Evening Prayer - September 5, 2025

Today's Readings

Psalm 31:1-24

1 Kings 11:26-43

James 4:13-17,5:1-6

Mark 15:22-32

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

ⓘ 'Venite' is Latin for 'O Come,' the opening word of Psalm 95: Venite exultemus Domino ('O Come, let us sing to the LORD').

Psalm 95:1 to 7
Come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving
   and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the caverns of the earth,
   and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and his hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee,
   and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
    Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

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 31

⁽¹⁾ In You, O LORD, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness.⁽²⁾ Bow down Your ear to me, Deliver me speedily; Be my rock of refuge, A fortress of defense to save me.⁽³⁾ For You are my rock and my fortress; Therefore, for Your name's sake, Lead me and guide me.⁽⁴⁾ Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength.

⁽⁵⁾ Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.⁽⁶⁾ I have hated those who regard useless idols; But I trust in the LORD.⁽⁷⁾ I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy, For You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities,⁽⁸⁾ And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a wide place.

⁽⁹⁾ Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body!⁽¹⁰⁾ For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away.⁽¹¹⁾ I am a reproach among all my enemies, But especially among my neighbors, And am repulsive to my acquaintances; Those who see me outside flee from me.⁽¹²⁾ I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.

⁽¹³⁾ For I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me, They scheme to take away my life.⁽¹⁴⁾ But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.'⁽¹⁵⁾ My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.⁽¹⁶⁾ Make Your face shine upon Your servant; Save me for Your mercies' sake.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Do not let me be ashamed, O LORD, for I have called upon You; Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be silent in the grave.⁽¹⁸⁾ Let the lying lips be put to silence, Which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.⁽¹⁹⁾ Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!⁽²⁰⁾ You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.

⁽²¹⁾ Blessed be the LORD, For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!⁽²²⁾ For I said in my haste, 'I am cut off from before Your eyes'; Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications When I cried out to You.⁽²³⁾ Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.⁽²⁴⁾ Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in 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.

1 Kings Chapter 11

⁽²⁶⁾ Then Solomon's servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zereda, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also rebelled against the king.⁽²⁷⁾ And this is what caused him to rebel against the king: Solomon had built the Millo and repaired the damages to the City of David his father.⁽²⁸⁾ The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labor force of the house of Joseph.⁽²⁹⁾ Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field.

⁽³⁰⁾ Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces.⁽³¹⁾ And he said to Jeroboam, 'Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you⁽³²⁾ (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel),⁽³³⁾ because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David.

⁽³⁴⁾ However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.⁽³⁵⁾ But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you -- ten tribes.⁽³⁶⁾ And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there.⁽³⁷⁾ So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel.

⁽³⁸⁾ Then it shall be, if you heed all that I command you, walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.⁽³⁹⁾ And I will afflict the descendants of David because of this, but not forever.' '⁽⁴⁰⁾ Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.⁽⁴¹⁾ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

⁽⁴²⁾ And the period that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years.⁽⁴³⁾ Then Solomon rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

James Chapter 4

⁽¹³⁾ Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit';⁽¹⁴⁾ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.⁽¹⁵⁾ Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.'⁽¹⁶⁾ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.⁽¹⁾ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!⁽²⁾ Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.⁽³⁾ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.⁽⁴⁾ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

⁽⁵⁾ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.⁽⁶⁾ You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Mark Chapter 15

⁽²²⁾ And they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.⁽²³⁾ Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it.⁽²⁴⁾ And when they crucified Him, they divided His garments, casting lots for them to determine what every man should take.⁽²⁵⁾ Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.

⁽²⁶⁾ And the inscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS.⁽²⁷⁾ With Him they also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left.⁽²⁸⁾ So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'⁽²⁹⁾ And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, 'Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,

⁽³⁰⁾ save Yourself, and come down from the cross!'⁽³¹⁾ Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, 'He saved others; Himself He cannot save.⁽³²⁾ Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.' Even those who were crucified with Him reviled Him.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

The Second Song of Isaiah Isaiah 55:6 to 11

Seek the Lord while he wills to be found;
call upon him when he draws near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the evil ones their thoughts;
And let them turn to the Lord, and he will have compassion,
and to our God, for he will richly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as rain and snow fall from the heavens
and return not again, but water the earth,
Bringing forth life and giving growth,
seed for sowing and bread for eating,
So is my word that goes forth from my mouth;
it will not return to me empty;
But it will accomplish that which I have purposed,
and prosper in that for which I sent it.
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.

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

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,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.

Suffrages

ⓘ A simple prayer to God for help, mercy, or intercession, rooted in the Latin word for support.

Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.

Seasonal Collect: Proper 17 The Sunday closest to August 31
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; 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: Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Personal Prayers and Reflection

This is a time to pause, consider and listen. Pray for yourself and others.

Closing Prayers

Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory, and, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

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

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Romans 15:13