All Hallows Evening Prayer for Saturday Evening (June 5, 2021)
Evening Prayer
Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
A light no darkness can extinguish.
Open this link to hear Carl P. Schalk’s choral arrangement “Joyous Light of Glory.”
Joyous light ,
joyous light, of glory
of the immortal Father,
Heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ,
We have come to the setting of the Sun
And we look to the evening light.
We sing to God,
we sing to God,
we sing to God,
we sing to God
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
You, you are worthy of being praised,
of being praised with pure voices forever.
O Son of God,
O Son of God,
O Son of God,
O Son of God
O Giver of life,
The universe proclaims your glory.
Thanksgiving
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
We praise you, O Lord our God, Ruler of the universe!
Your word brings on the dusk of evening,
your wisdom creates both night and day.
You determine the cycles of time,
arrange the succession of the seasons,
and establish the stars in their heavenly courses.
Lord of the starry hosts is your name.
Living and eternal God,
rule over us always.
Blessed be the Lord,
whose word makes evening fall.
Amen.
Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.
Open this link in a new tab to Gavin Bryars’ choral arrangement of Psalm 141, “Lord, I Cry Unto Thee.”
Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.
Lord, I cry unto thee.
Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.
When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.
Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
Lord, I cry unto thee.
But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.
Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.
Give heed to my voice, let my cry come unto thee.
Silence is kept.
Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before you, O Lord, and let your loving kindness descend upon us, that with purified minds we may sing your praises with the Church on earth and the whole heavenly host, and may glorify you forever and ever. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Psalm 93, “The Lord Is Mighty.”
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
You reign with majesty and strength.
Your throne has always been from eternity.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
The seas have lifted up, O Lord.
The seas have lifted up their voice.
The seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
You reign with majesty and strength.
Your throne has always been from eternity.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
Oh Oh.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
Holy for all days.
Silence is kept.
Christ our King,
you put on the apparel of our nature
and raised us to your glory;
reign from your royal throne
above the chaos of this world,
that all may see the victory you have won
and trust in your salvation;
for your glory’s sake. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Peter Niedmann’s choral arrangement of Isaac Watt’s hymn, “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.”
1 I sing the mighty power of God,
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
The Lord is mighty and holy for all days.
Holy for all days.
Silence is kept.
Christ our King,
you put on the apparel of our nature
and raised us to your glory;
reign from your royal throne
above the chaos of this world,
that all may see the victory you have won
and trust in your salvation;
for your glory’s sake. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Peter Niedmann’s choral arrangement of Isaac Watt’s hymn, “I Sing the Mighty Power of God.”
1 I sing the mighty power of God,
that made the mountains rise,
that spread the flowing seas abroad
that spread the flowing seas abroad
and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
I sing the wisdom that ordained
the sun to rule the day.
The moon shines full at God’s command
The moon shines full at God’s command
and all the stars obey.
2 I sing the goodness of the Lord,
2 I sing the goodness of the Lord,
that filled the earth with food.
that formed creation with a Word,
that formed creation with a Word,
and then pronounced it good.
Lord, how your wonders are displayed,
Lord, how your wonders are displayed,
where’er I turn my eye,
if I survey the ground I tread,
if I survey the ground I tread,
or gaze upon the sky!
3 There’s not a plant or flower below,
3 There’s not a plant or flower below,
but makes your glories known,
and clouds arise, and tempests blow,
and clouds arise, and tempests blow,
by order from your throne.
While all that borrows life from you
While all that borrows life from you
is ever in your care,
and everywhere that I may be,
and everywhere that I may be,
O, God, you are present there.
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
1 Samuel 8:4-20 Israel Demands a King
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Silence is kept
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
The Homily
Today’s reading marks a major turning point in the history of the people of Israel and their relationship with God. Despite their waywardness God has made a covenant with the people to Israel to protect and prosper them if they faithfully serve him, obeying his commandments and worshiping no other god but him alone in the promised land. But the people of Israel are not satisfied with God as their King. They demand an earthly ruler like the rulers of surrounding nations. The conduct of Samuel’s two sons who have been made judges over the people of Israel brings this to a head. The two sons are corrupt and accept bribes from those who seek a ruling in their favor. A rebellious people, the people of Israel use the two sons’ corruption as an excuse to demand the appointment of a king to rule them. God who knows our hearts recognizes this demand for what it really is—a rejection of him as their King and of his rule over them. God tells Samule that he will grant the people of Israel’s request, but Samuel must first give them God’s warning regarding what will happen to them if a king, like the kings of the surrounding nations, rules them. Samuel gives God’s warning to the people of Israel but they stubbornly demand the appointment of a king.
