Opening response

O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.

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

God of All Power, and Truth, and Grace

Charles Wesley

God of all power, and truth, and grace,
Which shall from age to age endure,
Whose word, when heaven and earth shall pass,
Remains and stands for ever sure.

That I thy mercy may proclaim,
That all mankind thy truth may see,
Hallow thy great and glorious name,
And perfect holiness in me.

Thy sanctifying Spirit pour,
To quench my thirst, and make me clean;
Now, Father, let the gracious shower
Descend, and make me pure from sin.

Purge me from every sinful blot;
My idols all be cast aside;
Cleanse me from every sinful thought,
From all the filth of self and pride.

Give me a new, a perfect heart,
From doubt, and fear, and sorrow free;
The mind which was in Christ impart,
And let my spirit cleave to thee.

Confession of sin

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Silence may be kept.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in
eternal life.
Amen.

Psalm 89:19-52

𝙍: The LORD swore an oath to David, a promise He will not revoke.

You once spoke in a vision;
to Your godly ones You said,
“I have bestowed help on a warrior;
I have exalted one chosen from the people.
I have found My servant David;
with My sacred oil I have anointed him.
My hand will sustain him;
surely My arm will strengthen him.

No enemy will exact tribute;
no wicked man will oppress him.
I will crush his foes before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and loving devotion will be with him,
and through My name his horn will be exalted.
I will set his hand over the sea,
and his right hand upon the rivers.
He will call to Me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, the Rock of my salvation.’

I will indeed appoint him as My firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
I will forever preserve My loving devotion for him,
and My covenant with him will stand fast.
I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure. 𝙍

If his sons forsake My law
and do not walk in My judgments,
if they violate My statutes
and fail to keep My commandments,
I will attend to their transgression with the rod,
and to their iniquity with stripes.

But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him,
nor ever betray My faithfulness.
I will not violate My covenant
or alter the utterance of My lips.
Once and for all I have sworn by My holiness—
I will not lie to David—
his offspring shall endure forever,
and his throne before Me like the sun,
like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky.”

Now, however, You have spurned and rejected him;
You are enraged by Your anointed one.
You have renounced the covenant with Your servant
and sullied his crown in the dust.
You have broken down all his walls;
You have reduced his strongholds to rubble.
All who pass by plunder him;
he has become a reproach to his neighbors.

You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
You have made all his enemies rejoice.
You have bent the edge of his sword
and have not sustained him in battle.
You have ended his splendor
and cast his throne to the ground.
You have cut short the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame. 𝙍

How long, O LORD?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?
Remember the briefness of my lifespan!
For what futility You have created all men!
What man can live and never see death?
Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

Where, O Lord, is Your loving devotion of old,
which You faithfully swore to David?
Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants,
which I bear in my heart from so many people—
how Your enemies have taunted, O LORD,
and have mocked every step of Your anointed one!

Blessed be the LORD forever!
Amen and amen.

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 swore an oath to David, a promise He will not revoke.

Psalm prayer

Faithful God,
remember your promise
fulfilled in your anointed Son Jesus Christ,
in whose strength alone we stand,
now and forever.

Old Testament reading

Judges 14

One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman. So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.” (Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)

Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. Then Samson continued on his way down and spoke to the woman, because she was pleasing to his eyes.

When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey. So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. And when he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom. And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him.

“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. But if you cannot solve it, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let us hear it.”

So he said to them:

“Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.”

For three days they were unable to explain the riddle. So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.

Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson:

“What is sweeter than honey?
And what is stronger than a lion?”

So he said to them:

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle!”

Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house, and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Luke 18:1-14

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected men. And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice. Then she will stop wearing me out with her perpetual requests.’ ”

And the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the unjust judge. Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help? I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Silence may be kept.

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)

Luke 1:46-55

𝙍: My spirit rejoices in you, O God; my soul proclaims your greatness.

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me.
Holy is His name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud
in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
but has exalted the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful,
as He promised to our fathers,
to Abraham and 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.

𝙍: My spirit rejoices in you, O God; my soul proclaims your greatness.

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,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
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,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and 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

Lord of life
In your mercy, hear us.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide
we may so pass through things temporal
that we lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake,
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 in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and 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.