Wednesday evening June 8
Thursday evening
Tuesday evening
Preparation
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.
Hymn
Open, Lord, My Inward Ear
Charles Wesley
Open, Lord, my inward ear,
and bid my heart rejoice;
Bid my quiet spirit hear
The comfort of thy voice;
Never in the whirlwind found,
or where earthquake rocks the place,
Still and silent is the sound,
The whisper of thy grace.
Show me, as my soul can bear,
the depth of inbred sin;
All my unbelief declare
the pride that lurks within:
Take me, whom thyself hast bought,
and bring into captivity
Every high aspiring thought
that would not stoop to Thee.
Lord, my time is in thy hand,
my soul to thee convert;
Thou canst make me understand,
though I am slow of heart;
Thine in whom I live and move,
Thine, Lord, the work, the praise is thine!
Thou art wisdom, power and love,
and all thou art is mine.
From the world of sin and noise
And hurry I withdraw;
For the small and inward voice
I wait with humble awe:
Silent am I now and still,
Dare not in thy presence move;
To my waiting soul reveal
The secret of thy love.
Confession of sin
Seek the Lord when he can still be found;
call him while he is yet near.
Let the wicked abandon their ways
and the sinful their schemes.
Let them return to the Lord so that he may have mercy on them,
to our God, because he is generous with forgiveness.
cf Isaiah 55
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
Lord God,
we have sinned against you;
we have committed evil in your sight.
We are sorry and repent.
Have mercy on us according to your faithful love.
Wash us completely clean of our guilt; purify us from our sin.
Put a new, faithful spirit deep inside us,
and return the joy of your salvation to us
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
cf Psalm 51
May the Father of all mercies
cleanse us from our sins,
and restore us in his image
to the praise and glory of his name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Bless the Lord,
because he has listened to our request for mercy.
Therefore our hearts will rejoice
and we will thank him with our song.
cf Psalm 28:7,9
The Word of God
Psalm 59
Refrain:
You, O God, are my strong tower.
Oh, my God, deliver me from my enemies;
put me out of reach from those who rise up against me.
Deliver me from evildoers;
save me from the bloodthirsty.
Look at how they lie in ambush for my life!
Powerful people are attacking me, Lord—
but not because of any error or sin of mine.
They run and take their stand—
but not because of any fault of mine.
Get up when I cry out to you!
Look at what’s happening!
You are the Lord God of heavenly forces,
the God of Israel!
Wake up and punish all the nations!
Grant no mercy to any wicked traitor!
They come back every evening,
growling like dogs,
prowling around the city.
See what they belch out with their mouths:
swords are between their lips!
Who can listen to them?
But you, Lord, laugh at them.
You mock all the nations.
I keep looking for you, my strength,
because God is my stronghold.
My loving God will come to meet me.
God will allow me to look down on my enemies.
Don’t kill them, or my people might forget;
instead, by your power
shake them up and bring them down,
you who are our shield and my Lord.
For the sin of their mouths,
the words that they speak,
let them be captured in their pride.
For the curses and lies they repeat,
finish them off in anger;
finish them off until they are gone!
Then let it be known to the ends of the earth
that God rules over Jacob.
They come back every evening,
growling like dogs,
prowling around the city.
They roam about for food,
and if they don’t get their fill,
they stay all night.
But me? I will sing of your strength!
In the morning I will shout out loud
about your faithful love
because you have been my stronghold,
my shelter when I was distraught.
I will sing praises to you, my strength,
because God is my stronghold,
my loving God.
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.
Refrain:
You, O God, are my strong tower.
Psalm prayer
Strong and merciful God,
stand with the oppressed
against the triumph of evil
and the complacency of your people,
and establish in Jesus Christ
your new order of generosity and joy,
for he is alive and reigns now and forever.
Psalm 60
Refrain:
Lord, give us help against the enemy.
God, you have rejected us—
shattered us.
You’ve been so angry.
Now restore us!
You’ve made the ground quake,
splitting it open.
Now repair its cracks
because it’s shaking apart!
You’ve made your people suffer hardship;
you’ve given us wine and we stagger.
Give a flag to those who honor you,
so they can rally around it,
safe from attack.
Save us by your power and answer us
so that the people you love might be rescued.
