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
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.
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 Acts of the Apostles.
But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal. They said, “This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law.” Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of crime or serious villainy, I would be justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews; but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I do not wish to be a judge of these matters.” And he dismissed them from the tribunal. Then all of them seized Sosthenes, the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things.
After staying there for a considerable time, Paul said farewell to the believers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow. When they reached Ephesus, he left them there, but first he himself went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. When they asked him to stay longer, he declined; but on taking leave of them, he said, “I will return to you, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.
The Word of the
Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Seek the Lord while he wills to be found; *
call upon
him when he draws near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways *
and the evil ones
their thoughts;
And let them turn to the Lord, and he will have
compassion, *
and to our God, for he will richly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, *
nor your
ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, *
so
are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your
thoughts.
For as rain and snow fall from the heavens *
and
return not again, but water the earth,
Bringing forth life and giving growth, *
seed for
sowing and bread for eating,
So is my word that goes forth from my mouth; *
it
will not return to me empty;
But it will accomplish that which I have purposed, *
and
prosper in that for which I sent it.
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.
Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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.
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.
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