Wednesday evening June 14
Thursday evening
Tuesday evening
Preparation
Opening response
Favor us, Lord, and deliver us.
Lord, come quickly and 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
Ever Fainting with Desire
Charles Wesley
Ever fainting with desire,
For thee, O Christ, I call;
Thee I restlessly require,
I want my God, my all!
Jesus, dear redeeming Lord,
I wait thy coming from above;
Help me, Savior, speak the word,
And perfect me in love.
Wilt thou suffer me to go
Lamenting all my days?
Shall I never, never know
Thy sanctifying grace?
Wilt thou not the light afford,
The darkness from my soul remove?
Help me, Savior, speak the word,
And perfect me in love.
Lord, if I on thee believe,
The second gift impart;
With the indwelling Spirit give
A new, a contrite heart;
If with love thy heart is stored,
If now over me thy mercies move,
Help me, Savior, speak the word,
And perfect me in love.
Let me gain my calling's hope,
O make the sinner clean!
Dry corruption's fountain up,
Cut off the entail of sin;
Take me into thee, my Lord,
And I shall then no longer rove:
Help me, Savior, speak the word,
And perfect me in love.
Thou, my life, my treasure be,
My portion here below;
Nothing would I seek but thee,
Thee only would I know,
My exceeding great reward,
My heaven on earth, my heaven above!
Help me, Savior, speak the word,
And perfect me in love.
Grant me now the bliss to feel
Of those that are in thee;
Son of God, thyself reveal,
Engrave thy name on me;
As in heaven be here adored,
And let me now the promise prove;
Help me, Savior, speak the word,
And perfect me in love.
Confession of sin
Let us admit to God the sin which always confronts us.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
Almighty God,
patient and of great goodness:
I confess to you,
I confess with my whole heart
my neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments,
my wrong doing, thinking, and speaking;
the hurts I have done to others,
and the good I have left undone.
O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you;
and raise me to newness of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The Word of God
Psalm 11
Refrain:
The Lord’s throne is in heaven.
I have taken refuge in the Lord.
So how can you say to me,
“Flee to the hills like a bird
because the wicked
have already bent their bows;
they’ve already strung their arrows;
they are ready to secretly shoot
those whose heart is right”?
When the very bottom of things falls out,
what can a righteous person possibly accomplish?
But the Lord is in his holy temple.
The Lord! His throne is in heaven.
His eyes see—
his vision examines all of humanity.
The Lord examines
both the righteous and the wicked;
his very being hates anyone who loves violence.
God will rain fiery coals and sulfur on the wicked;
their cups will be filled
with nothing but a scorching hot wind
because the Lord is righteous!
He loves righteous deeds.
Those whose heart is right will see God’s face.
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:
The Lord’s throne is in heaven.
Psalm prayer
God of heaven,
when the foundations are shaken
and there is no escape,
test us, but not to destruction,
look on the face of your anointed
and heal us in Jesus Christ your Son.
Psalm 12
Refrain:
You, Lord, will keep us, protecting us from this generation forever.
Help, Lord, because the godly are all gone;
the faithful have completely disappeared
from the human race!
Everyone tells lies to everyone else;
they talk with slick speech and divided hearts.
Let the Lord cut off all slick-talking lips
and every tongue that brags and brags,
that says, “We’re unbeatable with our tongues!
Who could get the best of us with lips like ours?”
But the Lord says,
“Because the poor are oppressed,
because of the groans of the needy,
I’m now standing up.
I will provide the help they are gasping for.”
The Lord’s promises are pure,
like silver that’s been refined in an oven,
purified seven times over!
You, Lord, will keep us,
protecting us from this generation forever.
The wicked roam all over the place,
while depravity is praised by human beings.
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, Lord, will keep us, protecting us from this generation forever.
Psalm prayer
Lord, when faith is faint
and speech veils our intentions,
restore us by your word of power and purity,
both now and forever.
Psalm 13
Refrain:
I love the Lord because he hears my requests for mercy.
How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long will I be left to my own wits,
agony filling my heart? Daily?
How long will my enemy keep defeating me?
Look at me!
Answer me, Lord my God!
Restore sight to my eyes!