The people of Israel’s demand for a king will have disastrous consequences for them. What began as one kingdom would be divided into two kingdoms. The two kings would not only make war on each other and ally with foreign powers against each other, but their kings would lead their people away from God. The northern kingdom, Israel, would be destroyed by the Assyrians and its peoples scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire. The southern kingdom, Judaea, would suffer defeat at the hands of the Babylonians and would be taken into captivity. The walls of the city of Jerusalem would be torn down and the gold and silver vessels of the Temple carried off. While the Jews were eventually released from captivity and rebuilt the city’s walls, Judaea was subject to repeated invasions and to the rule of foreign kings. The Romans eventually would destroy the Temple and raze Jerusalem to the ground. They would prohibit the surviving Jews from coming near where the city had stood, much less reoccupying the site of the city.
There is a lesson for us in what happened to the people of Israel. In demanding a king to rule them, the people of Israel broke the covenant that God had made with them. They chose an earthly ruler over heaven’s King. They went on to choose other gods. While God did not abandon the people of Israel, God withdrew his protection from them. Today we would call it “tough love.” God did not shield them from the consequences of their faithlessness. But that is only a part of the lesson that we can learn from what happened.
In recent years we have been hearing from a number of people who identify themselves as Christians the argument that the nation needs a strongman, a caudillo as Spanish-speaking people would call this kind of leader, a “personalist leader wielding military and political power,” to run the country and get it on the right track. Their call for such a leader is strongly reminiscent of the people of Israel’s demand for a king to rule them.
At the time Jesus was born, the Jews were awaiting the appearance of a Messiah, a promised Son of David who would restore the Kingdom of Israel. What they got was Jesus, not a king dressed in fine apparel and riding a white horse, leading them into battle against their enemies and piling one glorious victory on top of another. They got a wandering prophet, an iterant preacher. They also got Israel’s true King, God enrobed in human flesh. The kingship over Israel, which God restored was his own—a kingship which extends over the whole earth. As the apostle Paul wrote the church at Philippi--
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, NRSV)
Jesus is not only the Lord of those who are his disciples, but he is also the Lord of all creation. The One to whom which Christian owe their greatest loyalty is Jesus. All other loyalties are secondary to our loyalty to Jesus and to his teaching and his example. A true disciple is the image of the one whom he or she calls master and teacher. When we see him, when we see her, we see Jesus. When we hear him, when we hear her, we hear Jesus. True disciples have the mind of Christ. They are humble like Jesus. They are compassionate like Jesus. They are forgiving like Jesus. The fragrance of Christ surrounds them.
Psalm 146 warns us—
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. (Psalm 146: 2-9)
In the twenty-first century princes include presidents, premiers, prime-ministers, and other political leaders.
The “Christ” in Jesus Christ means “Anointed One.” It is a title. When we say Jesus Christ, we are saying Jesus the Christ, Jesus the One whom God has anointed, the One that God has chosen to be our King, God himself in the person of the Son. Pastors may claim a special anointing for themselves. They may claim a special anointing for a political figure. But the only anointing which matters is God’s anointing of the Son as our Prophet, Priest, and King.
God gives us a choice as he gave the people of Israel. We can put our trust in him as our true King. We can put our trust in Jesus. Or we can put our trust in mere mortals like ourselves, mere mortals who cannot help us and whose plans perish with them. If we make the wrong choice as the people of Israel did, we will suffer the consequences of making that choice. If we make the right choice, we will show ourselves to indeed be children our Father in heaven and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ann Krentz’s choral arrangement of “My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness.”
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
My soul proclaims your greatness, Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
You looked upon my lowliness,
and I am full of grace.
Now ev’ry land and ev’ry age
this blessing shall proclaim—
great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To all who live in holy fear
Your mercy ever flows.
With mighty arm you dash the proud,
Their scheming hearts expose.
The ruthless you have cast aside,
the lonely throned instead;
the hungry filled with all good things,
the rich sent off unfed.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To Israel, your servant blest,
your help is ever sure;
the promise to our parents made
their children will secure.
Sing glory to the Holy One,
give honor to the Word,
and praise the Pow’r of the Most High,
one God, by all adored.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name,
and holy is your name.
Intercessions
Let us complete our evening prayer to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For peace from on high and our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For the welfare of all churches and for the unity of the human family, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For (name), our bishop, and (name), our pastor, and for all ministers of the Gospel, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For our nation, its government, and for all who serve and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For this city (town, university, monastery…). For every city and community, and for all those living in them, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For the good earth which God has given us and for the wisdom and will to conserve it, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For the safety of travelers, the recovery of the sick, the care of the destitute and the release of prisoners, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For an angel of peace to guide and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For a peaceful evening and a night free from sin, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For a Christian end to our lives and for all who have fallen asleep in Christ, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
In the communion of the Holy Spirit (and of all the saints), let us commend ourselves and one another to the living God through Christ our Lord.
