Evening Prayer Tuesday 4 September 2018 Our readings for this evening are Psalms 36 and 39 Job Chapter 12 verse 1, 13 verses 3 through 17 and 21 through 27 Acts Chapter 12 verses 1 through 17 John Chapter 8 verses 33 through 47 We begin on page 115 of the Piscopalian Book of Common Prayer We are using Write 2 for 8-Me Prayer Seek Him who made the Pleiades in Orion and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day and tonight who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the surface of the earth. The Lord is His Name. Dear friends in Christ, here in the presence of Almighty God, let us kneel in silence and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins so that we may obtain forgiveness by His infinite goodness in mercy. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you and thought, worth, indeed.
But what we have done and what we have left undone, we have not loved you with our whole heart, we have not loved our neighbors ourselves, we are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we 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 you in eternal life. Amen. What God makes it be to save us. Oh Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, because it was in the beginning, it is now, and will be forever. Amen. Hallelujah. O gracious light, pure brightness of the ever-living Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed.
Now as we come to the setting of the Son, and our eyes behold the best for light, we sing your praises, O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, of give our life, and speak glorified through all the worlds. Psalm 36. Transgression speaks to the wicked, deep in their hearts.
There is no fear of God before their eyes, for they flatter themselves in their own eyes, that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated. The words of their mouths are mischievous and deceit. They have ceased to act wisely and do good. They plot mischief all in their beds.
They are set on a way that is not good. They do not reject evil. Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds, your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your judgments are like the great deep. You save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God? All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river. Your delights, for with you is the fountain of life.
In your light we see light. O continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your salvation to the upright of heart. Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me, or the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the evil doers lie prostrate, they are thrust down, unable to rise.
Psalm 39. I said, I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue. I will keep a muzzle on my mouth, as long as the wicked are in my presence. I was silent and still.
I held my peace to no avail. My distress grew worse. My heart became hot within me. While I'm used to fire burn, then I spoke with my tongue.
Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a few hand breaths, and my lifetime is nothing in your sight. Surely, everyone stands as a mere breath.
Surely, everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing there in turmoil, they keep up and do not know who will gather. And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.
To deliver me from all my transgressions, do not make me the scorn of the fool. I am silent. I do not open my mouth. For it is you who have done it.
Remove your stroke from me. I am worn down by the blows of your hand. You chastise mortals in punishment for sin, consuming like a moth what is dear to them. Surely everyone is a mere breath.
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry. Do not hold your peace at my tears, for I am your passing gust and alien, like all my forebears. Turn your gaze away from me, but I may smile again before I depart and am no more. 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. A reading from the Book of Job. Then Job answered, look, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.
What you know, I also know. I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. As for you, you whitewashed with lies.
All of you are worthless physicians. If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom. Here now my reasoning and listen to the pleadings of my lips. Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him?
Will you show partiality toward him? Will you plead the case for God? Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him as one person deceives another?
He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality. Will not his majesty terrify you and the dread of him fall upon you? Your maxims or proverbs of ashes, your defenses or defenses of clay. Let me have silence and I will speak and let come on me with my name.
If I will take my flesh and my teeth and put my life in my hand. See, he will kill me. I have no hope, but I will defend my ways to his face. This will be my salvation, that the Godless shall not come before him.
Listen carefully to my words and let my declaration be in your ears. Withdraw your hand far from me and do not let dread of you terrify me. Then call and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me. How many are my iniquities in my sins?
Make me know my transgression in my sin. Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy? Will you frighten a windblown leaf who pursued your eyes? I pursued your eyes for you to write bitter things against me and make me reap the iniquities of my youth.
You put my feet in the socks and watch all my paths. You set a bound to the souls of my feet. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
We will use the sabbath's chemical ten which can be found back on page 86. Seek the Lord while he wills to be found. Call upon him when he draws near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the evil ones their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord and he will have compassion and to our God for he will richly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways as the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as rain and snow fall from the heavens and return not again but water the earth, bringing forth life and giving growth, seed for sowing and bread for eating.
So is my word that goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me empty. But it will accomplish that which I have purposed and prosper and that for which I sent it. 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. A reading from Acts 12 verses 1 through 17. About that time can Herod laid violent hands upon some who belong to the church. He had James the brother of John killed with the sword.
