If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night,” darkness is not dark to you, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.
Psalm 139:10,11
Officiant O
God, make speed to save us.
People 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.
How often the people disobeyed him in the wilderness
*
and offended him in the desert!
Again and again they tempted God *
and provoked the
Holy One of Israel.
They did not remember his power *
in the day when he
ransomed them from the enemy;
How he wrought his signs in Egypt *
and his omens in
the field of Zoan.
He turned their rivers into blood, *
so that they
could not drink of their streams.
He sent swarms of flies among them, which ate them up,
*
and frogs, which destroyed them.
He gave their crops to the caterpillar, *
the fruit
of their toil to the locust.
He killed their vines with hail *
and their sycamores
with frost.
He delivered their cattle to hailstones *
and their
livestock to hot thunderbolts.
He poured out upon them his blazing anger: *
fury,
indignation, and distress,
a troop of destroying angels.
He gave full rein to his anger;
he did not spare
their souls from death; *
but delivered their lives to the plague.
He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, *
the
flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.
He led out his people like sheep *
and guided them in
the wilderness like a flock.
He led them to safety, and they were not afraid; *
but
the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
He brought them to his holy land, *
the mountain his
right hand had won.
He drove out the Canaanites before them
and
apportioned an inheritance to them by lot; *
he made the tribes of
Israel to dwell in their tents.
But they tested the Most High God, and defied him, *
and
did not keep his commandments.
They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers;
*
they were undependable like a warped bow.
The grieved him with their hill-altars *
they
provoked his displeasure with their idols.
When God heard this, he was angry *
and utterly
rejected Israel.
He forsook the shrine at Shiloh, *
the tabernacle
where he had lived among his people.
He delivered the ark into captivity, *
his glory into
the adversary’s hand.
He gave his people to the sword *
and was angered
against his inheritance.
The fire consumed their young men; *
there were no
wedding songs for their maidens.
Their priests fell by the sword, *
and their widows
made no lamentation.
Then the LORD woke as though from sleep, *
like a
warrior refreshed with wine.
He struck his enemies on the backside *
and put them
to perpetual shame.
He rejected the tent of Joseph *
and did not choose
the tribe of Ephraim;
He chose instead the tribe of Judah *
and Mount Zion,
which he loved.
He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven,
*
like the earth which he founded for ever.
He chose David his servant, *
and took him away from
the sheepfolds.
He brought him from following the ewes, *
to be a
shepherd over Jacob his people
and over Israel his inheritance.
So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart
*
and guided them with the skillfulness of his hands.
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.
A Reading from the Letter to the Romans.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
The Word of the
Lord.
Thanks be to God.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor
on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
*
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his
Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every
generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has
scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and
has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the
rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for
he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and
his children 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.
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.
Officiant The
Lord be with you.
People And
also with you.
Officiant Let
us 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,
for ever and 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.
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen.
O God and Father of all, whom the whole heavens adore: Let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve you in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us pray now for our own needs and those of others.
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.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20,21