Evening Prayer

Epiphany
Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:3

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.

Alleluia. To us a child is born: O come, let us adore him. Alleluia.

The Lessons

Psalm 138

⁽¹⁾ I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. ⁽²⁾ I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. ⁽³⁾ In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul. ⁽⁴⁾ All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, When they hear the words of Your mouth.

⁽⁵⁾ Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, For great is the glory of the LORD. ⁽⁶⁾ Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar. ⁽⁷⁾ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. ⁽⁸⁾ The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

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 139

⁽¹⁾ O LORD, You have searched me and known me. ⁽²⁾ You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. ⁽³⁾ You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. ⁽⁴⁾ For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.

⁽⁵⁾ You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. ⁽⁶⁾ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. ⁽⁷⁾ Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? ⁽⁸⁾ If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

⁽⁹⁾ If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ⁽¹⁰⁾ Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. ⁽¹¹⁾ If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall fall on me,' Even the night shall be light about me; ⁽¹²⁾ Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

⁽¹³⁾ For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. ⁽¹⁴⁾ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. ⁽¹⁵⁾ My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ⁽¹⁶⁾ Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

⁽¹⁷⁾ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

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 23

⁽¹⁾ Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!' says the LORD. ⁽²⁾ Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: 'You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,' says the LORD. ⁽³⁾ But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. ⁽⁴⁾ I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,' says the LORD.

⁽⁵⁾ Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. ⁽⁶⁾ In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. ⁽⁷⁾ Therefore, behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' ⁽⁸⁾ but, 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.' And they shall dwell in their own land.'

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Colossians Chapter 2

⁽⁸⁾ Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁽⁹⁾ For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ⁽¹⁰⁾ and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. ⁽¹¹⁾ In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

⁽¹²⁾ buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. ⁽¹³⁾ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ⁽¹⁴⁾ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

⁽¹⁶⁾ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, ⁽¹⁷⁾ which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ⁽¹⁹⁾ and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.

⁽²⁰⁾ Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations -- ⁽²¹⁾ Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,' ⁽²²⁾ which all concern things which perish with the using -- according to the commandments and doctrines of men? ⁽²³⁾ These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

John Chapter 10

⁽⁷⁾ Then Jesus said to them again, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁽⁸⁾ All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. ⁽⁹⁾ I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ⁽¹⁰⁾ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

⁽¹¹⁾ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. ⁽¹²⁾ But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. ⁽¹³⁾ The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. ⁽¹⁴⁾ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

⁽¹⁵⁾ As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ⁽¹⁶⁾ And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. ⁽¹⁷⁾ Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

A Song to the Lamb       Revelation 4:11, 5:9 to 10, 13

Splendor and honor and kingly power
are yours by right, O Lord our God,
For you created everything that is,
and by your will they were created
  and have their being;
And yours by right, O Lamb that was slain,
for with your blood you have redeemed for God,
From every family, language, people, and nation,
a kingdom of priests to serve our God.
And so, to him who sits upon the throne,
and to Christ the Lamb,
Be worship and praise, dominion and splendor,
forever and forevermore.

A Song of Creation   Prayer of Manasseh 1 to 2, 4, 6 to 7, 11 to 15
Invocation
Glorify the Lord,
all you works of the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him forever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

The Earth and its Creatures

Let the earth glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him forever.
Glorify the Lord, O mountains and hills,
and all that grows upon the earth,
praise him and highly exalt him forever.
Glorify the Lord,
O springs of water, seas, and streams,
O whales and all that move in the waters.
All birds of the air, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

Glorify the Lord,
O beasts of the wild,
and all you flocks and herds.
O men and women everywhere, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

Doxology
Let us glorify the Lord:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
praise him and highly exalt him forever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him forever.

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:  The Epiphany
O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; 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: Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of your sanctuary, and that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Prayer for Mission: Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. 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

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21