After he saw that it pleased the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the festival of unleavened bread. When he had seized him he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers. To guard him intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
While Peter was kept in prison the church prayed fervently to God for him. The very night before Herod was going to bring him out Peter bound with two chains was sleeping between two soldiers. While guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him saying get up quickly and the chains fell off his wrists.
The angel said to him fasten your belt and put on your sandals. He did so. Then he said to him wrap your cloak around you and follow me. Peter went out and followed him.
He did not realize that what was happening with the angel's help was real. He thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first in the second guard. They came before the iron gate leading into the city.
It opened for them of its own accord and they went outside and walked along the lane. When suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of the Lord. As soon as he realized this he went to the house of Mary the mother of John whose other name was Mark.
Where many had gathered and were praying. When he knocked at the outer gate a maid named Rhoda came to answer. On recognizing Peter's voice she was so overjoyed that instead of opening the gate she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her you are out of your mind.
But she insisted that it was so. They said it is his angel. Meanwhile Peter continued knocking and when they opened the gate they saw him and were amazed. He motioned to them with his hands to be silent and described for them to be silent.
And described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added tell this to James and to the believers. Then he left and went to another place. The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Our next canticle is the Magnificat and we can find it on page 119. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For he is looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed. The almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm. He has scattered the crowd in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel. He has remembered his promise of mercy. The promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever. 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 Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. Glory to you Lord Christ. John chapter 8 verses 33-47.
Jesus then said, I will be with you a little while longer and then I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me but you will not find me. And where I am you cannot come. The Jew said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we will not find him?
Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying you will search for me and you will not find me and where I am you cannot come? On the last day of the festival, a great day. While Jesus was standing there he cried out, let anyone who was thirsty come to me.
You know what? I am sorry folks. I was reading from John 7. Let's restart that.
John 8, 33-47. They answered him. We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying you will be made free?
Jesus answered them. Very truly I tell you. Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household.
The son has a place there forever. So if the son makes you free you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. Yet you look for an opportunity to kill me because there is no place for you in my word.
I declare what I have seen in the Father's presence. As for you you should do what you have heard from the Father. They answered him. Abraham is our Father.
Jesus said to him, If you were Abraham's children you would be doing what Abraham did. But now you are trying to kill me. A man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
You are indeed doing what your Father does. They said to him, We are not illegitimate children. We have one Father, God himself. Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me.
For I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word.
You are from your Father the devil and you choose to do your Father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks, he speaks according to his own nature. For he is a liar and the Father lies.
But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you can fix me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God.
The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God. The gospel of the Lord, the praise to you Lord Christ. We continue with the apostles' creed on page 120. I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ as only Son our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate. He 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 in 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 Lord be with you and also with you. Let us pray.
Our Father and 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. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.
We'll use suffragists at B beginning on page 122. That this evening may be holy, good, and peaceful. We entreat you, O Lord. That your holy angels may lead us in paths of peace and goodwill.
We entreat you, O Lord. That we may be pardoned and forgiven for our sins and offenses. We entreat you, O Lord. That there may be peace to your church and to the whole world.
We entreat you, O Lord. That we may depart this life and your faith and fear and not be condemned before the great judgment state of Christ. We entreat you, O Lord. That we may be bound together by your Holy Spirit and the communion of all your saints.
Interesting one another in all our life to Christ. We entreat you, O Lord. In place of the collect, I'm going to use a prior for schools and colleges. Tomorrow is the start of school for many of the districts here where we live.
So page 824, prayer 31, a eternal God, bless all schools, colleges, and universities. That they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom. And grant that those who teach and those who learn may find you to be the source of all truth through Jesus Christ, O Lord. Amen.
And I would add also, O Lord, I besee to Christ to be present at school, to make school a safe place for the children and teachers and workers who are there and let kindness prevail. In the holy name of your Son, Jesus Christ, amen. I continue with the college for the presence of Christ. Lord, Jesus, stay with us for evening as at hand in the day is past.
We are companion in the way. Kindle our hearts and wake and hope that we may know you as you are revealed in scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen.
Keep watching your Lord with those who work or watch or weep this night and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Ten the sick, Lord Christ. Give rest to the weary. Bless the dying.
Sue the suffering. Pity the afflicted. Shield the joyous. And all for your love's sake.