Otherwise, I’ll sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I won!”
My foes will rejoice over my downfall.
But I have trusted in your faithful love.
My heart will rejoice in your salvation.
Yes, I will sing to the Lord
because he has been good to me.
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:
I love the Lord because he hears my requests for mercy.
Psalm prayer
Jesus Christ, Son of God,
who passed through the dark sleep of death,
remember those who cry to you
in shame and silence and defeat
and raise them to your risen life,
for you are alive and reign forever.
Old Testament reading
Joshua 8:1-29
The Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid or terrified. Take the entire army with you. Start to go up to Ai. Look! I have given the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land into your power. Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. But you may take its booty and cattle as plunder. Set your ambush behind the city.”
So Joshua and the whole army got ready to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand brave soldiers. He sent them out by night. He commanded them, “Look. You are to ambush the city from behind. Don’t move too far away from the city. Be ready, all of you. I will approach the city with all the people. When they come out against us the same way as before, we will flee from them. They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city. They will think, They are fleeing from us as before. So we will flee from them. But you will rise up from the ambush and take over the city. The Lord your God will give it into your power. As soon as you seize the city, set it on fire. Act according to the Lord’s word. Indeed, I have given you an order!”
Joshua sent them off, and they went to set the ambush. They stayed between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent that night among the people. Joshua got up early in the morning and mustered the people. Then he and the elders of Israel went up in front of the people to Ai. The entire army that was with him went up. They moved in close, in front of the city. Then they camped north of Ai, with the valley between them and Ai. He took about five thousand men and positioned them as an ambush between Bethel and Ai to the west of the city. The people positioned the main camp on the north side of the city and its rear guard on its west side. That night, Joshua went into the middle of the valley.
As soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his troops, the men of the city, hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle. They moved out to the battleground on the slopes down toward the Jordan. He didn’t know that there was an ambush set against him behind the city. Then Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten before them. They fled in the direction of the desert. Next, all the troops who were still in the city were called out to chase them. They chased after Joshua and so let themselves be drawn away from the city. No one who hadn’t gone out after Israel was left in either Ai or Bethel. They left the city wide open and chased after Israel.
The Lord said to Joshua, “Point the dagger in your hand toward Ai, because I will give it into your power.” So Joshua pointed the dagger in his hand toward the city. The ambush quickly rose from its place. As soon as he reached out his hand, it charged. They entered the city and captured it. They set the city on fire at once. Then the men of Ai turned around. They caught sight of the smoke of the city rising toward the sky. They had no chance to flee one way or the other. The troops who were fleeing toward the desert turned against the pursuit. Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was rising. So they turned and struck down the men of Ai. When other Israelites came out of the city to confront them, the men of Ai were caught in the middle. Some Israelites were on one side of them and some on the other. The Israelites struck them down until there was no one left to escape. But they seized the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
Israel finished killing the entire population of Ai that had chased them out into the open wasteland. All of them were finished off without mercy. Then all Israel went back to Ai and struck it down without mercy. Twelve thousand men and women died that day, all the people of Ai. Joshua didn’t pull back the hand that was stretched out holding a dagger until he had wiped out the whole population of Ai as something reserved for God. However, Israel did take the cattle and other booty of that city as plunder for themselves, in agreement with the command that the Lord had given Joshua. Then Joshua burned Ai. He made it a permanently deserted mound. That is still the case today. He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sundown, Joshua gave an order, and they took his body down from the tree. They threw it down at the opening of the city gate. Then they raised over it a great pile of stones that is still there today.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus told them, “When you pray, say:
‘Father, uphold the holiness of your name.
Bring in your kingdom.
Give us the bread we need for today.
Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who has wronged us.
And don’t lead us into temptation.’”
He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.
“Which father among you would give a snake to your child if the child asked for a fish? If a child asked for an egg, what father would give the child a scorpion? If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
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
Prayers may include the following concerns:
The social services
All who work in the criminal justice system
Victims and perpetrators of crime
The work of aid agencies throughout the world
Those living in poverty or under oppression
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty and everlasting God,
you have given us your servants grace,
by the confession of a true faith,
to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith,
that we may evermore be defended from all adversities;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
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.