Tue. evening Sep. 15

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

Be Still, My Soul

Confession of Sin

Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:

“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Amen. Lord, have mercy.

After a period of reflection

Come, let us return to the Lord and say:

Lord our God, in our sin, we have avoided your call. Our faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. Have mercy on us; deliver us from judgment; bind up our wounds and revive us; in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

cf Hosea 6

May Almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.

Psalm 33

𝙍: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.

Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous!
Praise is becoming to the upright.
Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to Him with an instrument of ten strings.
Sing to Him a new song;
play skillfully with a shout of joy.

For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all His work is done in truth.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.

𝙍: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and all their host by the breath of His mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;
He puts the deeps in storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
For He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it stood fast.

𝙍: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the people of no effect.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of His heart to all generations.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom He has chosen as His inheritance.

𝙍: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.

The LORD looks down from heaven;
He sees all the sons of men.
From the place of His habitation He gazes
on all the inhabitants of the earth;
He fashions the hearts of them all;
He considers all their works.

No king is saved by a great army;
a mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for safety;
it will not deliver by its great strength.

𝙍: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,
on those who hope in His lovingkindness,
to deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the LORD;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart will rejoice in Him,
because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us,
just as we hope 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: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.

Psalm prayer

Feed your people, Lord, with your holy word, and free us from the emptiness of our wrongful desires, that we may sing the new song of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Zechariah 11:4-17

Thus says the LORD my God: Shepherd the flock of slaughter. The ones who buy them then slaughter them and have no guilt, and those who sell them say, “Blessed is the LORD because I am rich.” Their own shepherds do not take pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on those who dwell in the land, says the LORD. But I will cause each of them to fall into the hands of his neighbor, even into the hands of his king. They will crush the land, and I will not deliver any from their hands.

So I shepherded the flock that was for slaughter, even the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs. One I called Favor and the other I gave the name Union. So I pastured the flock. I destroyed the three shepherds in the span of one month.

For my soul was impatient with them, and their souls detested me. Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. Let those who are left devour each other’s flesh.”

I took the staff named Favor and cut it into pieces, to break the covenant that I made with all the peoples. So it was broken that day, and the afflicted of the flock were watching me and knew that this was the word of the LORD.

Then I said to them, “If this is good in your eyes, then give my wages to me, but if not, then keep it.” They weighed my wages at thirty pieces of silver.

Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the splendid price by which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the house of the LORD to the potter.

Then I cut up the second staff, Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Then the LORD said to me: Take for yourself again the vessels carried by a foolish shepherd. For I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are perishing, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor feed those who are standing still. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hoofs in pieces.

Woe to this worthless shepherd
who abandons his flock.
May the sword take his arm and right eye;
may his arm surely wither up,
and his right eye become blind.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Mark 11:12-26

On the next day when they had returned from Bethany, He was hungry. Seeing from afar a fig tree with leaves, He went to see if perhaps He might find anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing except leaves, for it was not the season for figs. Jesus said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples heard it.

And they came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who sold and bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry any vessel through the temple. He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’ ? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

The scribes and chief priests heard it and looked for a way to kill Him. For they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.

When evening came, He went out of the city.

In the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter, calling to remembrance, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. For truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them. And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your sins. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins.”

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 media and the arts
Farming and fishing
Commerce and industry
Those whose work is unfulfilling, stressful, or fraught with danger
All who are unemployed

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads. 

Response

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

God, who in generous mercy sent the Holy Spirit upon your Church in the burning fire of your love: grant that your people may be fervent in the fellowship of the gospel that, always abiding in you, they may be found steadfast in faith and active in service; 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.