Evening Prayer

Epiphany
I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. Isaiah 49:6b

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 Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.

The Lessons

Psalm 45

⁽¹⁾ My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. ⁽²⁾ You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever. ⁽³⁾ Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, With Your glory and Your majesty. ⁽⁴⁾ And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.

⁽⁵⁾ Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; The peoples fall under You. ⁽⁶⁾ Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. ⁽⁷⁾ You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions. ⁽⁸⁾ All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.

⁽⁹⁾ Kings' daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir. ⁽¹⁰⁾ Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father's house; ⁽¹¹⁾ So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him. ⁽¹²⁾ And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will seek your favor.

⁽¹³⁾ The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace; Her clothing is woven with gold. ⁽¹⁴⁾ She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors; The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You. ⁽¹⁵⁾ With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; They shall enter the King's palace. ⁽¹⁶⁾ Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons, Whom You shall make princes in all the earth.

⁽¹⁷⁾ I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.

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.

Genesis Chapter 15

⁽¹⁾ After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.' ⁽²⁾ But Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' ⁽³⁾ Then Abram said, 'Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!' ⁽⁴⁾ And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 'This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.'

⁽⁵⁾ Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' ⁽⁶⁾ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. ⁽⁷⁾ Then He said to him, 'I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.' ⁽⁸⁾ And he said, 'Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?'

⁽⁹⁾ So He said to him, 'Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' ⁽¹⁰⁾ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ⁽¹¹⁾ And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ⁽¹²⁾ Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him.

⁽¹³⁾ Then He said to Abram: 'Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ⁽¹⁴⁾ And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ⁽¹⁵⁾ Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. ⁽¹⁶⁾ But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.'

⁽¹⁷⁾ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. ⁽¹⁸⁾ On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates -- ⁽¹⁹⁾ the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, ⁽²⁰⁾ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

⁽²¹⁾ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.'

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Hebrews Chapter 9

⁽¹⁾ Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. ⁽²⁾ For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; ⁽³⁾ and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, ⁽⁴⁾ which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;

⁽⁵⁾ and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. ⁽⁶⁾ Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. ⁽⁷⁾ But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance; ⁽⁸⁾ the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.

⁽⁹⁾ It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience -- ⁽¹⁰⁾ concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. ⁽¹¹⁾ But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. ⁽¹²⁾ Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

⁽¹³⁾ For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, ⁽¹⁴⁾ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

John Chapter 5

⁽¹⁾ After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ⁽²⁾ Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. ⁽³⁾ In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁽⁴⁾ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

⁽⁵⁾ Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. ⁽⁶⁾ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, 'Do you want to be made well?' ⁽⁷⁾ The sick man answered Him, 'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.' ⁽⁸⁾ Jesus said to him, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk.'

⁽⁹⁾ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. ⁽¹⁰⁾ The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, 'It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.' ⁽¹¹⁾ He answered them, 'He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.' ' ⁽¹²⁾ Then they asked him, 'Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?'

⁽¹³⁾ But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. ⁽¹⁴⁾ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, 'See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.' ⁽¹⁵⁾ The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ⁽¹⁶⁾ For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

⁽¹⁷⁾ But Jesus answered them, 'My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.' ⁽¹⁸⁾ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

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.

The Song of Zechariah Luke 1: 68 to 79

Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers;
you are worthy of praise; glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name;
we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Glory to you in the splendor of your temple;
on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.
Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim;
we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.

Glory to you, beholding the depths;
in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.
Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
we will praise you and highly exalt you 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:  Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Collect of the Day: O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of 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. When you lack the words


Closing Prayers   Thanksgiving

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