Monday evening October 2

Tuesday evening
Sunday 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 Fountain of Life and Grace

Charles Wesley
           
A fountain of life and grace
In Christ, our Redeemer we see:
For us, who his offers embrace,
For all, it is open and free.

Jehovah himself doth invite
To drink of his pleasures unknown
The streams of immortal delight
That flow from his heavenly throne

As soon as in him we believe,
By faith of his Spirit we take,
And, freely forgiven, receive,
The mercy for Jesus’ sake!

We gain a pure drop of his love,
The life of eternity know;
Angelical happiness prove,
And witness a heaven below

Confession of sin

Let us confess our sins to God.

A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.

My God, for love of you
I desire to hate and forsake all sins
by which I have ever displeased you;
and I resolve by the help of your grace
to commit them no more;
and to avoid all opportunities of sin.
Help me to do this,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen.

The Lord enrich us with his grace,
and nourish us with his blessing;
the Lord defend us in trouble and keep us from all evil;
the Lord accept our prayers,
and absolve us from our offenses,
for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen.

The Word of God

Psalm 47

Refrain:
Sing praises to God! Sing praises! 

Clap your hands, all you people!
    Shout joyfully to God with a joyous shout!
Because the Lord Most High is awesome,
    he is the great king of the whole world.
He subdues the nations under us,
    subdues all people beneath our feet.
He chooses our inheritance for us:
    the heights of Jacob, which he loves. 
God has gone up with a joyous shout—
    the Lord with the blast of the ram’s horn.
Sing praises to God! Sing praises!
    Sing praises to our king! Sing praises
    because God is king of the whole world!
    Sing praises with a song of instruction!
God is king over the nations.
    God sits on his holy throne.
The leaders of all people are gathered
    with the people of Abraham’s God
    because the earth’s guardians belong to God;
        God is exalted beyond all.

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:
Sing praises to God! Sing praises!

Psalm prayer

As Christ was raised by your glory, O Father,
so may we be raised to new life
and rejoice to be called your children,
both now and forever.

Psalm 49

Refrain:
Happy are those who trust in the Lord.

Listen to this, all you people!
    Listen closely, all you citizens of the world—
    people of every kind,
    rich and poor alike!
My mouth speaks wisdom;
    my heart’s meditation is full of insight.
I will pay close attention to a proverb;
    I will explain my riddle on the lyre.

Why should I be afraid in times of trouble,
    when the wrongdoing of my bullies engulfs me—
        those people who trust in their fortunes
        and boast of their fantastic wealth?
Wealth? It can’t save a single person!
    It can’t pay a life’s ransom-price to God.
The price to save someone’s life is too high—
    wealth will never be enough—
        no one can live forever
        without experiencing the pit.

Everyone knows that the wise die too,
    just like foolish and stupid people do,
        all of them leaving their fortunes to others.
Their graves are their eternal homes,
    the place they live for all generations,
        even if they had counties named after them!
People won’t live any longer because of wealth;
    they’re just like the animals that pass away.

That’s how it goes for those who are foolish,
    as well as for those who follow their lead, pleased with their talk.
Like sheep, they’re headed straight for the grave.
    Death will be their shepherd—
    but those who do right in their hearts will rule over them come morning!—
    their forms wasting away in the grave
    rather than having some dignified residence.
But God will save my life from the power of the grave,
    because he will take me. 

Don’t be overly impressed when someone becomes rich,
    their house swelling to fantastic proportions,
    because when they die, they won’t take any of it with them.
    Their fantastic things won’t accompany them down under.
Though they consider themselves blessed during their lives,
    and even thank you when you deal well with them,
    they too will join the ancestors who’ve gone ahead;
    they too will never see the light again.
Wealthy people? They just don’t understand;
    they’re just like the animals
    that pass away.

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:
Happy are those who trust in the Lord.

