Evening Prayer

Easter
On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

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


From Easter to Pentecost, Christ the Passover  can be used in place of the Venite or Jubilate.

Christ the Passover  1 Corinthians 5:7 to 8; Romans 6:9 to 11; 1 Corinthians 15:20 to 22
Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us;
  therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil,
  but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;
  death no longer has dominion over him.
The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all;
  but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So also consider yourselves dead to sin,
  and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.

  the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by a man came death,
  by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die,
  so in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

Venite
The Antiphon:

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

Thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57

The Lessons

Psalm 18

⁽¹⁾ I will love You, O LORD, my strength. ⁽²⁾ The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. ⁽³⁾ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. ⁽⁴⁾ The pangs of death surrounded me, And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁽⁵⁾ The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. ⁽⁶⁾ In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears. ⁽⁷⁾ Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry. ⁽⁸⁾ Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it.

⁽⁹⁾ He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. ⁽¹⁰⁾ And He rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind. ⁽¹¹⁾ He made darkness His secret place; His canopy around Him was dark waters And thick clouds of the skies. ⁽¹²⁾ From the brightness before Him, His thick clouds passed with hailstones and coals of fire.

⁽¹³⁾ The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire. ⁽¹⁴⁾ He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Then the channels of the sea were seen, The foundations of the world were uncovered At Your rebuke, O LORD, At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. ⁽¹⁶⁾ He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.

⁽¹⁷⁾ He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, For they were too strong for me. ⁽¹⁸⁾ They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the LORD was my support. ⁽¹⁹⁾ He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me. ⁽²⁰⁾ The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.

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.

Daniel Chapter 2

⁽³¹⁾ You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. ⁽³²⁾ This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ⁽³³⁾ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ⁽³⁴⁾ You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

⁽³⁵⁾ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. ⁽³⁶⁾ This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. ⁽³⁷⁾ You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; ⁽³⁸⁾ and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all -- you are this head of gold.

⁽³⁹⁾ But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. ⁽⁴¹⁾ Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. ⁽⁴²⁾ And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

⁽⁴³⁾ As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁽⁴⁴⁾ And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. ⁽⁴⁵⁾ Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold -- the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.' ⁽⁴⁶⁾ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.

⁽⁴⁷⁾ The king answered Daniel, and said, 'Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.' ⁽⁴⁸⁾ Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁽⁴⁹⁾ Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

1 John Chapter 2

⁽¹⁸⁾ Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. ⁽¹⁹⁾ They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. ⁽²⁰⁾ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. ⁽²¹⁾ I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

⁽²²⁾ Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. ⁽²³⁾ Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. ⁽²⁴⁾ Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ⁽²⁵⁾ And this is the promise that He has promised us -- eternal life.

⁽²⁶⁾ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ⁽²⁷⁾ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. ⁽²⁸⁾ And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. ⁽²⁹⁾ If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Luke Chapter 3

⁽¹⁾ Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ⁽²⁾ while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ⁽³⁾ And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, ⁽⁴⁾ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.

⁽⁵⁾ Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; ⁽⁶⁾ And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' ' ⁽⁷⁾ Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, 'Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁽⁸⁾ Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

⁽⁹⁾ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.' ⁽¹⁰⁾ So the people asked him, saying, 'What shall we do then?' ⁽¹¹⁾ He answered and said to them, 'He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.' ⁽¹²⁾ Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, 'Teacher, what shall we do?'

⁽¹³⁾ And he said to them, 'Collect no more than what is appointed for you.' ⁽¹⁴⁾ Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, 'And what shall we do?' So he said to them, 'Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.'

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:  Second Sunday of Easter
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; 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: 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