All Hallows Evening Prayer for Wednesday Evening (August 4, 2021)
Evening Prayer
Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
A light no darkness can extinguish.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Michael John Trotta’s choral arrangement of “O Gracious Light.”
O gracious Light,
pure brightness
of the everliving Father in heaven.
O Jesus, Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times
to be praised,
You are worthy at all times
to be praise,
You are worthy at all times,
worthy to be praised,
praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, Giver of light,
you are worthy to be glorified
through all the worlds.
O gracious Light,
O gracious Light,
pure brightness
of the everliving Father in heaven.
O Jesus, Christ, holy and blessed!
O gracious Light, gracious Light,
pure brightness
of the everliving Father in heaven.
Jesus, Christ, holy and blessed!
Holy and blessed!
Holy and blessed!
Thanksgiving
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Blessed are you, Sovereign God,
our light and our salvation,
eternal creator of day and night,
to you be glory and praise for ever.
Now, as darkness is falling,
hear the prayer of your faithful people.
As we look for your coming in glory,
wash away our transgressions,
cleanse us by your refining fire
and make us temples of your Holy Spirit.
By the light of Christ,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
and make us ready to enter your kingdom,
where songs of praise for ever sound.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever. Amen.
Psalm 141 is sung and incense may be burned.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Peter Inwood’s responsorial setting of Psalm 141, “O Lord, Let My Prayer Rise Before You Like Incense.”
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
1 Lord, I am calling:
hasten to help me.
Listen to me as I cry to you.
Let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
2 Lord, set a guard at my mouth,
keep watch at the gate of my lips.
Let my heart not turn to things that are wrong,
to sharing the evil deeds done by the sinful.
No, I will never taste their delights.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
3 The good may reprove me,
in kindness chastise me,
but the wicked shall never anoint my head.
Ev’ry day I counter their malice with prayer.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
4 To you, Lord, my God, my eyes are turned:
in you I take refuge;
do not forsake me.
Keep me from the traps they have set for me,
from the snares of those who do evil.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you like incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
5 Praise to the Father, praise to the Son,
all praise to the life-giving Spirit.
As it was, is now and shall always be
for ages unending. Amen.
O Lord, let my prayer rise before you as incense,
my hands like an evening offering.
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.
The Psalms
Open this link to hear It’s About the Word’s adaptation of Psalm 143, “Show Me the Way."
O Lord, hear my pray
Listen to my cry for mercy
In your faithfulness
Come to my relief
As your servant Lord
Save me from your judgement
For no one is righteous before you
Show me the way that I should go
Only to you I lift my soul
Your unfailing Love and mercy fill my days
Teach me to do your will much more
Than I ever have before
Let me hide myself in you
For your name sake
Show me the way
I consider the past
And the ways you have shown your mercy
I'm amazed most of all
By what your hands have done
In your steadfast Love
You shelter me from evil
For I am here to serve you, Lord
Show me the way that I should go
Only to you I lift my soul
Your unfailing Love and mercy fill my days
Teach me to do your will much more
Than I ever have before
Let me hide myself in you
For your name sake
Show me the way
Silence is kept.
Jesus, our companion,
when we are driven to despair,
help us, through the friends and strangers
we encounter on our path,
to know you as our refuge,
our way, our truth and our life.
Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Matthäus Apelles von Löwenstern's hymn, "Lord of Our Life and God of Our Salvation."
1 Lord of our life and God of our salvation,
Star of our night and Hope of ev'ry nation:
Hear and receive Your Church's supplication,
Lord God Almighty.
2 See round Your ark the hungry billows curling;
See how Your foes their banners are unfurling
And with great spite their fiery darts are hurling,
O Lord, preserve us.
3 Lord, be our light when worldly darkness veils us;
Lord, be our shield when earthly armor fails us;
And in the day when hell itself assails us,
Grant us Your peace, Lord:
4 Peace in our hearts, where sinful thoughts are raging,
Peace in Your Church, our troubled souls assuaging,
Peace when the world its endless war is waging,
Peace in Your heaven.
The Proclamation of the Word
The Reading
2 Samuel 12: 13-24 Bathsheba’s Child Dies
“I’ve sinned against the Lord!” David said to Nathan.
“The Lord has removed your sin,” Nathan replied to David. “You won’t die. However, because you have utterly disrespected the Lord by doing this, the son born to you will definitely die.” Then Nathan went home.
