Tue. evening Aug. 11
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
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Confession of Sin
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor recompensed us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward those who fear Him.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
andall that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 74
𝙍: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
O God, why have You cast us off forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance,
and this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.
Direct Your steps to the irreparable ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.
Your enemies have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
they set up their ensigns as signs.
They seem like men who wield axes
in a thicket of trees.
But now they break down all its carved work
with axes and hammers.
They set Your sanctuary on fire;
they have defiled the dwelling place of Your name, bringing it to the ground.
They said in their hearts, “Let us destroy them altogether.”
They have burned up all the meeting places of God in the land.
We do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
nor is there any among us who knows how long.
O God, how long will the adversary revile?
Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
Why do You withdraw Your hand, Your right hand?
Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them!
𝙍: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
For God is my King from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces,
and gave him as food to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
You split open springs and torrents;
You dried up mighty rivers.
The day is Yours, the night also is Yours;
You have prepared the light and the sun.
You have established all the boundaries of the earth;
You have made summer and winter.
𝙍: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
Remember this, that the enemy has reviled, O LORD,
and that a foolish people has blasphemed Your name.
Do not give the life of Your turtledove to a wild animal;
do not forget the life of Your poor forever.
Have respect for the covenant,
for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence.
Let not the oppressed return ashamed;
let the poor and needy praise Your name.
Arise, O God, plead Your own cause;
remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily.
Do not forget the voice of Your enemies,
the tumult of those who rise up against You, which increases continually.
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: Arise, O God, plead Your own cause.
Psalm prayer
Redeeming God, renew your broken people with your Holy Spirit, that they may walk your narrow way, and greet your coming dawn in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Jeremiah 42
Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest came near, and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be accepted before you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few out of many, as your eyes now see us. Pray that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing that we should do.”
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “Behold, I have heard you. I will pray to the LORD your God according to your words. And it shall come to pass, that whatever the LORD will answer you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”
Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not act according to all things for which the LORD your God shall send you to us. Whether it is good or whether it is bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send you so that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”
At the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah. Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your supplication before Him: If you will still abide in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up; for I will relent of the disaster that I have brought on you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon of whom you are now afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says the LORD, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. I will show mercies to you so that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.
“But if you say, ‘We will not dwell in this land,’ so as not to obey the voice of the LORD your God, saying, ‘No, but we will go into the land of Egypt where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger for bread, and there we will dwell,’ now therefore hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, then it shall come to pass that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt and the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt. And there you shall die. So it shall be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them. For thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: As My anger and My fury have been poured out upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will My fury be poured out upon you when you go to Egypt. And you will be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. And you shall see this place no more.
“The LORD has said concerning you, O remnant of Judah, Do not go into Egypt! Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you have only deceived yourselves when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God. And according to all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it.’ Now I have this day declared it to you. But you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, or anything for which He has sent me to you. Now therefore certainly know that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, in the place wherever you desire to go and to sojourn.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Mark 3:7-19
Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great crowd followed Him from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan. And those from Tyre and Sidon, a great crowd, when they heard what great things He did, came to Him. He told the disciples to have a small boat ready for Him because of the crowd, lest they should crush Him. For He had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed on Him to touch Him. When unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him, crying out, “You are the Son of God.” But He sternly ordered them not to make Him known.
He went up into the mountain and called to Him those whom He desired, and they came to Him. He ordained twelve to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach, and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: Simon, whom He named Peter; James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges (meaning Sons of Thunder); Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas; and James the son of Alphaeus; and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.
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:
All who are sick in body, mind, or spirit
Those in the midst of famine or disaster
Victims of abuse and violence, intolerance, and prejudice
Those who are bereaved
All who work in the medical and healing professions
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please you; 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.