Evening Prayer

Ordinary Time
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14

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 earth is the Lord's for he made it: 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.

Job Chapter 29

⁽¹⁾ Job further continued his discourse, and said: ⁽²⁾ Oh, that I were as in months past, As in the days when God watched over me; ⁽³⁾ When His lamp shone upon my head, And when by His light I walked through darkness; ⁽⁴⁾ Just as I was in the days of my prime, When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;

⁽⁵⁾ When the Almighty was yet with me, When my children were around me; ⁽⁶⁾ When my steps were bathed with cream, And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me! ⁽⁷⁾ When I went out to the gate by the city, When I took my seat in the open square, ⁽⁸⁾ The young men saw me and hid, And the aged arose and stood;

⁽⁹⁾ The princes refrained from talking, And put their hand on their mouth; ⁽¹⁰⁾ The voice of nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ⁽¹¹⁾ When the ear heard, then it blessed me, And when the eye saw, then it approved me; ⁽¹²⁾ Because I delivered the poor who cried out, The fatherless and the one who had no helper.

⁽¹³⁾ The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. ⁽¹⁴⁾ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. ⁽¹⁵⁾ I was eyes to the blind, And I was feet to the lame. ⁽¹⁶⁾ I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know.

⁽¹⁷⁾ I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth. ⁽¹⁸⁾ Then I said, 'I shall die in my nest, And multiply my days as the sand. ⁽¹⁹⁾ My root is spread out to the waters, And the dew lies all night on my branch. ⁽²⁰⁾ My glory is fresh within me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.'

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Acts Chapter 14

⁽¹⁾ Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. ⁽²⁾ But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. ⁽³⁾ Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. ⁽⁴⁾ But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.

⁽⁵⁾ And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, ⁽⁶⁾ they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. ⁽⁷⁾ And they were preaching the gospel there. ⁽⁸⁾ And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked.

⁽⁹⁾ This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, ⁽¹⁰⁾ said with a loud voice, 'Stand up straight on your feet!' And he leaped and walked. ⁽¹¹⁾ Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!' ⁽¹²⁾ And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

⁽¹³⁾ Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. ⁽¹⁴⁾ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out ⁽¹⁵⁾ and saying, 'Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, ⁽¹⁶⁾ who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.

⁽¹⁷⁾ Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' ⁽¹⁸⁾ And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

John Chapter 10

⁽³¹⁾ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. ⁽³²⁾ Jesus answered them, 'Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?' ⁽³³⁾ The Jews answered Him, saying, 'For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.' ⁽³⁴⁾ Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, 'I said, 'You are gods' '?

⁽³⁵⁾ If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), ⁽³⁶⁾ do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? ⁽³⁷⁾ If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; ⁽³⁸⁾ but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.'

⁽³⁹⁾ Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. ⁽⁴⁰⁾ And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. ⁽⁴¹⁾ Then many came to Him and said, 'John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.' ⁽⁴²⁾ And many believed in Him there.

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

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.

Through his holy prophets he promised of old,
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.

This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

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 18 The Sunday closest to September 7
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; 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 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