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became very sick. David begged God for the boy. He fasted and spent the night sleeping on the ground. The senior servants of his house approached him to lift him up off the ground, but he refused, and he wouldn’t eat with them either.
On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died. “David wouldn’t listen to us when we talked to him while the child was still alive,” they said. “How can we tell him the child has died? He’ll do something terrible!”
But when David saw his servants whispering, he realized the child had died.
“Is the child dead?” David asked his servants.
"Yes,” they said, “he is dead.”
Then David rose from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the Lord’s house and bowed down. Then he entered his own house. He requested food, which was brought to him, and he ate.
“Why are you acting this way?” his servants asked. “When the child was alive, you fasted and cried and kept watch, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!”
David replied, “While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The Lord may have mercy on me and let the child live. But he is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I am going where he is, but he won’t come back to me.”
Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had sex with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The Lord loved him
Silence is kept.
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory
The Homily
Sins Have Consequences
I have read the Biblical account of David’s life several times. While it portrays him as a heroic figure--the young shepherd who killed the Philistine giant Goliath with a stone from his sling, it also draws attention to David’s flaws and failings. You may not immediately detect these flaws and failings unless you read between the lines of the narrative. David was not quite the savory person that we may wish to think him. A number of passages in the narrative suggest that David was the master of deniability. He set in motion events which served his interests but for which others, not himself, would be blamed.
David also had a vindictive streak. When his first wife Mikal complained that he had made a spectacle of himself dancing naked in the streets, he punished her by refusing to father any children by her. While Mikal appeared to have loved him and helped him escape her father Saul’s messengers when they sought to kill him, the Bible does not tell us that David loved her. Rather he married her because it was politically advantageous to him.
David’s real motive for treating her this way may have been that Saul had given to her to someone else when he gone in hiding. By the time he got her back, he already had several other wives, including Abigail. To him she was “soiled goods.” He did not really did not need her as a wife. He had gotten her back from the man to whom her father had given her because he had not divorced her and she was his property. She also may no longer had much political value to him.
Today’s reading may not make a whole lot of sense to those who are not familiar with the Biblical account of David’s life. When his army went off to war, David did not accompany his troops. He stayed home. A little unusual for a leader who usually accompanied his soldiers into battle. He was standing on the roof of his place when he spied Bathsheba, the wife of his top general Uriah the Hittite, taking her bath in a nearby courtyard.
Today we would suspect David of being a stalker and a voyeur. He was loitering on his palace roof at the time of day that she usually bathed. He became sexually aroused from seeing her naked and watching her bathe. David would use his position as king to seduce her. In today’s world we would regard David’s conduct as sexual abuse and David as a sexual abuse perpetrator. He used his position of authority over Bathsheba to take sexual advantage of her. They both committed adultery. However, Bathsheba was not in a position to refuse him. The biblical narrative clearly lays the blame on David. In any event Bathsheba became pregnant with David’s child.
David recalls Uriah in hope he will have sex with Bathsheba and think that the baby is his. However, Uriah is not cooperative. Rather than have sex with his wife, he shows his loyalty to David, standing guard while David sleeps. I can imagine that David did not sleep very well with Uriah rattling his sword as he paced back and forth in front of the entrance of David’s bedroom or sleeping across its doorway. Poor Uriah may have thought that he had been recalled because David questioned his loyalty and therefore he need to demonstrate his loyalty to David.
Did Uriah suspect something? Had David been showing undue attention to Bathsheba in Uriah’s presence? The Bible does not tell us. David decides to rid himself of Uriah so he orders Uriah to return to the fighting, to the thickest part of the battle where he is most likely to be killed. Loyal Uriah marches off to the war and meets his death.
For David it is problem solved, right? Not quite! God reveals to the prophet Nathan what David has done. Nathan seeks an audience with David and tells him a story about a lamb who was stolen by a neighbor, killed, and served to the neighbor's guests. David is furious. He demands to know who was the man who stole the lamb. Nathan’s response is you, David!! David is exposed for what he is—an adulterer, a murderer, and a king who betrays his own subjects.
Today’s reading picks up the rest of the story. David’s sins would have consequences. One of those consequence was the death of the child of David and Bathsheba’s adulterous union. The child’s death may be the most difficult part of today’s reading to understand. David broke three of the Ten Commandment—You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not covet. But the full weight of the curse of breaking these commandments appears to fall upon the child. It is within the realm of possibility that the child’s death was natural. Infant mortality was high in the ancient Mid-East in David’s time as it still is in parts of the Mid-East today and the author of 2 Samuel attributed the child’s death to God.
