
their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
Let a cry be heard from their houses
when You suddenly bring raiders against them,
for they have dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden snares for my feet.

But You, O LORD, know all their deadly plots against me.
Do not wipe out their guilt
or blot out their sin from Your sight.
Let them be overthrown before You;
deal with them in the time of Your anger.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

John 10:11-21

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd.

The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”

Again there was division among the Jews because of Jesus’ message. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and insane. Why would you listen to Him?”

But others replied, “These are not the words of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Refrain:
Come, let us return to the Lord, for our God will richly pardon.

With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.

Luke 1:46-55

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.

Refrain:
Come, let us return to the Lord, for our God will richly pardon.

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,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
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,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and 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

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Merciful Lord,
absolve your people from their offenses,
that through your bountiful goodness
we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins
which by our frailty we have committed;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for Jesus Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Savior,
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 in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.

Conclusion

May God our Redeemer show us compassion and love.
Amen.