To you, O Lord.
Free Prayer
In silent or spontaneous prayer all bring before God the concerns of the day.
The Collect
Almighty God,
give us such a vision of your purpose,
and such an assurance of your love and power,
that we may ever hold fast the hope
which is in Jesus Christ our Lord;
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
And now, as our Saviour has taught us,
we are bold to say,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Dismissal
Open this link to hear John Rutter;s arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” for SATB Choir and Harp
1 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Be all else but naught to me, save that thou art,
Be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
Both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.
2 Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word
Be thou ever with me, and I with thee, Lord,
Be thou my great Father, and I thy true son,
Be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.
3 Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight,
be thou my whole armor, be thou my true might,
Be thou my soul’s shelter, be thou my strong tower,
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.
4 Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Be thou my inheritance now and always,
Be thou and thou only the first in my heart,
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.
5 High King of heaven, thou heaven's bright Sun,
O grant me its joys after vict'ry is won,
Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.
Open in this link to hear Mark Sirett’s “Gaelic Grace.”
Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace, deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace, deep peace of the quiet earth
Deep peace of the shining stars
Deep peace of the gentle night, of the gentle night
Moon and stars pour their healing light
Deep peace of the quiet earth
Deep peace of the shining stars
Deep peace of the gentle night, of the gentle night
Deep peace of Christ
Peace of Christ
the light of the world to you Deep peace, deep peace of the light of Christ to you
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
1 Samuel 8:4-20 Israel Demands a King
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
Silence is kept
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
The Homily
Who Will You Serve This Day?
Today’s reading marks a major turning point in the history of the people of Israel and their relationship with God. Despite their waywardness God has made a covenant with the people to Israel to protect and prosper them if they faithfully serve him, obeying his commandments and worshiping no other god but him alone in the promised land. But the people of Israel are not satisfied with God as their King. They demand an earthly ruler like the rulers of surrounding nations. The conduct of Samuel’s two sons who have been made judges over the people of Israel brings this to a head. The two sons are corrupt and accept bribes from those who seek a ruling in their favor. A rebellious people, the people of Israel use the two sons’ corruption as an excuse to demand the appointment of a king to rule them. God who knows our hearts recognizes this demand for what it really is—a rejection of him as their King and of his rule over them. God tells Samule that he will grant the people of Israel’s request, but Samuel must first give them God’s warning regarding what will happen to them if a king, like the kings of the surrounding nations, rules them. Samuel gives God’s warning to the people of Israel but they stubbornly demand the appointment of a king.
The people of Israel’s demand for a king will have disastrous consequences for them. What began as one kingdom would be divided into two kingdoms. The two kings would not only make war on each other and ally with foreign powers against each other, but their kings would lead their people away from God. The northern kingdom, Israel, would be destroyed by the Assyrians and its peoples scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire. The southern kingdom, Judaea, would suffer defeat at the hands of the Babylonians and would be taken into captivity. The walls of the city of Jerusalem would be torn down and the gold and silver vessels of the Temple carried off. While the Jews were eventually released from captivity and rebuilt the city’s walls, Judaea was subject to repeated invasions and to the rule of foreign kings. The Romans eventually would destroy the Temple and raze Jerusalem to the ground. They would prohibit the surviving Jews from coming near where the city had stood, much less reoccupying the site of the city.
There is a lesson for us in what happened to the people of Israel. In demanding a king to rule them, the people of Israel broke the covenant that God had made with them. They chose an earthly ruler over heaven’s King. They went on to choose other gods. While God did not abandon the people of Israel, God withdrew his protection from them. Today we would call it “tough love.” God did not shield them from the consequences of their faithlessness. But that is only a part of the lesson that we can learn from what happened.
In recent years we have been hearing from a number of people who identify themselves as Christians the argument that the nation needs a strongman, a caudillo as Spanish-speaking people would call this kind of leader, a “personalist leader wielding military and political power,” to run the country and get it on the right track. Their call for such a leader is strongly reminiscent of the people of Israel’s demand for a king to rule them.
