Evening Prayer

Ordinary Time
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

Confession of Sin
Most merciful God,
I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen

The Invitatory and Psalter

Lord, open our lips. And our mouth shall proclaim your 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   Alleluia

Venite
The Antiphon:

ⓘ   A short, reflective sentence recited alongside a psalm to deepen our understanding of the readings.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.

The Lessons

Psalm 146

⁽¹⁾ Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! ⁽²⁾ While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. ⁽³⁾ Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. ⁽⁴⁾ His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.

⁽⁵⁾ Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, ⁽⁶⁾ Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, ⁽⁷⁾ Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners. ⁽⁸⁾ The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; The LORD raises those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous.

⁽⁹⁾ The LORD watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down. ⁽¹⁰⁾ The LORD shall reign forever -- Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!

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.

Psalm 147

⁽¹⁾ Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. ⁽²⁾ The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. ⁽³⁾ He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. ⁽⁴⁾ He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.

⁽⁵⁾ Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. ⁽⁶⁾ The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground. ⁽⁷⁾ Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; Sing praises on the harp to our God, ⁽⁸⁾ Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

⁽⁹⁾ He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens that cry. ⁽¹⁰⁾ He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. ⁽¹¹⁾ The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy. ⁽¹²⁾ Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

⁽¹³⁾ For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you. ⁽¹⁴⁾ He makes peace in your borders, And fills you with the finest wheat. ⁽¹⁵⁾ He sends out His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly. ⁽¹⁶⁾ He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes;

⁽¹⁷⁾ He casts out His hail like morsels; Who can stand before His cold? ⁽¹⁸⁾ He sends out His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow. ⁽¹⁹⁾ He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel. ⁽²⁰⁾ He has not dealt thus with any nation; And as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise the LORD!

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.

2 Samuel Chapter 24

⁽¹⁾ Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, 'Go, number Israel and Judah.' ⁽²⁾ So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, 'Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.' ⁽¹⁰⁾ And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O LORD, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.' ⁽¹¹⁾ Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, ⁽¹²⁾ Go and tell David, 'Thus says the LORD: 'I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.' ' ' ⁽¹³⁾ So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, 'Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.'

⁽¹⁴⁾ And David said to Gad, 'I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.' ⁽¹⁵⁾ So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. ⁽¹⁶⁾ And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, 'It is enough; now restrain your hand.' And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ⁽¹⁷⁾ Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, 'Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father's house.'

⁽¹⁸⁾ And Gad came that day to David and said to him, 'Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.' ⁽¹⁹⁾ So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. ⁽²⁰⁾ Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. ⁽²¹⁾ Then Araunah said, 'Why has my lord the king come to his servant?' And David said, 'To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.'

⁽²²⁾ Now Araunah said to David, 'Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. ⁽²³⁾ All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.' And Araunah said to the king, 'May the LORD your God accept you.' ⁽²⁴⁾ Then the king said to Araunah, 'No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.' So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ⁽²⁵⁾ And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Galatians Chapter 3

⁽²³⁾ But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. ⁽²⁴⁾ Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ⁽²⁵⁾ But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. ⁽²⁶⁾ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

⁽²⁷⁾ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ⁽²⁸⁾ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ⁽²⁹⁾ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. ⁽¹⁾ Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, ⁽²⁾ but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. ⁽³⁾ Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. ⁽⁴⁾ But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

⁽⁵⁾ to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ⁽⁶⁾ And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!' ⁽⁷⁾ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

John Chapter 8

⁽¹²⁾ Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.' ⁽¹³⁾ The Pharisees therefore said to Him, 'You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.' ⁽¹⁴⁾ Jesus answered and said to them, 'Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. ⁽¹⁵⁾ You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.

⁽¹⁶⁾ And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. ⁽¹⁷⁾ It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. ⁽¹⁸⁾ I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.' ⁽¹⁹⁾ Then they said to Him, 'Where is Your Father?' Jesus answered, 'You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.'

⁽²⁰⁾ These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.


The Song of Zechariah Luke 1: 68 to 79
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old,
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
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.

You are God        
You are God: we praise you;
You are the Lord; we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free
you did not shun the Virgin's womb.
You overcame the sting of death
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God's right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come and be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.


The Apostles' Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.
  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
  He 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, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
  He 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.

The Prayers

The Lord's Prayer   Traditional
Suffrages A

Seasonal Collect:  Proper 16 The Sunday closest to August 24
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us this day such blessing through our worship of you, that the week to come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Personal Prayers and Reflection

This is a time to pause, consider and listen. Pray for yourself and others. When you lack the words


Closing Prayers   Thanksgiving

Conclude with the following
Let Us Bless the Lord, Thanks be to God

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. 2 Corinthians 13:14