Amen. Here's the place where if I have some personal thoughts, I usually share them and then we pause and we say personal prayers. So what struck me from the Psalms is the one verse that says that there is abundance. I've heard that said before by pastors that in God's economy, there is enough.
And I think the words that I'm using these days myself are we can operate from a place of security, not a place of scarcity, but we can also only do that when our security comes from the Lord. Security and anything else is idolatry or at least bordering on it. But then the question that always or the question that arises for me is, but what of those who are starving? Why is God not giving to them?
Why do they not have enough? And I do honestly believe that the answer is us. We are to feed them with whatever it is, be it literal food or love. There are people who are starving for love.
But when we allow God to give to us, we have enough. And sometimes we're on the receiving end of that and we have to receive. And that can be, it's much harder sometimes, I think, to receive than it is to give. But sometimes the abundance comes through other human beings.
And that is so tough. And it's so tough to know enough, right? And I think that if you've ever been a person who has known, want, or lack, and I can't say it with absolutely sure that all of us have, but I think that most of us have, there is a fear that if you give away to others, you will not have enough for yourself. And I do believe that the answer is trust.
So abundance is what I put from the Psalms tonight. And I think it relates to what we heard in the Gospel. Man, and it ties into a conversation that I was having with friends earlier. It's really hard to find truth tellers these days.
It's a tough truth that there's a lot of wine going on. And you guys have heard me talk about this before, I think, that when I peel it back, I find that it's because there's a scarcity of emotional bravery. And it takes something, it takes an extra something to be brave and kind. Double brave, brave, swear.
I'm not sure about that. But if you put that with our Gospel reading, where Jesus is telling the truth, because Jesus was the best truth teller, right? But his truth is not being heard. Sometimes truth is hard to hear.
Sometimes it's impossible. Sometimes it takes forever to sink in. Sometimes it never does. So the other side of being brave and truth telling is the being kind part, telling it in a way so that it can be received.
Because when you use truth like a bludgeon, it's not going to be heard. I'm not saying that's what Jesus is doing. Then as receivers of truth, we can make ourselves receptive. Sometimes it takes just as much brave way to hear it, and it does to say it.
And then what do you do with it? You sift it, and you ask the Holy Spirit what's from him and what's not, because you don't have to own the whole story either. Somebody might be speaking with they what is their truth or their truth in the moment to you. You don't have to own that and make that part of your story.
You don't have to take it in. You can give it to God. And in return you can give back love. And that's the transformative power rights.
And we can totally hand us a verbal vomit or a pile of poop. And we give it to God and he transforms it so that we can give back love. And I'm not saying that like be a doormat or take people's crap. I'm just saying that we don't have to own the poop.
We can give it to God to be transformed and we can give back love instead, which is the other back to the other side of being truthful, brave, and brave, and brave again by being kind, and truth telling, or truth receiving. Hope that makes some kind of sense. So all that being said, I think it's entirely appropriate that we pray, St. Francis is prior tonight, which is found on, have I lost it here?
I thought I had it marked in my Bible forever, or in my book of Common Prayer forever. It's on page 833. It's number 62. Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us so love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. And to circle back for just a second, I'm sorry, I didn't quite make the tie in between the Psalms and the Gospel.
That double-brave-ness of truth and kindness. We can be that when we understand that there is abundance, kindness, and its source is the Lord. Another way of saying that is grace. We can be grace.
We can be God's grace. We can be gracious to others. When we receive our abundance, our overflowing, our filling to the point of overflowing of grace and kindness from the Lord. And the truth is there too.
These things are all together. And the well that doesn't run dry the source is God. When we turn to Him, then we can be those things to others, humbly without loarding it over anyone, because it all comes from God. None of it is from us, maybe through us.
Definitely through us, but not from us. Okay, I hope that wraps it up a little bit. So we'll conclude evening, prior, with the general thanksgiving on page 125. Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we are unworthy servants.
Give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, but above all for your immeasurable love, in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace and for the hope of glory. And we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth through praise, not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service and by walking before you, in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you in the Holy Spirit be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
Almighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you, and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in His name, you will be in the midst of them. Fulfill now, Lord, our desires and petitions is maybe best for us, granting us in this world of knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God. May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace and believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Rest well, my friends.
Speak with you tomorrow.