Thursday evening August 10
Friday evening
Wednesday 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
A Charge to Keep
Charles Wesley
A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify!
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky;
To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfil;
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master's will.
Arm me with jealous care,
As in thy sight to live;
And oh, thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give.
Help me to watch and pray,
And on thyself rely;
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall forever die.
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 39
Refrain:
Hear my prayer, Lord! Listen closely to my cry for help!
I promised I would watch my steps
so as not to sin with my tongue;
promised to keep my mouth shut
as long as the wicked were in my presence.
So I was completely quiet, silent.
I kept my peace, but it did no good.
My pain got worse.
My heart got hot inside me;
while stewing over it, the fire burned.
Then I spoke out with my tongue:
“Let me know my end, Lord.
How many days do I have left?
I want to know how brief my time is.”
You’ve made my days so short;
my lifetime is like nothing in your eyes.
Yes, a human life is nothing but a puff of air!
Yes, people wander around like shadows;
yes, they hustle and bustle, but pointlessly;
they don’t even know who will get the wealth they’ve amassed.
So now, Lord, what should I be waiting for?
My hope is set on you.
Deliver me from all my sins;
don’t make me some foolish person’s joke.
I am completely silent; I won’t open my mouth
because you have acted.
Get this plague of yours off me!
I’m being destroyed by the blows from your fist.
You discipline people for their sin, punishing them;
like a moth, you ruin what they treasure.
Yes, a human life is just a puff of air!
Hear my prayer, Lord!
Listen closely to my cry for help!
Please don’t ignore my tears!
I’m just a foreigner—
an immigrant staying with you,
just like all my ancestors were.
Look away from me
so I can be happy again
before I pass away and am gone.
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:
Hear my prayer, Lord! Listen closely to my cry for help!
Psalm prayer
O Christ, Son of the living God,
help us when we are too cast down to pray,
and grant that we may trust you all our days,
for you are with us in our living and our dying,
Jesus, Lord and God.
Psalm 40
Refrain:
You’ve done so many things—your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—no one can compare with you!
I put all my hope in the Lord.
He leaned down to me;
he listened to my cry for help.
He lifted me out of the pit of death,
out of the mud and filth,
and set my feet on solid rock.
He steadied my legs.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed;
they will trust the Lord.
Those who put their trust in the Lord,
who pay no attention to the proud
or to those who follow lies,
are truly happy!
You, Lord my God!
You’ve done so many things—
your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—
no one can compare with you!
If I were to proclaim and talk about all of them,
they would be too numerous to count!
You don’t relish sacrifices or offerings;
you don’t require entirely burned offerings or compensation offerings—
but you have given me ears!
So I said, “Here I come!
I’m inscribed in the written scroll.
I want to do your will, my God.
Your Instruction is deep within me.”
I’ve told the good news of your righteousness
in the great assembly.
I didn’t hold anything back—
as you well know, Lord!
I didn’t keep your righteousness only to myself.
I declared your faithfulness and your salvation.
I didn’t hide your loyal love and trustworthiness
from the great assembly.
So now you, Lord—
don’t hold back any of your compassion from me.
Let your loyal love and faithfulness always protect me,
because countless evils surround me.
My wrongdoings have caught up with me—
I can’t see a thing!
There’s more of them than hairs on my head—
my courage leaves me.
Favor me, Lord, and deliver me!
Lord, come quickly and help me!
Let those who seek my life, who want me dead,
be disgraced and put to shame.
Let those who want to do me harm
be thoroughly frustrated and humiliated.
Let those who say to me, “Yes! Oh, yes!”
be destroyed by their shame.
But let all who seek you
celebrate and rejoice in you.
Let those who love your salvation always say,
“The Lord is great!”
But me? I’m weak and needy.
Let my Lord think of me.
You are my help and my rescuer.
My God, don’t wait any longer!
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’ve done so many things—your wonderful deeds and your plans for us—no one can compare with you!