Psalm prayer

Save us from envy, God our Redeemer,
and deliver us from the chains of wealth,
that, ransomed through your Son,
we may inherit the crown of everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading
1 Kings 12:25-13:10

Jeroboam fortified Shechem at Mount Ephraim and lived there. From there he also fortified Penuel. Jeroboam thought to himself, The kingdom is in danger of reverting to the house of David. If these people continue to sacrifice at the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, they will again become loyal to their master Rehoboam, Judah’s king, and they will kill me so they can return to Judah’s King Rehoboam. So the king asked for advice and then made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It’s too far for you to go all the way up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel! Here are your gods who brought you out from the land of Egypt.” He put one calf in Bethel, and the other he placed in Dan. This act was sinful. The people went to worship before the one calf at Bethel and before the other one as far as Dan. Jeroboam made shrines on the high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, but none were Levites. Jeroboam set a date for a celebration on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. It was just like the celebration in Judah. He sacrificed on the altar. At Bethel he sacrificed to the calves he had made. There also he installed the priests for the shrines he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month—the time he alone had decided—Jeroboam went up to the altar he had built in Bethel. He made a celebration for the Israelites and offered sacrifices on the altar by burning them up.

A man of God came from Judah by God’s command to Bethel. Jeroboam was standing at the altar burning incense. By the Lord’s word, the man of God cried out to the altar: “Altar! Altar! The Lord says this: Look! A son will be born to the house of David. His name will be Josiah. He will sacrifice on you, Altar, the very priests of the shrines who offer incense on you. They will burn human bones on you.” At that time the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign that the Lord mentioned: ‘Look! The altar will be broken apart, and its ashes will spill out.’”

When the king heard the word of the man of God and how he cried out to the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand that Jeroboam stretched out against the man of God grew stiff. Jeroboam wasn’t able to bend it back to himself. The altar broke apart, and the ashes spilled out from the altar, just like the sign that the man of God gave by the Lord’s word. The king said to the man of God, “Plead before the Lord your God and pray for me so that I can bend my hand back again.” So the man of God pleaded before the Lord, and the king’s hand returned to normal and was like it used to be. The king spoke to the man of God: “Come with me to the palace and refresh yourself. Let me give you a gift.”

The man of God said to the king, “Even if you gave me half your palace, I wouldn’t go with you, nor would I eat food or drink water in this place. This is what God commanded me by the Lord’s word: Don’t eat food! Don’t drink water! Don’t return by the way you came!”

So the man of God went by a different way. He didn’t return by the way he came to Bethel.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
Acts 19:8-20

Paul went to the synagogue and spoke confidently for the next three months. He interacted with those present and offered convincing arguments concerning the nature of God’s kingdom. Some people had closed their minds, though. They refused to believe and publicly slandered the Way. As a result, Paul left them, took the disciples with him, and continued his daily interactions in Tyrannus’ lecture hall. This went on for two years, so that everyone living in the province of Asia—both Jews and Greeks—heard the Lord’s word.

God was doing unusual miracles through Paul. Even the small towels and aprons that had touched his skin were taken to the sick, and their diseases were cured and the evil spirits left them.

There were some Jews who traveled around throwing out evil spirits. They tried to use the power of the name of the Lord Jesus against some people with evil spirits. They said, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you!” The seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

The evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus and I’m familiar with Paul, but who are you?” The person who had an evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all with such force that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. This became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus. Everyone was seized with fear and they held the name of the Lord Jesus in the highest regard.

Many of those who had come to believe came, confessing their past practices. This included a number of people who practiced sorcery. They collected their sorcery texts and burned them publicly. The value of those materials was calculated at more than someone might make if they worked for one hundred sixty-five years. In this way the Lord’s word grew abundantly and strengthened powerfully.

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 media and the arts
Farming and fishing
Commerce and industry
Those whose work is unfulfilling, stressful or fraught with danger
All who are unemployed

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads. 

Response

Father, by your Spirit
Bring in your kingdom.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers
      of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know
      what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill them;
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.