Opening response

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

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

Away, My Needless Fears

Charles Wesley

Away, my needless fears
And doubts no longer mine!
A ray of heavenly light appears,
A messenger divine.

Thrice comfortable hope,
That calms my troubled breast;
My Father's hand prepares the cup,
And what he wills is best.

He knows whatever I want;
He sees my helplessness,
And always readier is to grant
Than I to ask his grace.

My fearful heart he reads,
Secures my soul from harms,
And underneath his mercy spreads
Its everlasting arms.

If what I wish is good,
And suits the will divine,
By earth and hell in vain withstood,
I know it shall be mine.

Here is firm footing; here,
My soul, is solid rock,
To break the waves of grief and fear,
And trouble's rudest shock:

This only can sustain
When earth and heaven remove:
O turn thee to thy rest again,
Thy God's eternal love!

Here then I doubt no more,
But in his pleasure rest,
Whose wisdom, love, and truth and power
Engage to make me blest.

Confession of sin

When we cry out to the LORD in our trouble,
he will bring us out of 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 loving devotion,
and his wonders to the sons of men.

Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.

cf Psalm 107

Psalm 35

𝙍: Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God.

Contend with my opponents, O LORD;
fight against those who fight against me.
Take up Your shield and buckler;
arise and come to my aid.
Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers;
say to my soul: “I am your salvation.”

May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plan to harm me
be driven back and confounded.
May they be like chaff in the wind,
as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
May their path be dark and slick,
as the angel of the LORD pursues.
For without cause they laid their net for me;
without reason they dug a pit for my soul.
May ruin befall them by surprise;
may the net they hid ensnare them;
may they fall into the hazard they created.

Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and exult in His salvation.
All my bones will exclaim,
“Who is like You, O LORD,
who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor,
the poor and needy from the robber?”

Hostile witnesses come forward;
they make charges I know nothing about.
They repay me evil for good,
to the bereavement of my soul.
Yet when they were ill,
I put on sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting,
but my prayers returned unanswered.
I paced about
as for my friend or brother;
I was bowed down with grief,
like one mourning for his mother.
But when I stumbled, they assembled in glee;
they gathered together against me.
Assailants I did not know
slandered me without ceasing.
Like godless jesters at a feast,
they gnashed their teeth at me.

How long, O Lord, will You look on?
Rescue my soul from their ravages,
my precious life from these lions.
Then I will give You thanks in the great assembly;
I will praise You among many people.
Let not my enemies gloat over me without cause,
nor those who hate me without reason wink in malice.
For they do not speak peace,
but they devise deceitful schemes
against those who live quietly in the land.
They gape at me and say,
“Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”

O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent.
O Lord, be not far from me.
Awake and rise to my defense,
to my cause, my God and my Lord!
Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God,
and do not let them gloat over me.
Let them not say in their hearts,
“Aha, just what we wanted!”
Let them not say,
“We have swallowed him up!”

May those who gloat in my distress
be ashamed and confounded;
may those who exalt themselves over me
be clothed in shame and reproach.
May those who favor my vindication
shout for joy and gladness;
may they always say, “Exalted be the LORD
who delights in His servant’s well-being.”

Then my tongue will proclaim Your righteousness
and Your praises all day long.

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: Vindicate me by Your righteousness, O LORD my God.

Psalm prayer

Free us, righteous God, from all oppression,
and bring justice to the nations,
that all the world may know you
as King of kings and Lord of lords,
now and forever.

Old Testament reading

Jeremiah 5:1-19

“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
Look now and take note; search her squares.
If you can find a single person,
anyone who acts justly,
anyone who seeks the truth,
then I will forgive the city.
Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’
they are swearing falsely.”

O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth?
You struck them, but they felt no pain.
You finished them off,
but they refused to accept discipline.
They have made their faces harder than stone
and refused to repent.

Then I said, “They are only the poor;
they have played the fool,
for they do not know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.
I will go to the powerful
and speak to them.
Surely they know the way of the LORD,
the justice of their God.”

But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke
and torn off the chains.
Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down,
a wolf from the desert will ravage them.
A leopard will lie in wait near their cities,
and everyone who ventures out will be torn to pieces.
For their rebellious acts are many,
and their unfaithful deeds are numerous.

“Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken Me
and sworn by gods that are not gods.
I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery
and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.
They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
Should I not punish them for these things?”
declares the LORD.
“Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?
Go up through her vineyards and ravage them,
but do not finish them off.
Strip off her branches,
for they do not belong to the LORD.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly unfaithful to Me,”
declares the LORD.

They have lied about the LORD and said:

“He will not do anything; harm will not come to us;
we will not see sword or famine.
The prophets are but wind,
for the word is not in them.
So let their own predictions befall them.”

Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts says:

“Because you have spoken this word,
I will make My words a fire in your mouth
and this people the wood it consumes.
Behold, I am bringing a distant nation against you,
O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
“It is an established nation,
an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know
and whose speech you do not understand.
Their quivers are like open graves;
they are all mighty men.
They will devour your harvest and food;
they will consume your sons and daughters;
they will eat up your flocks and herds;
they will feed on your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
the fortified cities in which you trust.”

“Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a full end of you. And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own.’ ”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Romans 7:7-25

What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good. In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law. But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

𝙍: You have done great things, O God, and holy is your name.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me.
Holy is His name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud
in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
but has exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful,
as He promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and 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.

𝙍: You have done great things, O God, and holy is your name.

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:

The universal church
Bishops, superintendents and all who lead the church
The leaders of the nations
The natural world and the resources of the earth
All who are in any kind of need

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 strength of all those who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers
and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature
we can do no good thing without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in the keeping of your commandments
we may please you both in will and deed;
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

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

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.