David recalls Uriah in hope he will have sex with Bathsheba and think that the baby is his. However, Uriah is not cooperative. Rather than have sex with his wife, he shows his loyalty to David, standing guard while David sleeps. I can imagine that David did not sleep very well with Uriah rattling his sword as he paced back and forth in front of the entrance of David’s bedroom or sleeping across its doorway. Poor Uriah may have thought that he had been recalled because David questioned his loyalty and therefore he need to demonstrate his loyalty to David.
Did Uriah suspect something? Had David been showing undue attention to Bathsheba in Uriah’s presence? The Bible does not tell us. David decides to rid himself of Uriah so he orders Uriah to return to the fighting, to the thickest part of the battle where he is most likely to be killed. Loyal Uriah marches off to the war and meets his death.
For David it is problem solved, right? Not quite! God reveals to the prophet Nathan what David has done. Nathan seeks an audience with David and tells him a story about a lamb who was stolen by a neighbor, killed, and served to the neighbor's guests. David is furious. He demands to know who was the man who stole the lamb. Nathan’s response is you, David!! David is exposed for what he is—an adulterer, a murderer, and a king who betrays his own subjects.
Today’s reading picks up the rest of the story. David’s sins would have consequences. One of those consequence was the death of the child of David and Bathsheba’s adulterous union. The child’s death may be the most difficult part of today’s reading to understand. David broke three of the Ten Commandment—You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not covet. But the full weight of the curse of breaking these commandments appears to fall upon the child. It is within the realm of possibility that the child’s death was natural. Infant mortality was high in the ancient Mid-East in David’s time as it still is in parts of the Mid-East today and the author of 2 Samuel attributed the child’s death to God.
However, if we read the entire account of David’s life, he did not escape unaffected. He lost a son. He and his household would be beset by all kinds of troubles. His favorite son Absalom would rebel against him and suffer an ignoble death. His daughter, Tamar, the sister of Absalom, would be raped by her own half-brother, Amnon. The last years of his reign would be marked by betrayal and bloodshed. God would not permit him to build a temple to honor God, deeming him unworthy of the task. It would be David’s son Soloman who built the first temple at Jerusalem. Solomon himself would succumb to idolatry and upon his death the Kingdom of Israel would be divided into two kingdoms and their kings and people would be faithless to God. The Assyrians would conquer the northern kingdom and scatter its people; the Babylonians would besiege Jerusalem and take the princes, nobles, and leaders of the southern kingdom into captivity in Babylon.
Sins have consequences. We may not see the consequences right away but eventually they will happen. The consequences of our sins may affect us all our lives. They may come back to haunt us when we least expect them to, creating difficulties for us.
We ultimately will have to account to God for everything that we have said and done in this life. We may not be as loving as we ought to be as Christians, loving toward our neighbors and toward each other. We may not show the kindness toward others that we might wish shown to ourselves. We will, however, someday reap the harvest of our lack of love, of our lack of kindness.
Some things that we say or do may not be intentional. I have become addicted to watching Psych2Go videos on YouTube. They offer all kinds of relational advice to young people. One video cautioned viewers that, while popping up wherever someone else is and texting them a lot may be indicators that you have fallen in love with them. They, on the other hand, may view you as a stalker!
I did some research on stalking for this homily since David’s conduct to modern eyes resembles stalking. One article noted that social incompetence or ineptness is one reason why people stalk:
“Someone who stalks might be genuinely surprised that their behavior is stalking if they have difficulties understand social cues and societal norms. When this is the cause of stalking, they may be very surprised to learn they are causing harm to the victim.”
In David’s case I suspect David’s motive was lust. As the wife of his top general, David had likely seen Bathsheba at court. He was not loitering on his palace roof by accident when Bathsheba caught his eye. He was hoping to see her in her bath.
Excessive sexual desire for Bathsheba prompted him to exploit his position as king, seduce her, and commit adultery. Seeking to escape the consequences of his lust, David sent Uriah to his death.
As in David’s case the pigeons will come home to roost. Sooner or later we will experience the unpleasant effects of the bad or wrong things that we say or do. They may overshadow our lives to the day that we die.
God will forgive our sins if we repent of what we have said or done and seek God’s forgiveness. Those whom we have hurt or wronged may forgive us. However, we will not escape the consequences of our sins. One way or another they will have an effect upon us. They will have an affect upon other people, including those who had no part in what we said or did.
