Thursday evening August 22

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

With Glorious Clouds Encompassed Round

Charles Wesley
           
With glorious clouds encompassed round,
Whom angels dimly see,
Will the Unsearchable be found,
Or God appear to me?

Will he forsake his throne above,
Himself to worms impart?
Answer, thou Man of grief and love,
And speak it to my heart.

Didst thou not in our flesh appear,
And live and die below,
That I may now perceive thee near,
And my redeemer know?

Come, then, and to my soul reveal
The heights and depths of grace,
Those wounds which all my sorrows heal,
Which all my sins efface.

Then shall I see in his own light,
Whom angels dimly see:
And gaze, transported at the sight,
To all eternity.

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 61

Refrain:
 You are my refuge, Lord, a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.

God, listen to my cry;
    pay attention to my prayer!
When my heart is weak,
    I cry out to you from the very ends of the earth.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am
    because you have been my refuge,
    a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.
Please let me live in your tent forever!
    Please let me take refuge
    in the shelter of your wings!
Because you, God, have heard my promises;
    you’ve given me the same possession
    as those who honor your name.
Add days to the king’s life!
    Let his years extend for many generations!
Let him be enthroned forever before God!
    Make it so love and faithfulness watch over him!
Then I will sing praises to your name forever,
    and I will do what I promised every single day.

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 are my refuge, Lord, a tower of strength in the face of the enemy.

Psalm prayer

Risen Christ,
as you knew the discipline of suffering
and the victory that brings us salvation,
so grant us your presence in our weakness
and a place in your unending kingdom
now and forevermore.

Psalm 62

Refrain:
I must find rest in God only, because my hope comes from him!

Only in God do I find rest;
    my salvation comes from him.
Only God is my rock and my salvation—
    my stronghold!—I won’t be shaken anymore.
How long will all of you attack others;
    how long will you tear them down
    as if they were leaning walls or broken-down fences?
The only desire of this people
    is to bring others down low;
    they delight in deception.
With their mouths they bless,
    but inside they are cursing. 
Oh, I must find rest in God only,
    because my hope comes from him!
Only God is my rock and my salvation—
    my stronghold!—I will not be shaken.
My deliverance and glory depend on God.
    God is my strong rock.
    My refuge is in God.
All you people: Trust in him at all times!
    Pour out your hearts before him!
    God is our refuge! 
Human beings are nothing but a breath.
    Human beings are nothing but lies.
    They don’t even register on a scale;
    taken all together they are lighter than a breath!
Don’t trust in violence;
    don’t set false hopes in robbery.
When wealth bears fruit,
    don’t set your heart on it.
God has spoken one thing—
    make it two things—
    that I myself have heard:
    that strength belongs to God,
    and faithful love comes from you, my Lord—
    and that you will repay
    everyone according to their deeds.

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 must find rest in God only, because my hope comes from him!

Psalm prayer

God, teach us to seek security,
not in money or theft,
not in human ambition or malice,
not in our own ability or power,
but in you, the only God,
our rock and our salvation.

Psalm 64

Refrain:
Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord.

Listen to me when I complain, God!
    Protect my life from the enemy’s terror!
Hide me from the secret plots of wicked people;
    hide me from the schemes of evildoers
        who sharpen their tongues like swords.
They aim their arrow—a cruel word—
    from their hiding places
    so as to shoot an innocent person.
    They shoot without warning and without fear.
They encourage themselves with evil words.
    They plan on laying traps in secret.
        “Who will be able to see them?” they ask.
        “Let someone try to expose our crimes!
        We’ve devised a perfect plot!
        It’s deep within the human mind and heart.”
But God will shoot them with an arrow!
    Without warning, they will be wounded!
The Lord will make them trip over their own tongues;
    everyone who sees them will just shake their heads.
Then all people will honor God,
    will announce the act of God,
    will understand it was God’s work.
Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord;
    let them take refuge in him;
    let everyone whose heart is in the right place give praise!

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:
Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord.

