Evening Prayer

Lent
Jesus said, 'If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.' Mark 8:34

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

Venite
The Antiphon:

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

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: 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.

Jeremiah Chapter 24

⁽¹⁾ The LORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. ⁽²⁾ One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. ⁽³⁾ Then the LORD said to me, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' And I said, 'Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.' ⁽⁴⁾ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁽⁵⁾ Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. ⁽⁶⁾ For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. ⁽⁷⁾ Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. ⁽⁸⁾ And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad' -- surely thus says the LORD -- 'so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

⁽⁹⁾ I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. ⁽¹⁰⁾ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.' '

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Romans Chapter 9

⁽¹⁹⁾ You will say to me then, 'Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?' ⁽²⁰⁾ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, 'Why have you made me like this?' ⁽²¹⁾ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? ⁽²²⁾ What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

⁽²³⁾ and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, ⁽²⁴⁾ even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? ⁽²⁵⁾ As He says also in Hosea: 'I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.' ⁽²⁶⁾ And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God.'

⁽²⁷⁾ Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: 'Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved. ⁽²⁸⁾ For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.' ⁽²⁹⁾ And as Isaiah said before: 'Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.' ⁽³⁰⁾ What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;

⁽³¹⁾ but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. ⁽³²⁾ Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. ⁽³³⁾ As it is written: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

John Chapter 9

⁽¹⁾ Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. ⁽²⁾ And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' ⁽³⁾ Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. ⁽⁴⁾ I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

⁽⁵⁾ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.' ⁽⁶⁾ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. ⁽⁷⁾ And He said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam' (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing. ⁽⁸⁾ Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, 'Is not this he who sat and begged?'

⁽⁹⁾ Some said, 'This is he.' Others said, 'He is like him.' He said, 'I am he.' ⁽¹⁰⁾ Therefore they said to him, 'How were your eyes opened?' ⁽¹¹⁾ He answered and said, 'A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, 'Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received sight.' ⁽¹²⁾ Then they said to him, 'Where is He?' He said, 'I do not know.'

⁽¹³⁾ They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. ⁽¹⁴⁾ Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, 'He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.' ⁽¹⁶⁾ Therefore some of the Pharisees said, 'This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.' Others said, 'How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?' And there was a division among them.

⁽¹⁷⁾ They said to the blind man again, 'What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?' He said, 'He is a prophet.'

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

The Song of the Redeemed       Revelation 15:3 to 4  
O ruler of the universe, Lord God,
great deeds are they that you have done,
  surpassing human understanding.
Your ways are ways of righteousness and truth,
 O King of all the ages.

Who can fail to do you homage, Lord,
and sing the praises of your Name?
  for you only are the Holy One.
All nations will draw near
and fall down before you,
  because your just and holy works have been revealed.
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 First Song of Isaiah       Isaiah 12:2 to 6
 
Surely, it is God who saves me;
  I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold
and my sure defense,
  and he will be my Savior.
Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing
  from the springs of salvation.
And on that day you shall say,
  Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples;
  see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing the praises of the Lord,
for he has done great things,
  and this is known in all the world.
Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy,
  for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.
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:  Fifth Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; 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