At the time Jesus was born, the Jews were awaiting the appearance of a Messiah, a promised Son of David who would restore the Kingdom of Israel. What they got was Jesus, not a king dressed in fine apparel and riding a white horse, leading them into battle against their enemies and piling one glorious victory on top of another. They got a wandering prophet, an iterant preacher. They also got Israel’s true King, God enrobed in human flesh. The kingship over Israel, which God restored was his own—a kingship which extends over the whole earth. As the apostle Paul wrote the church at Philippi--
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11, NRSV)
Jesus is not only the Lord of those who are his disciples, but he is also the Lord of all creation. The One to whom which Christian owe their greatest loyalty is Jesus. All other loyalties are secondary to our loyalty to Jesus and to his teaching and his example. A true disciple is the image of the one whom he or she calls master and teacher. When we see him, when we see her, we see Jesus. When we hear him, when we hear her, we hear Jesus. True disciples have the mind of Christ. They are humble like Jesus. They are compassionate like Jesus. They are forgiving like Jesus. The fragrance of Christ surrounds them.
Psalm 146 warns us—
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. (Psalm 146: 2-9)
In the twenty-first century princes include presidents, premiers, prime-ministers, and other political leaders.
The “Christ” in Jesus Christ means “Anointed One.” It is a title. When we say Jesus Christ, we are saying Jesus the Christ, Jesus the One whom God has anointed, the One that God has chosen to be our King, God himself in the person of the Son. Pastors may claim a special anointing for themselves. They may claim a special anointing for a political figure. But the only anointing which matters is God’s anointing of the Son as our Prophet, Priest, and King.
God gives us a choice as he gave the people of Israel. We can put our trust in him as our true King. We can put our trust in Jesus. Or we can put our trust in mere mortals like ourselves, mere mortals who cannot help us and whose plans perish with them. If we make the wrong choice as the people of Israel did, we will suffer the consequences of making that choice. If we make the right choice, we will show ourselves to indeed be children our Father in heaven and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ
Silence is kept.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ann Krentz’s choral arrangement of “My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness.”
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
My soul proclaims your greatness, Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
You looked upon my lowliness,
and I am full of grace.
Now ev’ry land and ev’ry age
this blessing shall proclaim—
great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To all who live in holy fear
Your mercy ever flows.
With mighty arm you dash the proud,
Their scheming hearts expose.
The ruthless you have cast aside,
the lonely throned instead;
the hungry filled with all good things,
the rich sent off unfed.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name.
To Israel, your servant blest,
your help is ever sure;
the promise to our parents made
their children will secure.
Sing glory to the Holy One,
give honor to the Word,
and praise the Pow’r of the Most High,
one God, by all adored.
My soul proclaims your greatness, O Lord;
I sing my Savior’s praise!
Great wonders you have done for me,
and holy is your name,
and holy is your name.
Intercessions
Let us complete our evening prayer to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For peace from on high and our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For the welfare of all churches and for the unity of the human family, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For (name), our bishop, and (name), our pastor, and for all ministers of the Gospel, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For our nation, its government, and for all who serve and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For this city (town, university, monastery…). For every city and community, and for all those living in them, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For the good earth which God has given us and for the wisdom and will to conserve it, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For the safety of travelers, the recovery of the sick, the care of the destitute and the release of prisoners, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For an angel of peace to guide and protect us, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For a peaceful evening and a night free from sin, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For a Christian end to our lives and for all who have fallen asleep in Christ, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
In the communion of the Holy Spirit (and of all the saints), let us commend ourselves and one another to the living God through Christ our Lord.
To you, O Lord.
Free Prayer
In silent or spontaneous prayer all bring before God the concerns of the day.
The Collect
Almighty God,
give us such a vision of your purpose,
and such an assurance of your love and power,
that we may ever hold fast the hope
which is in Jesus Christ our Lord;
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
And now, as our Saviour has taught us,
we are bold to say,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory
for ever and ever.
Amen.
Dismissal
Open this link to hear John Rutter;s arrangement of “Be Thou My Vision” for SATB Choir and Harp
1 Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Be all else but naught to me, save that thou art,
Be thou my best thought in the day and the night,
Both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.
2 Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word
Be thou ever with me, and I with thee, Lord,
Be thou my great Father, and I thy true son,
Be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.
3 Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight,
be thou my whole armor, be thou my true might,
Be thou my soul’s shelter, be thou my strong tower,
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.
4 Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Be thou my inheritance now and always,
Be thou and thou only the first in my heart,
O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.
5 High King of heaven, thou heaven's bright Sun,
O grant me its joys after vict'ry is won,
Great Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.
Open in this link to hear Mark Sirett’s “Gaelic Grace.”
Deep peace of the running wave to you
Deep peace, deep peace of the flowing air to you
Deep peace, deep peace of the quiet earth
Deep peace of the shining stars
Deep peace of the gentle night, of the gentle night
Moon and stars pour their healing light
Deep peace of the quiet earth
Deep peace of the shining stars
Deep peace of the gentle night, of the gentle night
Deep peace of Christ
Peace of Christ
the light of the world to you Deep peace, deep peace of the light of Christ to you
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