Thursday –
Year 2 Advent 1
Evening Prayer
Yours is the day, O God, yours also the night; you established the moon and the sun. You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter. Psalm 74:15,16
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the
beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
O gracious
light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O
Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of
the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your
praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at
all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of
Life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.
Psalm 18: 21 - 50
21 For I have kept the
ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed
from my God.
22 For all his ordinances were before me,
and
his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was blameless
before him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
24
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my
righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my
hands in his sight.
25 With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
with
the blameless you show yourself blameless;
26 with the pure you
show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you
show yourself perverse.
27 For you deliver a humble
people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28
It is you who light my lamp;
the Lord, my God,
lights up my darkness.
29 By you I can crush a troop,
and
by my God I can leap over a wall.
30 This God—his way is
perfect;
the promise of the Lord proves
true;
he is a shield for all who take refuge in
him.
31 For who is God except the Lord?
And
who is a rock besides our God?—
32 the God who girded me
with strength,
and made my way safe.
33 He
made my feet like the feet of a deer,
and set me
secure on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for war,
so
that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the
shield of your salvation,
and your right hand
has supported me;
your help*
has made me great.
36 You gave me a wide place for my steps under
me,
and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued
my enemies and overtook them;
and did not turn
back until they were consumed.
38 I struck them down, so that
they were not able to rise;
they fell under my
feet.
39 For you girded me with strength for the battle;
you
made my assailants sink under me.
40 You made my enemies turn
their backs to me,
and those who hated me I
destroyed.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save
them;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not
answer them.
42 I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;
I
cast them out like the mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from strife with the peoples;*
you
made me head of the nations;
people whom I had
not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed
me;
foreigners came cringing to me.
45
Foreigners lost heart,
and came trembling out of
their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock,
and
exalted be the God of my salvation,
47 the God who gave me
vengeance
and subdued peoples under me;
48
who delivered me from my enemies;
indeed, you
exalted me above my adversaries;
you delivered
me from the violent.
49 For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the
nations,
and sing praises to your name.
50
Great triumphs he gives to his king,
and
shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David
and his descendants for ever.
Glory to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the
beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Reading
Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening* the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.
Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.*
The Word of the
Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Canticle 17
Lord, you now
have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of
mine have seen the Savior,*
whom you have prepared for all the
world to see:
A Light to
enlighten the nations,*
and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the
beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
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 power of 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.
The
Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us 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.
Save
us from the time of trial,
and deliver us from evil.
For
the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for
ever. Amen.
That this evening may be holy, good, and peaceful,
We entreat you, O Lord.
That your holy angels may lead us in paths of peace and goodwill,
We entreat you, O Lord.
That we may be pardoned and forgiven for our sins and offenses,
We entreat you, O Lord.
That there may be peace to your Church and to the whole world,
We entreat you, O Lord.
That
we may depart this life in your faith and fear,
and not be
condemned before the great judgment seat of Christ,
We entreat you, O Lord.
That
we may be bound together by your Holy Spirit in
the communion of
all your saints,
entrusting one another and all our life to
Christ,
We entreat you, O Lord.
Collect of the Day: The First Sunday of Advent
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
For Protection
O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
For Mission
Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love's sake. Amen.
Let us pray now for our own needs and those of others.
A Prayer of St. Chrysostom
Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
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.
2
Corinthians 13:14