Psalm prayer

Cut through the malice of our hearts, redeeming God,
with the Spirit’s sword,
wound the pride of our rebellion
with the grace that makes righteous
and bring near the day of Christ,
when love shall reign in joy;
for he is alive and reigns, now and forever.

Old Testament reading
1 Samuel 21:1-22:5

David came to Nob where Ahimelech was priest. Ahimelech was shaking in fear when he met David. “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” he asked.

David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king has given me orders, but he instructed me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or about your orders.’ As for my troops, I told them to meet me at an undisclosed location. Now what do you have here with you? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can find.”

“I don’t have any regular bread on hand,” the priest answered David, “just holy bread—but only if your troops have abstained from sexual activity.”

“Definitely,” David answered the priest. “Whenever I go out to war, women are off-limits; that’s our standard operating procedure. Even on regular missions, the men’s gear is kept holy. That’s even more true today, with the mission holy along with the gear.” So the priest gave David holy bread, because there was no other bread except the bread of the presence, which is removed from the Lord’s presence and replaced by warm bread as soon as it is taken away.

Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained in the Lord’s presence. His name was Doeg. He was an Edomite and Saul’s head shepherd.

David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t bring my sword or gear with me because the king’s mission was urgent.”

The priest said, “The sword of Goliath, the Philistine you killed in the Elah Valley, is here wrapped in a cloth behind a priestly vest. If you want it, take it, because there are no other swords here.”

David said, “No sword is as good as that one! Give it to me!”

So David got up and continued running from Saul. He went to Achish, Gath’s king. Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t that David, king of the land? He’s the one people sing about in their dances,

‘Saul has killed his thousands,
    but David has killed his tens of thousands!’”

David took these words very seriously and became very frightened of Achish, Gath’s king. So he changed the way he acted with them, pretending to be insane while he was with them. He scratched marks on the doors of the city gates and let spit run down his chin.

“Can’t you see he’s crazy?” Achish asked his servants. “Why bring him to me? Am I short on insane people that you’ve brought this person to go crazy right in front of me? Do you really think I’m going to let this man enter my house?”

David left Gath and escaped to Adullam’s fortress. When David’s siblings and all his extended family learned of this, they went to join him there. Everyone who was in trouble, in debt, or in desperate circumstances gathered around David, and he became their leader. Approximately four hundred men joined him.

From there David went to Mizpeh in Moab. He said to the Moabite king, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do to me.” So David left his parents with the Moabite king, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the fortress.

Then the prophet Gad told David, “Don’t stay in the fortress any longer. Leave now and go to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to Hereth forest.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
Acts 2:22-36

“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words! Jesus the Nazarene was a man whose credentials God proved to you through miracles, wonders, and signs, which God performed through him among you. You yourselves know this. In accordance with God’s established plan and foreknowledge, he was betrayed. You, with the help of wicked men, had Jesus killed by nailing him to a cross. God raised him up! God freed him from death’s dreadful grip, since it was impossible for death to hang on to him. David says about him,

I foresaw that the Lord was always with me;
    because he is at my right hand I won’t be shaken.
Therefore, my heart was glad
    and my tongue rejoiced.
Moreover, my body will live in hope,
        because you won’t abandon me to the grave,
    nor permit your holy one to experience decay.
You have shown me the paths of life;
    your presence will fill me with happiness.

“Brothers and sisters, I can speak confidently about the patriarch David. He died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this very day. Because he was a prophet, he knew that God promised him with a solemn pledge to seat one of his descendants on his throne. Having seen this beforehand, David spoke about the resurrection of Christ, that he wasn’t abandoned to the grave, nor did his body experience decay. This Jesus, God raised up. We are all witnesses to that fact. He was exalted to God’s right side and received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit. He poured out this Spirit, and you are seeing and hearing the results of his having done so. David didn’t ascend into heaven. Yet he says,

The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right side,
    until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’
“Therefore, let all Israel know beyond question that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

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

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty God,
who sent your Holy Spirit
to be the life and light of your church:
open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
in love and joy and peace;
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.