Evening Prayer: Thursday 24 July 2025

Thursday 24 July 2025

This is the new revised order for Daily Prayer authorised for experimental use. You can find the 2006 Revised version here.

Thursday after Pentecost 6
Week C

O God make speed to save us;
O Lord make haste to help us.

Glory to God, Source of all Being, Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit;*
as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be for ever.
Amen.

PSALMODY

Antiphon: Search me out, O God, and know my heart;* try me and know my restless thoughts.
(Psalm 139.23)

Opening (from Psalm 139)

1. You trace my journeys and my resting-places*
and are acquainted with all my ways.

2. Indeed there is not a word on my lips,*
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

3. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,*
and the light around me turn to night’.

4. Darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day;*
darkness and light to you are both alike.

Glory ...
or a suitable Hymn

Psalm 68.1-18
1. Arise, O God, and let your enemies be scattered; *
let those who hate you flee.

2. Let them vanish like smoke when the wind drives it away; *
as the wax melts at the fire, so let the wicked perish at your presence.

3. But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before you; *
let them also be merry and joyful.

4. Let us sing to God, sing praises to the divine name; *
let us exalt the One who rides upon the heavens;
Yahweh is the divine name, * before whom we shall rejoice!

5. Protector of orphans, defender of widows, *
the One who dwells in holiness,

6. who gives the solitary a home
and brings forth prisoners into freedom; *
but the rebels shall live in dry places.

7. O God, when you went forth before your people, *
when you marched through the wilderness,

8. the earth shook, and the skies poured down rain, at your presence, O God of Sinai, *
at your presence, O God of Israel.

9. You sent a gracious rain, O God, upon your inheritance; *
you refreshed the land when it was weary.

10. Your people found their home in it; *
in your goodness, O God, you have made provision for the poor.

11. The Lord gave the word; *
great was the company of women who bore the tidings:

12. “Rulers with their armies are fleeing away; *
the women at home are dividing the spoils.”

13. Though you lingered among the sheepfolds, *
you shall be like a dove whose wings are covered with silver, whose feathers are like green gold.

14. When the Almighty scattered rulers, *
it was like snow falling in Zalmon.

15. O mighty mountain, O hill of Bashan! *
O rugged mountain, O hill of Bashan!

16. Why do you look with envy, O rugged mountain,
at the hill which God chose for a resting place? *
truly, the Lord will dwell there for ever.

17. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands; *
the Lord comes in holiness from Sinai.

18. You have gone up on high and led captivity captive;
you have received gifts even from your enemies, *
that the Lord God might dwell among them.

Glory …

Conclusion


A song of Pilgrimage

1. While I was still young, before I began my travels,*
I sought for wisdom openly in my prayers.

2. I asked for wisdom outside the temple sanctuary,*
and I will seek until the end.

3. Wisdom has been the delight of my heart,*
from first blossom to early fruit.

4. I have kept firmly to the true path;*
I have followed in wisdom’s steps since my youth.

5. I bowed my ear a little and received;*
I found wisdom and was well instructed.

6. Glory to the One who gives me wisdom!*
I will live according to God’s way.

7. From the beginning I gained understanding from the Lord;*
therefore I will never be deserted.

8. Because I longed to find wisdom with all my heart,*
I have gained a good possession.

9. As my reward the Lord has given me a tongue*
with which I shall sing God’s praises.

Glory …

Antiphon: Search me out, O God, and know my heart;* try me and know my restless thoughts.

READING(S)

Mark 5.1-20

"They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned in the lake. The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. But Jesus refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed."

Silence

Response Sirach 51.26

Buy wisdom without money, take wisdom’s yoke upon you.
Buy wisdom without money, take wisdom’s yoke upon you.
Let your souls receive instruction.
Take wisdom’s yoke upon you.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Buy wisdom without money, take wisdom’s yoke upon you.

SONG OF MARY

Song of Mary Antiphon: Those who wait upon the Lord: * will be saved.

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)

Song of Mary Antiphon: Those who wait upon the Lord: * will be saved.

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 of power and might,
all good things belong to you:
sow in our hearts the love of your name,
and make us grow in the life of faith;
nurture the things that are good,
and tend them with your loving care;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
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.