Wed. evening May 20
Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
Send your Holy Spirit upon us,
and clothe us with power from on high. Alleluia.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, to you be glory and praise forever. Raised to your right hand on high the ascended Christ shows the prints of love and bestows on us the gifts of grace. As your Spirit renews the face of the earth, may we bring forth the fruit of the Spirit and reveal your glory in all the world.
Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us; let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; now and forever.
Amen.
Hymn
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Words: Charles Wesley (1747)
Music: John Zundel (1870)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#88)
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of Heav'n to Earth come down,
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All thy faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love thou art;
Visit us with thy salvation,
Enter ev'ry trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
Into ev'ry troubled breast;
Let us all in thee inherit,
Let us find thy promised rest;
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.
Come, Almighty to deliver;
Let us all thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never,
Never more thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve thee as thy host above,
Pray, and praise thee without ceasing,
Glory in thy perfect love.
Finish, then, thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in thee;
Changed from glory into glory
Till in Heav'n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise!
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 36
𝙍: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
An oracle within my heart
about the transgression of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes,
so that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.
He devises mischief on his bed;
he sets himself on a path that is not good;
he does not reject evil.
𝙍: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
Your mercy, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the great mountains,
Your judgments are like the great deep;
O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
How excellent is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore mankind
seeks refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
They will drink their fill from the abundance of Your house,
and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.
For with You is the fountain of life;
in Your light we see light.
𝙍: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,
and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
Let not the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.
There the workers of iniquity have fallen;
they are cast down and are not able to rise.
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: With You, O God, is the fountain of life.
Psalm prayer
O God, the fountain of life, make us bright with wisdom, that we may be lightened with the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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.
Old Testament reading
Deuteronomy 31:30-32:14
Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel:
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
My teaching will drop like the rain,
my sayings will distill as the dew,
as the droplets on the grass,
and as the showers on the herb.
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD:
Ascribe greatness to our God!
He is the rock; His work is perfect;
for all His ways are just.
He is a God of faithfulness and without injustice;
righteous and upright is He.
They have acted corruptly to Him;
they are not His children, but blemished;
they are a perverse and crooked generation.
Is this how you repay the LORD,
you foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your father, who has bought you?
Has He not made you, and established you?
Remember the days of old,
consider the years of previous generations.
Ask your father, and he will show you;
your elders, and they will tell you:
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
when He separated the sons of man,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
according to the number of the Israelites.
For the LORD’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
He found him in a desert land
and in the howling waste of a wilderness;
He led him about, He instructed him,
He protected him like the pupil of His eye.
Like an eagle stirs up her nest,
that flutters over her young,
He spread out his wings and took him;
He lifted him on His pinions;
the LORD alone guided him,
and there was no foreign god with him.
He made him ride on the high places of the earth,
and he ate of the produce of the fields;
He made him suck honey out of the rock
and oil out of the flinty rock,
butter from the herd,
and milk from the flock,
along with the fat of lambs,
and rams of the breed from Bashan,
and goats,
with the best of the kernels of wheat;
you drank the pure blood of the grape.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 John 3:11-24
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning: We should love one another, not like Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s works were righteous. Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love his brother remains in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
By this we know the love of God: that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. Whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, but closes his heart of compassion from him, how can the love of God remain in him? My little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.
By this we know that we are of the truth, and shall reassure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we will receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He commanded us. Now the one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He remains in us, through the Spirit whom He has given us.
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:
God’s royal priesthood, for empowerment by the Spirit
Those who wait on God, that they may find renewal
All people, that they may acknowledge the kingdom of the ascended Christ
The earth, for productivity and for fruitful harvests
All who are struggling with broken relationships
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
O God the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: we beseech you, leave us not comfortless, but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Savior Christ is gone before, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Being made one by the power of the Spirit, 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 Spirit kindle in us the fire of God’s love.
Amen.