Evening Prayer

Ordinary Time
The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. John 4:23

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 mercy of the Lord is everlasting: Come let us adore him.

The Lessons

Psalm 23

⁽¹⁾ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ⁽²⁾ He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. ⁽³⁾ He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. ⁽⁴⁾ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁽⁵⁾ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. ⁽⁶⁾ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

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 27

⁽¹⁾ The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? ⁽²⁾ When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. ⁽³⁾ Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, In this I will be confident. ⁽⁴⁾ One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

⁽⁵⁾ For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. ⁽⁶⁾ And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. ⁽⁷⁾ Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. ⁽⁸⁾ When You said, 'Seek My face,' My heart said to You, 'Your face, LORD, I will seek.'

⁽⁹⁾ Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. ⁽¹⁰⁾ When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me. ⁽¹¹⁾ Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. ⁽¹²⁾ Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.

⁽¹³⁾ I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. ⁽¹⁴⁾ Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on 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 Maccabees Chapter 1

⁽¹⁾ This history begins when Alexander the Great, son of Philip of Macedonia, marched from Macedonia and attacked Darius, king of Persia and Media. Alexander enlarged the Greek Empire by defeating Darius and seizing his throne. ⁽²⁾ He fought many battles, captured fortified cities, and put the kings of the region to death. ⁽³⁾ As he advanced to the ends of the earth, he plundered many nations; and when he had conquered the world, he became proud and arrogant. ⁽⁴⁾ By building up a strong army, he dominated whole nations and their rulers, and forced everyone to pay him taxes.

⁽⁵⁾ When Alexander had been emperor for twelve years, he fell ill and realized that he was about to die. He called together his generals, noblemen who had been brought up with him since his early childhood, and he divided his empire, giving a part to each of them. ⁽⁸⁾ After his death, the generals took control, ⁽⁹⁾ and each had himself crowned king of his own territory. The descendants of these kings ruled for many generations and brought a great deal of misery on the world. ⁽¹⁰⁾ The wicked ruler Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus the Third of Syria, was a descendant of one of Alexander's generals. Antiochus Epiphanes had been a hostage in Rome before he became king of Syria in the year 137.

⁽¹¹⁾ At that time there appeared in the land of Israel a group of traitorous Jews who had no regard for the Law and who had a bad influence on many of our people. They said, 'Let's come to terms with the Gentiles, for our refusal to associate with them has brought us nothing but trouble.' ⁽¹²⁾ This proposal appealed to many people ⁽¹³⁾ and some of them became so enthusiastic about it that they went to the king and received from him permission to follow Gentile customs. ⁽¹⁴⁾ They built in Jerusalem a stadium like those in the Greek cities.

⁽¹⁵⁾ They had surgery performed to hide their circumcision, abandoned the holy covenant, started associating with Gentiles, and did all sorts of other evil things. ⁽¹⁶⁾ When Antiochus had firmly established himself as king, he decided to conquer Egypt and rule that country as well as Syria. ⁽¹⁷⁾ He invaded Egypt with a large fleet of ships and a powerful army, including chariots, elephants, and cavalry. ⁽¹⁸⁾ When the attack came, King Ptolemy of Egypt turned and fled, and many of his soldiers were killed.

⁽¹⁹⁾ Antiochus was able to capture the fortified cities of Egypt and plunder the whole land. ⁽²⁰⁾ In the year 143, after the conquest of Egypt, Antiochus marched with a great army against the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. ⁽²¹⁾ In his arrogance, he entered the Temple and took away the gold altar, the lampstand with all its equipment, ⁽²²⁾ the table for the bread offered to the Lord, the cups and bowls, the gold fire pans, the curtain, and the crowns. He also stripped all the gold from the front of the Temple

⁽²³⁾ and carried off the silver and gold and everything else of value, including all the treasures that he could find stored there. ⁽²⁴⁾ Then he took it all to his own country. He had also murdered many people and boasted arrogantly about it. ⁽²⁵⁾ There was great mourning everywhere in the land of Israel. ⁽²⁶⁾ Rulers and leaders groaned in sorrow. Young men and young women grew weak. The beauty of our women faded.

⁽²⁷⁾ Every bridegroom sang a funeral song, and every bride sat mourning in her room. ⁽²⁸⁾ All our people were clothed with shame, and our land trembled for them.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Revelation Chapter 19

⁽¹⁾ After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, 'Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! ⁽²⁾ For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.' ⁽³⁾ Again they said, 'Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!' ⁽⁴⁾ And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, 'Amen! Alleluia!'

⁽⁵⁾ Then a voice came from the throne, saying, 'Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!' ⁽⁶⁾ And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, 'Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! ⁽⁷⁾ Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.' ⁽⁸⁾ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

⁽⁹⁾ Then he said to me, 'Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' ' And he said to me, 'These are the true sayings of God.' ⁽¹⁰⁾ And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, 'See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Matthew Chapter 16

⁽¹⁾ Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. ⁽²⁾ He answered and said to them, 'When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; ⁽³⁾ and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. ⁽⁴⁾ A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.' And He left them and departed.

⁽⁵⁾ Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. ⁽⁶⁾ Then Jesus said to them, 'Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.' ⁽⁷⁾ And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'It is because we have taken no bread.' ⁽⁸⁾ But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, 'O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?

⁽⁹⁾ Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? ⁽¹⁰⁾ Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? ⁽¹¹⁾ How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? -- but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.' ⁽¹²⁾ Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.


The Song of Moses    Exodus 15:1 to 6, 11 to 13, 17 to 18

I will sing to the Lord, for he is lofty and uplifted;
the horse and its rider has he hurled into the sea.
The Lord is my strength and my refuge;
the Lord has become my Savior.
This is my God and I will praise him,
the God of my people and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a mighty warrior;
Yahweh is his Name.
The chariots of Pharoah and his army has he hurled into the sea;
the finest of those who bear armor have been drowned in the Red Sea.
The fathomless deep has overwhelmed them;
they sank into the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in might;
your right hand, O Lord, has overthrown the enemy.
Who can be compared with you, O Lord, among the gods?
who is like you, glorious in holiness,
awesome in renown, and worker of wonders?
You stretched forth your right hand;
the earth swallowed them up.
With your constant love you led the people you redeemed;
with your might you brought them in safety to
your holy dwelling.
You will bring them in and plant them
on the mount of your possession,
The resting-place you have made for yourself, O Lord,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hand has established.
The Lord shall reign forever and forever.
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   Traditional
Suffrages A

Seasonal Collect:  Proper 27 The Sunday closest to November 9
O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; 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