Having said or done something hurtful, unjust, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful, we may find it easier to say or do it again and again. We lose our inhibitions against saying or doing bad or wrong things. Having committed adultery, David had no scruples against resorting to murder.
Sins do have consequences. If we want to avoid the consequences of our rebellion against God, which is what our sins are, the Bible advises us to shun sinning, to fight shy of saying or doing evil things.
How then can we steer clear of saying or doings things that are hurtful, unjust, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful? John Wesley’s “three simple rules” may be helpful; provided they are accompanied by an inward transformation of ourselves, a transformation, the importance of which Wesley emphasized in his sermons.
Wesley’s “three simple rules” are:
Do no harm.
Do good.
Attend upon all the ordinances of God.
The first two of these rules pretty well explain themselves. By the last rule Wesley meant joining with our fellow Christians in the public worship of God; hearing the God’s Word, either read or expounded; participating in the Lord’s Supper; praying by ourselves or with others; reading, studying, and meditating upon the Bible; practicing fasting or abstinence; fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ; and undertaking such other spiritual disciplines as the Holy Spirit may lead us to take up.
These disciplines are means of grace, means by which God in his merciful kindness exercises his holy influence in our lives. Through them God renews our way of thinking, replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and enables us to grow up in every way in Christ who is our head.
We all are works in progress. The more we surrender ourselves and our lives to Christ, the less likely we are to say or do bad or wrong things and the less likely we and other people are likely to suffer the unpleasant effects of our sins.
There may be setbacks, God, however, will give us grace to persevere if we ask him. As our loving Father in heaven he wants to see his precious children grow as human beings and disciples of Jesus Christ, to become everything that he would have us be.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear Charles Villiers Standford’s Magnificat in G.
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded
the lowliness of his hand-maiden.
For behold, from henceforth,
all generations shall call me blessed.
Blessed, blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me:
and holy is his Name.
And holy is his Name.
Holy is his Name.
Holy, holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him,
throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm,
he hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts,
He hath put down the mighty from their seat,
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled, he hath filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he hath sent empty, empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant,
his servant Israel.
as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed,
Abraham and his seed,
for ever, for ever,
as he promised for ever.
[Pause]
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
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,
whose beloved Son for our sake
willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross:
give us courage and patience
to take up our cross daily and follow him;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for 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
Sins have consequences. We may not see the consequences right away but eventually they will happen. The consequences of our sins may affect us all our lives. They may come back to haunt us when we least expect them to, creating difficulties for us.
We ultimately will have to account to God for everything that we have said and done in this life. We may not be as loving as we ought to be as Christians, loving toward our neighbors and toward each other. We may not show the kindness toward others that we might wish shown to ourselves. We will, however, someday reap the harvest of our lack of love, of our lack of kindness.
Some things that we say or do may not be intentional. I have become addicted to watching Psych2Go videos on YouTube. They offer all kinds of relational advice to young people. One video cautioned viewers that, while popping up wherever someone else is and texting them a lot may be indicators that you have fallen in love with them. They, on the other hand, may view you as a stalker!
I did some research on stalking for this homily since David’s conduct to modern eyes resembles stalking. One article noted that social incompetence or ineptness is one reason why people stalk:
“Someone who stalks might be genuinely surprised that their behavior is stalking if they have difficulties understand social cues and societal norms. When this is the cause of stalking, they may be very surprised to learn they are causing harm to the victim.”
In David’s case I suspect David’s motive was lust. As the wife of his top general, David had likely seen Bathsheba at court. He was not loitering on his palace roof by accident when Bathsheba caught his eye. He was hoping to see her in her bath.
Excessive sexual desire for Bathsheba prompted him to exploit his position as king, seduce her, and commit adultery. Seeking to escape the consequences of his lust, David sent Uriah to his death.
As in David’s case the pigeons will come home to roost. Sooner or later we will experience the unpleasant effects of the bad or wrong things that we say or do. They may overshadow our lives to the day that we die.
God will forgive our sins if we repent of what we have said or done and seek God’s forgiveness. Those whom we have hurt or wronged may forgive us. However, we will not escape the consequences of our sins. One way or another they will have an effect upon us. They will have an affect upon other people, including those who had no part in what we said or did.
