Wed. evening Oct. 7
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
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
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 91
𝙍: Keep me as the apple of Your eye.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
He shall cover you with His pinions,
and under His wings shall you find refuge;
His faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
nor of the arrow that flies by day;
nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
nor of the destruction that strikes at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
and ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you behold
and see the recompense of the wicked.
𝙍: Keep me as the apple of Your eye.
Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge,
even the Most High, your dwelling,
no evil will befall you,
nor will any plague come near your tent;
for He will give His angels charge over you
to guard you in all your ways.
They will bear you up in their hands,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent will you trample underfoot.
𝙍: Keep me as the apple of Your eye.
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him
and show him My salvation.”
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: Keep me as the apple of Your eye.
Psalm prayer
Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy and, as you have bound us to yourself in love, leave us not who call upon your name, but grant us your salvation, made known in the cross of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 93
𝙍: The LORD will reign forever and ever.
The LORD reigns; He is clothed with majesty;
the LORD is clothed; He has girded Himself with strength.
Indeed, the world is established;
it shall not be moved.
Your throne is established from of old;
You are from everlasting.
𝙍: The LORD will reign forever and ever.
The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring waves.
The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters,
than the mighty waves of the sea.
Your statutes are very sure;
holiness befits Your house,
O LORD, 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: The LORD will reign forever and ever.
Psalm prayer
Christ our King, you put on the apparel of our nature and raised us to your glory; reign from your royal throne above the chaos of this world, that all may see the victory you have won and trust in your salvation; for your glory’s sake.
Old Testament reading
Ezekiel 18:21-32
But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all My statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be remembered against him. Because of his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, but rather that he should turn from his ways and live?
But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered for his trespass that he has committed and in his sin that he has done. In them he shall die.
Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not right.” Hear now, O house of Israel. Is not My way right? Are not your ways not right? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he dies in it, for his iniquity that he has done he shall die. Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul. Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, “The way of the Lord is not right.” O house of Israel, are not My ways right? Are not your ways not right?
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn away from all your transgressions so that iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord GOD. Therefore, repent and live.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Mark 15:33-41
When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, “Behold, He is calling Elijah!”
One man ran and filled a sponge with vinegar, put it on a stick, and gave it to Him to drink, saying, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.”
But Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the spirit.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing Him saw that He cried out and gave up the spirit, he said, “Truly, this Man was the Son of God.”
There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joseph, and Salome. They also had followed Him and had ministered to Him when He was in Galilee. And many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem were there.
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:
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
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.