Sat. evening Oct. 3

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

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

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 81

𝙍: O come, let us sing to the LORD.

Sing aloud to God our strength;
make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the pleasant lyre with the harp.

Blow the trumpet at the New Moon,
at the full moon on our feast day.
For this is a statute for Israel,
a decree of the God of Jacob.
He made it a decree in Joseph
when He went throughout the land of Egypt.

𝙍: O come, let us sing to the LORD.

I heard a language that I had not known:

“I removed his shoulder from the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
You called in trouble, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you.
O Israel, if you would listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you;
nor shall you bow down to any foreign god.
I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt;
open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

𝙍: O come, let us sing to the LORD.

“But My people would not listen to My voice;
Israel would not submit to Me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to walk in their own counsels.

“Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
and Israel would walk in My ways!
I would soon subdue their enemies,
and turn My hand against their adversaries.
Those who hate the LORD would pretend submission before Him,
but their punishment would endure forever.
I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

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: O come, let us sing to the LORD.

Psalm prayer

Father of mercy, keep us joyful in your salvation and faithful to your covenant; and, as we journey to your kingdom, ever feed us with the bread of life, your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.

Psalm 84

𝙍: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house.

How lovely is Your dwelling place,
O  LORD of Hosts!
My soul longs and even yearns
for the courtyards of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at Your altars,
O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
they will still be praising You.

𝙍: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
in whose heart are the paths to Zion.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a spring;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
every one of them appears in Zion before God.

𝙍: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house.

O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer;
give ear, O God of Jacob!
Behold our shield, O God,
and look upon the face of Your anointed.

For a day in Your courtyards is better
than a thousand elsewhere.

𝙍: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD will give grace and glory;
no good thing will He withhold
from those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of Hosts,
blessed is the man who trusts in You.

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: Blessed are those who dwell in Your house.

Psalm prayer

Lord God, sustain us in this vale of tears with the vision of your grace and glory, that, strengthened by the bread of life, we may come to your eternal dwelling place; in the power of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Ezekiel 14:1-11

Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of by them at all? Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols, in order to seize the heart of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

For every one of the house of Israel or of the stranger who sojourns in Israel who separates himself from Me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the LORD will answer him by Myself. And I will set My face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. And you shall know that I am the LORD.

And if the prophet is deceived when he has spoken a word, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. They shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him who seeks him in order that the house of Israel may no more go astray from Me or be polluted anymore with all their transgressions. Thus they shall be My people, and I shall be their God, says the Lord GOD.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Mark 14:66-72

While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus of Nazareth.”

But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are saying.” Then he went out to the porch, and a cock crowed.

The servant girl saw him again and began to say to those who stood by, “This man is one of them.” But again, he denied it.

A little while later, those who stood by said again to Peter, “Surely, you are one of them. For you are a Galilean, and your speech confirms it.”

Peter began to invoke a curse on himself, and to swear, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak.”

And the cock crowed a second time. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And when he thought on this, he wept.

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:

Our homes, families, friends, and all whom we love
Those whose time is spent caring for others
Those who are close to death
Those who have lost hope
The worship of the church

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

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us your gift of faith that, forsaking what lies behind and reaching out to that which is before, we may run the way of your commandments and win the crown of everlasting joy; 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.