Charles Lwanga and his companions, 1886; Janani Luwum, Bishop, 1977, Martyrs of Uganda
Saturday after Seventh Sunday of Easter
Evening Prayer – New Life – The Spirit
O God, make speed to save us;
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.
PSALMODY
Antiphon: Give me the joy of your saving help again*
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
Opening (Psalm 51)
1 You look for truth deep within me,*
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
2 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure;*
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
3 Create in me a clean heart, O God,*
and renew a right spirit within me.
4 Cast me not away from your presence*
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
Glory to the Father…
or a suitable hymn
Psalm 139
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me;*
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places*
and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips,*
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before*
and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;*
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit?*
where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there;*
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning*
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me*
and your right hand hold me fast.
10 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,*
and the light around me turn to night,’
11 Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day;*
darkness and light to you are both alike.
12 For you yourself created my inmost parts;*
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
13 I will thank you because I am marvellously made;*
your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
14 My body was not hidden from you,*
while I was being made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.
15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book;*
they were fashioned day by day,
when as yet there was none of them.
16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God!*
how great is the sum of them!
17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number
than the sand;*
to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.
18 Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God!*
You that thirst for blood, depart from me.
19 They speak despitefully against you;*
your enemies take your name in vain.
20 Do I not hate those, O Lord, who hate you?*
and do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
21 I hate them with a perfect hatred;*
they have become my own enemies.
22 Search me out, O God, and know my heart;*
try me and know my restless thoughts.
23 Look well whether there be any wickedness in me*
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.
God of mystery and power, even our minds and hearts are the veils and signs of your presence. We come in silent wonder to learn the way of simplicity, the eternal road that leads to love for you and for your whole creation. We come as your Son Jesus Christ taught us, and in his name.
Conclusion (from Romans 8)
1 If God is for us, who is against us?*
The God who did not spare his own Son,
will he not give us all things with him?
2 It is God who justifies; who is to condemn?*
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
3 Neither death nor life,*
nor angels nor principalities;
4 Nor things present, nor things to come,*
nor depth, nor height;
5 Nor powers, nor anything in all creation*
shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory to the Father…
Antiphon: Give me the joy of your saving help again
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
READING(S)
Exodus 19:3-8a, 16-20
Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites:You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’
So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. The people all answered as one: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
1 Peter 2:4-10
Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture:
‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’
To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner’,
and
‘A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
Response (PS. 147.5)
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; alleluia, alleluia.
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; alleluia, alleluia.
There is no limit to his wisdom.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; alleluia, alleluia.
MAGNIFICAT
Magnificat Antiphon: I will not leave you desolate, says the Lord;*
I will come to you
1 My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,*
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour;
2 for he has looked with favour on his lowly servant;*
from this day all generations will call me blessed.
3 The Almighty has done great things for me*
and holy is his name.
4 He has mercy on those who fear him*
in every generation.
5 He has shown the strength of his arm;*
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
6 He has cast down the mighty from their thrones*
and has lifted up the lowly.
7 He has filled the hungry with good things,*
and the rich he has sent away empty.
8 He has come to the help of his servant Israel,*
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
9 the promise he made to our forebears,*
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father… (may be said by all)
Magnificat Antiphon: I will not leave you desolate, says the Lord;*
I will come to you
PRAYERS
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Do not bring us to the time of trial,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and for ever.
Amen.
Collect of the Day
O God, the King of Glory, hear our prayer:
that as we believe your Son Jesus Christ
to be exalted with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven;
so also we may know his presence with us now,
and to the end of time;
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen.
Lord God almighty, come and dispel the darkness from our hearts, that in the radiance of your brightness we may know you, the only unfading light, glorious in all eternity. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God!
The God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing:
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
