Fri. evening Jun. 5
Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God, creator of day and night: to you be praise and glory forever. As darkness falls, you renew your promise to reveal among us the light of your presence. By the light of Christ, your living Word, dispel the darkness of our hearts that we may walk as children of light and sing your praise throughout the world.
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
Holy, Holy, Holy
Confession of Sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall 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: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
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 faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. 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 22
𝙍: Be not far from me, O Lord.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me,
and from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not answer;
and at night, and have no rest.
But You are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in You;
they trusted, and You delivered them.
They cried to You, and were delivered;
they trusted in You, and were not put to shame.
𝙍: Be not far from me, O Lord.
But I am a worm, and not human;
a reproach of men and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they sneer with the lip; they shake the head, saying,
“Trust in the LORD,
let Him rescue him;
let Him deliver him,
since He delights in him.”
But You are He who took me out of the womb;
You kept me safe
on my mother’s breasts.
Upon You was I cast from birth;
from my mother’s womb You have been my God.
Be not far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
𝙍: Be not far from me, O Lord.
Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
They open wide their mouths at me,
like a raging and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within me.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
You have set me in the dust of death.
𝙍: Be not far from me, O Lord.
For dogs have encompassed me;
the assembly of the wicked has encircled me;
they pierced my hands and my feet;
I can count all my bones;
they look and stare at me.
They divide my garments among themselves,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But You, O LORD, do not be far from me;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the lion’s mouth!
From the horns of the wild oxen You have rescued me.
𝙍: Be not far from me, O Lord.
I will declare Your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise You.
You who fear the LORD, praise Him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him;
fear Him, all you descendants of Israel!
For He has not despised nor abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted;
nor has He hidden His face from him;
but heard when he cried to Him.
My praise will be from You in the great congregation;
I will pay my vows before those who fear Him.
The meek will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek Him will praise the LORD.
May your hearts live forever.
𝙍: Be not far from me, O Lord.
All the ends of the world
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will worship before You.
For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and He rules over the nations.
All the prosperous ones of the earth will eat and worship;
all who go down to the dust will bow before Him,
even he who cannot preserve his own life.
Their descendants will serve Him;
the next generation will be told about the Lord;
they will come and declare His righteousness
to a people yet to be born,
saying that He has this.
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: Be not far from me, O Lord.
Psalm prayer
Restless with grief and fear, the abandoned turn to you: in every hour of trial, good Lord, deliver us, O God most holy, God most strong, whose wisdom is the cross of Christ.
Old Testament reading
2 Chronicles 30
And Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah. He even wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they come to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel. The king counseled with his officials and all the assembly in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month. For they were not able to have it at the appropriate time of the first month because a sufficient amount of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people assembled yet in Jerusalem. And this matter was pleasing in the eyes of the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that they come to keep the Passover to the LORD God of Israel in Jerusalem, for the multitude of people did not do as it was written.
So couriers ran throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, as the king had commanded, which read:
“Sons of Israel, return to the LORD of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel that He might turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the king of Assyria. Do not act like your fathers and brothers who were faithless before the LORD God of their fathers, and He appointed them for horror, as you observe. So now do not harden your necks as your fathers, but give yourselves to the LORD and come to the sanctuary that He has consecrated permanently. Serve the LORD your God so that His burning anger might turn away from you all. Because if you return to the LORD, your brothers and children will find compassion before those who have taken them captive, in order to return you to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you all return to Him.”
So the couriers ran from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and up to Zebulun, but the people laughed at them and mocked them. However some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and journeyed to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king and officials by the word of the LORD.
And many people assembled in Jerusalem to have the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month. There was a very large assembly. They went out and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took away all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought in burnt offerings to the house of the LORD. They stood at their places according to the Law of Moses, the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood they received from the hands of the Levites. For there were many in the assembly who had consecrated themselves, so the Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for those who were not clean in order to consecrate the people to the LORD. For a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “The LORD is good, and may He pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD God of his fathers, though he is not pure according to the rules of the holy sanctuary.” So the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
Then the Israelites present in Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and priests praised the LORD every day, singing with loud instruments to the Lord.
Then Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the LORD. So they ate for the appointed seven days, sacrificing peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD God of their fathers.
Then the whole assembly counseled to have the feast for another seven days, so they had seven more days of gladness. For Hezekiah king of Judah gave the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep. And the officials offered up for the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. And a multitude of priests consecrated themselves. So all the assembly of Judah and the priests and Levites and all the assembly who came from Israel rejoiced, even the sojourners who came from the land of Israel and those who resided in Judah. And there was a great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had not been anything like this. Then the priests and Levites went out and blessed the people, and their voices were heard. And their prayers came up to His holy habitation in the heavens.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Romans 6:1-14
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may increase? God forbid! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Do you not know that we who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, so shall we also be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we should no longer be slaves to sin. For the one who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no further dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God.
Likewise, you also consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.
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:
Political leaders and the armed forces
Peace and justice in the world
Those who work for reconciliation
All whose lives are devastated by war and civil strife
Prisoners, refugees, and homeless people
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 and everlasting God, you have given us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity: keep us steadfast in this faith, that we may evermore be defended from all adversities; 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
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
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.
Amen.