Thu. evening May 21
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
Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus
Words: George Duffield, Jr. (1858)
Music: George J. Webb (1830)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#477)
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
ye soldiers of the cross;
lift high His royal banner,
it must not suffer loss.
From vict'ry unto vict'ry
His army shall He lead,
till ev'ry foe is vanquished,
and Christ is Lord indeed.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
the trumpet call obey;
forth to the mighty conflict,
in this His glorious day.
Ye that are brave now serve him
against unnumbered foes;
let courage rise with danger,
and strength to strength oppose.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
stand in His strength alone;
the arm of flesh will fail you,
ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the gospel armor,
each piece put on with prayer;
where duty calls or danger,
be never wanting there.
Stand up, stand up for Jesus,
the strife will not be long;
this day the noise of battle,
the next the victor's song.
To him who overcometh
a crown of life shall be;
they with the King of Glory
shall reign eternally.
Confession of Sin
Seek the LORD while He may be found,
call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him,
and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
cf Isaiah 55
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
Lord God, I have sinned against you; I have done what is evil in your sight. I am sorry and repent. Have mercy on me according to your lovingkindness. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Renew a right spirit within me, and restore unto me the joy of your salvation, through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
cf Psalm 51
May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Blessed be the LORD,
because He has heard the voice of my supplications.
Therefore my heart rejoices,
and with my song I will thank Him.
cf Psalm 28:7,9
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.
Psalm 139
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
O LORD, You have searched me
and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You perceive my thought from afar.
You winnow my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You beset me behind and before,
and laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Where shall I go from Your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there shall Your hand lead me
and Your right hand take hold of me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall befall me,
even the night about me shall be my light.”
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You
and the night shines as the day,
for darkness and light are alike with You.
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvelous are Your works,
and that my soul knows right well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
when I was made in secret,
and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
And in Your book were they all written,
the days created for me, when as yet there were none of them.
How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would be in number more than the sand.
When I awake,
I am still with You.
𝙍: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, O bloodthirsty men!
For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take your name in vain.
Do I not hate those, O LORD, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me, and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
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: Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Psalm prayer
Creator God, may every breath we take be for your glory, may every footstep show you as our way, that, trusting in your presence in this world, we may, beyond this life, still be with you where you are alive and reign forever and ever.
Old Testament reading
Deuteronomy 32:15-47
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
you grew fat, you grew thick;
you are covered with fat.
Then he forsook God who made him,
and devalued the rock of his salvation.
They made Him jealous with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked Him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
to gods whom they knew not,
to new gods that recently came along,
whom your fathers did not fear.
You have forgotten the rock who birthed you;
you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who gave you birth.
When the LORD saw it, He despised them,
because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
He said: I will hide My face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a very perverse generation,
children in whom there is no loyalty.
They have made Me jealous with that which is not God;
they have provoked Me to anger with their empty things.
And I will make them jealous of those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire has been inflamed by My anger,
and it will burn to the lowest part of Sheol,
and shall consume the earth and its produce,
and ignite the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap misfortunes on them;
I will use My arrows on them.
They will be starved by famine,
and consumed by plague and bitter destruction;
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them,
with the poison of crawling creatures in the dust.
The sword outside and terror within will destroy both the young man and the virgin,
the infant along with the man of gray hair.
I said, “I want to cut them into pieces;
I will cause the memory of them to disappear from among men,”
however, I feared the wrath of the enemy,
that their adversaries would misunderstand
and say, “Our hand is victorious,
and the LORD has not done all this.”
For they are a nation devoid of counsel;
there is no understanding in them.
Would that they were wise,
so that they understood this,
so that they would comprehend their future!
How should one chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to flight,
unless their rock had sold them,
and the LORD had given them up?
For their rock is not as our rock;
even our enemies themselves concede this.
For their vine is from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter.
Their wine is the poison of dragons
and the deadly venom of cobras.
Is not this laid up in store with Me
and sealed up among My treasures?
Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
their foot will slip in due time;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and the things to come hasten upon them.
For the LORD will judge His people,
and relent in regard to His servants,
when He sees that their power is gone
and there is no one left, whether restrained or free.
He will say: Where are their gods,
their rock in whom they trusted,
which ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise up and help you
and be your protection.
See now that I, even I, am He,
and there is no god besides Me;
I kill, and I make alive;
I wound, and I heal;
there is no one who can deliver out of My hand.
For I lift up My hand to heaven,
and say: As I live forever,
if I sharpen My flashing sword
and My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance on My enemies
and will repay those who hate Me.
I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
and My sword shall devour flesh,
with the blood of the slain and of the captives,
from the heads of the leaders of the enemies.
Rejoice, O you nations, with His people;
for He will avenge the blood of His servants
and will render vengeance on His adversaries
and will be merciful to His land and people.
Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua, the son of Nun. When Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe, all the words of this law. For it is no idle word for you, because it is your life, and by this word you will prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
1 John 4:1-6
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the body is from God,and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the body is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world.
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world, and therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are of God, and whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not of God does not listen to us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
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
Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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.