Having said or done something hurtful, unjust, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful, we may find it easier to say or do it again and again. We lose our inhibitions against saying or doing bad or wrong things. Having committed adultery, David had no scruples against resorting to murder.
Sins do have consequences. If we want to avoid the consequences of our rebellion against God, which is what our sins are, the Bible advises us to shun sinning, to fight shy of saying or doing evil things.
How then can we steer clear of saying or doings things that are hurtful, unjust, dishonest, immoral, or deceitful? John Wesley’s “three simple rules” may be helpful; provided they are accompanied by an inward transformation of ourselves, a transformation, the importance of which Wesley emphasized in his sermons.
Wesley’s “three simple rules” are:
Do no harm.
Do good.
Attend upon all the ordinances of God.
The first two of these rules pretty well explain themselves. By the last rule Wesley meant joining with our fellow Christians in the public worship of God; hearing the God’s Word, either read or expounded; participating in the Lord’s Supper; praying by ourselves or with others; reading, studying, and meditating upon the Bible; practicing fasting or abstinence; fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ; and undertaking such other spiritual disciplines as the Holy Spirit may lead us to take up.
These disciplines are means of grace, means by which God in his merciful kindness exercises his holy influence in our lives. Through them God renews our way of thinking, replaces our heart of stone with a heart of flesh, and enables us to grow up in every way in Christ who is our head.
We all are works in progress. The more we surrender ourselves and our lives to Christ, the less likely we are to say or do bad or wrong things and the less likely we and other people are likely to suffer the unpleasant effects of our sins.
There may be setbacks, God, however, will give us grace to persevere if we ask him. As our loving Father in heaven he wants to see his precious children grow as human beings and disciples of Jesus Christ, to become everything that he would have us be.
The Gospel Canticle
Open this link in a new tab to hear Charles Villiers Standford’s Magnificat in G.
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded
the lowliness of his hand-maiden.
For behold, from henceforth,
all generations shall call me blessed.
Blessed, blessed.
For he that is mighty hath magnified me:
and holy is his Name.
And holy is his Name.
Holy is his Name.
Holy, holy is his Name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him,
throughout all generations.
He hath shewed strength with his arm,
he hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts,
He hath put down the mighty from their seat,
and hath exalted the humble and meek.
He hath filled, he hath filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he hath sent empty, empty away.
He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant,
his servant Israel.
as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed,
Abraham and his seed,
for ever, for ever,
as he promised for ever.
[Pause]
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.
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,
whose beloved Son for our sake
willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross:
give us courage and patience
to take up our cross daily and follow him;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for 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 in a new tab to hear The Little Sisters of Jesus' spiritual song, "Lord Jesus, You Shall Be My Song as I Journey."
1 Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey.
I'll tell everybody about you wherever I go.
You alone are our life and our peace and our love.
Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey.
2 Lord Jesus, I'll praise you as long as I journey.
May all of my life be a faithful reflection of you.
May the earth and the sea and the sky join my song.
Lord Jesus, I'll praise you as long as I journey.
3 As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant.
To carry your cross and to share all your burdens and tears.
For you saved me by giving your body and blood.
As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant.
4 I fear in the dark and the doubt of my journey;
but courage will come with the sound of your steps by my side.
And with all of the family you saved by your love,
we'll sing to your dawn at the end of our journey,
we'll sing to your dawn at the end of our journey.
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
Let us praise the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Christopher Walker’s choral benediction, “May God Bless and Keep You.”
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
[Instrumental interlude]
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
1 Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey.
I'll tell everybody about you wherever I go.
You alone are our life and our peace and our love.
Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey.
2 Lord Jesus, I'll praise you as long as I journey.
May all of my life be a faithful reflection of you.
May the earth and the sea and the sky join my song.
Lord Jesus, I'll praise you as long as I journey.
3 As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant.
To carry your cross and to share all your burdens and tears.
For you saved me by giving your body and blood.
As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant.
4 I fear in the dark and the doubt of my journey;
but courage will come with the sound of your steps by my side.
And with all of the family you saved by your love,
we'll sing to your dawn at the end of our journey,
we'll sing to your dawn at the end of our journey.
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
Let us praise the Lord,
Thanks be to God.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Christopher Walker’s choral benediction, “May God Bless and Keep You.”
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
[Instrumental interlude]
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
May God bless and keep you.
May God's face shine on you.
May God be kind to you
and give you peace.
Comments
Post a Comment