God has spoken in his sanctuary:
“I will celebrate as I divide up Shechem
and portion out the Succoth Valley.
Gilead is mine;
Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
But Moab is my washbowl;
I’ll throw my shoe at Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia!
I wish someone would bring me to a fortified city!
I wish someone would lead me to Edom!”
But you have rejected us, God, haven’t you?
God, you no longer accompany our armies.
Give us help against the enemy;
human help is worthless.
With God we will triumph;
he’s the one who will trample our adversaries.
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.
Refrain:
Lord, give us help against the enemy.
Psalm prayer
Risen Christ,
you claim your own among the nations;
mend what is broken in us, loving Savior;
do not forsake us when we fail,
but in your service grant us daring and love;
for your name’s sake.
Psalm 67
Refrain:
God blesses us—our God blesses us!
Let God grant us grace and bless us;
let God make his face shine on us,
so that your way becomes known on earth,
so that your salvation becomes known among all the nations.
Let the people thank you, God!
Let all the people thank you!
Let the people celebrate
and shout with joy
because you judge the nations fairly
and guide all nations on the earth.
Let the people thank you, God!
Let all the people thank you!
The earth has yielded its harvest.
God blesses us—our God blesses us!
Let God continue to bless us;
let the far ends of the earth honor him.
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.
Refrain:
God blesses us—our God blesses us!
Psalm prayer
In the face of Jesus Christ
your light and glory have blazed forth,
O God of all the nations;
with all your people,
may we make known your grace
and walk in the ways of peace;
for your name’s sake.
Old Testament reading
Job 22
Then Eliphaz from Teman answered:
Can a human being be useful to God?
Can an intelligent person bring profit?
Does the Almighty delight in your innocence?
Does he gain when you perfect your ways?
Does he rebuke you for your piety,
bring you in for judgment?
Isn’t your wickedness massive,
your iniquity endless?
You have taken payments from your family for no reason;
stripped the naked, leaving no clothes;
denied water to the thirsty,
withheld bread from the starving.
(The powerful own land;
the favored live in it.)
You have sent widows away empty;
crushed orphans’ resources.
For this reason, snares surround you;
sudden dread brings panic to you
or a darkness that you can’t see;
rushing water will cover you.
Isn’t God in the heights of heaven;
see how high the topmost stars are?
You say: “What does God know?
Can he judge through thick clouds?
Clouds conceal him so he can’t see
while he walks on heaven’s rim.”
Will you keep the ancient way
traveled by sinful persons,
who were snatched prematurely
when a river flooded their foundations,
who say to God, “Turn away from us;
what can the Almighty do to us?”
Yet he filled their houses with good things;
a sinner’s logic is beyond me.
The righteous see and rejoice;
the innocent mock them:
our enemies are certainly cut off;
fire will devour what’s left of them.
Get along well with God and be at peace;
from this something good will come to you.
Receive instruction from his mouth;
put his words in your mind.
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored;
if you keep wrongdoing out of your tent.
Lay your prized possession in the dust,
your gold from Ophir on a rock in a desert streambed.
The Almighty will be your prized possession,
silver piled up for you.
Then you will take pleasure in the Almighty;
lift up your face to God.
You will pray to him, and he will hear you;
you will fulfill your solemn promises.
If you decree something, it will stand;
light will shine on your ways.
When they’re humbled, you will say: “Cheer up;
God will rescue the lowly.
He will deliver the guilty;
they will be saved by your pure hands.”
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Romans 10:1-10
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire is for Israel’s salvation. That’s my prayer to God for them. I can vouch for them: they are enthusiastic about God. However, it isn’t informed by knowledge. They don’t submit to God’s righteousness because they don’t understand his righteousness, and they try to establish their own righteousness. Christ is the goal of the Law, which leads to righteousness for all who have faith in God.
Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the Law: The person who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that comes from faith talks like this: Don’t say in your heart, “Who will go up into heaven?”(that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will go down into the region below?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the message of faith that we preach). Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation.
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Refrain:
God, you have done great things and holy is your name.
With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.
Luke 1:46-55
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.
Refrain:
God, you have done great things and holy is your name.
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.
Prayers
Thanksgiving and intercession
Thanksgiving may be made for the day.
Intercessions are offered
for peace
for individuals and their needs
Response
Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are worth nothing.
Send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son 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.