Evening Prayer: Thursday 20 March 2014

March 20, 2014

Thursday after Second Sunday of Lent Week of Lent 2

Evening Prayer – Returning to God

 

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:           Show me your ways, O Lord,*and teach me your paths. (Ps. 25.3)

 

Opening (from Psalm 25)

 

1              You are the God of my salvation;*

in you have I trusted all the day long.

2              Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love,*

for they are from everlasting.

3              Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions;*

remember me according to your love.

4              Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,*

for my hope has been in you.

 

Glory to the Father…

or a suitable hymn

 

Psalm 78 Part II

 40           How often the people disobeyed him in the wilderness*

and offended him in the desert!

41           Again and again they tempted God*

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

42           They did not remember his power*

in the day when he ransomed them from the enemy;

43           How he wrought his signs in Egypt*

and his omens in the field of Zoan.

44          He turned their rivers into blood,*

so that they could not drink of their streams.

45           He sent swarms of flies among them, which ate them up,*

and frogs, which destroyed them.

46           He gave their crops to the caterpillar,*

the fruit of their toil to the locust.

47           He killed their vines with hail*

and their sycamores with frost.

48           He delivered their cattle to hailstones*

and their livestock to hot thunderbolts.

49           He poured out upon them his blazing anger:*

fury, indignation, and distress,

a troop of destroying angels.

50           He gave full rein to his anger;

he did not spare their souls from death;*

but delivered their lives to the plague.

51           He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,*

the flower of manhood in the dwellings of Ham.

52           He led out his people like sheep*

and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

53           He led them to safety, and they were not afraid;*

but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

54           He brought them to his holy land,*

the mountain his right hand had won.

55           He drove out the Canaanites before them

and apportioned an inheritance to them by lot;*

he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

56           But they tested the Most High God, and defied him,*

and did not keep his commandments.

57           They turned away and were disloyal like their fathers;*

they were undependable like a warped bow.

58          They grieved him with their hill-altars*

and provoked his displeasure with their idols.

59           When God heard this, he was angry*

and utterly rejected Israel.

60           He forsook the shrine at Shiloh,*

the tabernacle where he had lived among his people.

61           He delivered the ark into captivity,*

his glory into the adversary’s hand.

62           He gave his people to the sword*

and was angered against his inheritance.

63           The fire consumed their young men;*

there were no wedding songs for their maidens.

64           Their priests fell by the sword,*

and their widows made no lamentation.

65           Then the Lord woke as though from sleep,*

like a warrior refreshed with wine.

66           He struck his enemies on the backside*

and put them to perpetual shame.

67           He rejected the tent of Joseph*

and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

68           He chose instead the tribe of Judah*

and Mount Zion, which he loved.

69           He built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven,*

like the earth which he founded for ever.

70           He chose David his servant,*

and took him away from the sheepfolds.

71           He brought him from following the ewes,*

to be a shepherd over Jacob his people

and over Israel his inheritance.

72           So he shepherded them with a faithful and true heart*

and guided them with the skilfulness of his hands.

 

God of pilgrims, strengthen our faith, we pray. Guide us through the uncertainties of our journey, and hold before us the vision of your eternal kingdom, made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Conclusion (from Matthew 5)

1              Blessed are the poor in spirit,*

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

2              Blessed are those who mourn,*

for they shall be comforted.

3              Blessed are the meek,*

for they shall inherit the earth.

4              Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,*

for they shall be satisfied.

5              Blessed are the merciful,*

for they shall obtain mercy.

6              Blessed are the pure in heart,*

for they shall see God.

7              Blessed are the peacemakers,*

for they shall be called the children of God.

8              Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,*

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Glory to the Father…

 

Antiphon:           Show me your ways, O Lord,

and teach me your paths.

READING

Mark 4:21-34

He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’

He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’

He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Silence

 

Response (Ps. 86.15)

 

You, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion.

You, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion.

Slow to anger, full of kindness and truth.

Full of compassion.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

You, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion.

 

MAGNIFICAT

Magnificat Antiphons: If you hear his voice,* harden not your hearts (Ps. 95.7)

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)

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 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 (may be omitted when the Eucharist follows)

Almighty God, whose Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross, give us faith to perceive his glory, that being strengthened by his grace we may be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

 

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.