Wed. evening Jun. 10
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
I Surrender All
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 119:33-56
π: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes,
and I shall keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, so that I may keep Your law,
and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of Your commandments,
for therein do I delight.
Incline my heart unto Your testimonies,
and not unto covetousness.
π: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity,
and revive me in Your ways.
Establish Your word unto Your servant,
who is devoted to fearing you.
Turn away my reproach which I dread,
for Your judgments are good.
Behold, I long for Your precepts;
revive me in Your righteousness.
π: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Let Your mercies also come to me, O LORD,
Your salvation according to Your word.
So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me,
for I trust in Your word.
And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
for I hope in Your ordinances.
So shall I keep Your law continually,
forever and ever.
π: I will take delight in Your commandments.
And I will walk at liberty,
for I seek Your precepts.
I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings
and shall not be ashamed.
I will take delight in Your commandments,
which I love.
My hands will I lift up to Your commandments, which I love,
and I will meditate on Your statutes.
π: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Remember Your word to Your servant,
in which You have caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction,
that Your word has given me life.
The proud have me in utter derision,
yet I do not forsake Your law.
I have remembered Your judgments of old, O LORD,
and I take comfort.
π: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Indignation has seized me because of the wicked,
those who forsake Your law.
Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my sojourning.
I remember Your name in the night, O LORD,
and keep Your law.
This has become mine,
because I have kept Your precepts.
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.
π: I will take delight in Your commandments.
Psalm prayer
Faithful God, let your word be the treasure of our hearts, that we may delight in your truth and walk in the glorious liberty of your Son Jesus Christ.
Old Testament reading
2 Chronicles 34:19-33
And it happened that when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his garments. Then the king ordered Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the attendant of the king: βGo and seek the LORD on my behalf and on the behalf of the remnant in Israel and Judah concerning what is written in the book that was found, for the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us is great because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do everything that is written in this book.β
So Hilkiah and those with the king went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, who kept the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, and they spoke to her about this.
And she said to them, βSo says the LORD God of Israel: Speak to the man who sent you all to Me, Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will bring disaster on this place and all who dwell in it, even all the curses that are written in the book that they read before the king of Judah. Because they have abandoned Me and offered sacrifices to other gods in order to provoke Me with everything they have made with their hands, so My rage will be poured out on this place, and it will not be quenched. And the king of Judah who sent you all to seek out the LORD, so you will speak to him: So says the LORD God of Israel: The words that you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and those who dwell here, and you have brought yourself low before Me and torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you, declares the LORD. Behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be brought to your grave in peace, and your eyes will not see all the disaster that I am bringing on this place and on those who dwell here.β
So they returned this word to the king.
Then the king sent for all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. Then the king went up to the house of the LORD with men from Judah and those living in Jerusalem, even the priests and Levites and all the people from the greatest to the least, and he read within their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that was found in the house of the LORD. Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant written in this book.
Then he appointed all who were in Jerusalem and Benjamin to carry this out, and those living in Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
So Josiah took away all the detestable things from the lands that belonged to the people of Israel and caused all who were found in Israel to serve the LORD their God. And all his days they did not turn away from the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Romans 8:1-11
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, for the carnal mind is hostile toward God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that lives in you.
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 Apostleβs 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 social services
All who work in the criminal justice system
Victims and perpetrators of crime
The work of aid agencies throughout the world
Those living in poverty or under oppression
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 Lordβs Prayer
Let us pray with confidence as our Savior has taught us:
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.