Psalm prayer
Free us from our sins, God,
and may our sacrifices be of praise
to the glory of your Son,
our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
Old Testament reading
1 Samuel 17:1-30
The Philistines assembled their troops for war at Socoh of Judah. They camped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes-dammim. Saul and the Israelite army assembled and camped in the Elah Valley, where they got organized to fight the Philistines. The Philistines took positions on one hill while Israel took positions on the opposite hill. There was a valley between them.
A champion named Goliath from Gath came out from the Philistine camp. He was more than nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore bronze scale-armor weighing one hundred twenty-five pounds. He had bronze plates on his shins, and a bronze scimitar hung on his back. His spear shaft was as strong as the bar on a weaver’s loom, and its iron head weighed fifteen pounds. His shield-bearer walked in front of him.
He stopped and shouted to the Israelite troops, “Why have you come and taken up battle formations? I am the Philistine champion, and you are Saul’s servants. Isn’t that right? Select one of your men, and let him come down against me. If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will become your slaves, but if I overcome him and kill him, then you will become our slaves and you will serve us. I insult Israel’s troops today!” The Philistine continued, “Give me an opponent, and we’ll fight!” When Saul and all Israel heard what the Philistine said, they were distressed and terrified.
Now David was Jesse’s son, an Ephraimite from Bethlehem in Judah who had eight sons. By Saul’s time, Jesse was already quite old and far along in age. Jesse’s three oldest sons had gone with Saul to war. Their names were Eliab the oldest, Abinadab the second oldest, and Shammah the third oldest. (David was the youngest.) These three older sons followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul’s side to shepherd his father’s flock in Bethlehem.
For forty days straight the Philistine came out and took his stand, both morning and evening. Jesse said to his son David, “Please take your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread. Deliver them quickly to your brothers in the camp. And here, take these ten wedges of cheese to their unit commander. Find out how your brothers are doing and bring back some sign that they are okay. They are with Saul and all the Israelite troops fighting the Philistines in the Elah Valley.”
So David got up early in the morning, left someone in charge of the flock, and loaded up and left, just as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp right when the army was taking up their battle formations and shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines took up their battle formations opposite each other. David left his things with an attendant and ran to the front line. When he arrived, he asked how his brothers were doing. Right when David was speaking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came forward from the Philistine ranks and said the same things he had said before. David listened. When the Israelites saw Goliath, every one of them ran away terrified of him. (Now the Israelite soldiers had been saying to each other: “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? How he comes to insult Israel? The king will reward with great riches whoever kills that man. The king will give his own daughter to him and make his household exempt from taxes in Israel.”)
David asked the soldiers standing by him, “What will be done for the person who kills that Philistine over there and removes this insult from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine, anyway, that he can get away with insulting the army of the living God?”
Then the troops repeated to him what they had been saying. “So that’s what will be done for the man who kills him,” they said.
When David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the soldiers, he got very mad at David. “Why did you come down here?” he said. “Who is watching those few sheep for you in the wilderness? I know how arrogant you are and your devious plan: you came down just to see the battle!”
“What did I do wrong this time?” David replied. “It was just a question!”
So David turned to someone else and asked the same thing, and the people said the same thing in reply.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 24:1-12
Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb, bringing the fragrant spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. They didn’t know what to make of this. Suddenly, two men were standing beside them in gleaming bright clothing. The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here, but has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the Human One must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words. When they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. Their words struck the apostles as nonsense, and they didn’t believe the women. But Peter ran to the tomb. When he bent over to look inside, he saw only the linen cloth. Then he returned home, wondering what had happened.
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:
Local government, community leaders
All who provide local services
Those who work with young or elderly people
Schools, colleges and universities
Emergency and rescue organizations
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Father, hear our prayer,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty Lord and everlasting God,
we beseech you to direct, sanctify and govern
both our hearts and bodies
in the ways of your laws
and the works of your commandments;
that through your most mighty protection, both here and ever,
we may be preserved in body and soul;
through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
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.