Evening Prayer
The First Week of Lent
March 3, 2022
Prelude
Opening
Behold, now is the acceptable time;
now is the day of salvation.
Turn us again, O God of our salvation,
that the light of your face may shine on us.
May your justice shine like the sun;
and may the poor be lifted up.
Confession and Forgiveness
In the name of God,who makes a way in the wilderness,walks with us,and guides us in our pilgrimage.
Amen.
Silence is kept for reflection
Holy One, we confess that we have wandered far from you:we have not trusted your promises,we have ignored your prophets in our own day,we have squandered our inheritance of grace,we have failed to recognize you in our midst.Have mercy on us!Forgive us and turn us again to you.Teach us to follow in your ways,assure us again of your love,and help us to love our neighbor.
Amen.
Beloved in Christ,the Word draws near to you,and all who call out to God shall be saved.In Jesus, God comes to you again and againand gathers you under wings of love.In Jesus’ name, your sins are forgiven.God journeys with you and teaches you how to live in love.
Amen.
Psalms and Reading
Psalm 91
1You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
2will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust."
3For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
4he will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5You will not fear the terror of the night,
or the arrow that flies by day,
6or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
or the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8You will only look with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9Because you have made the LORD your refuge,
the Most High your dwelling place,
10no evil shall befall you,
no scourge come near your tent.
11For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13You will tread on the lion and the adder,
the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14Those who love me, I will deliver;
I will protect those who know my name.
15When they call to me, I will answer them;
I will be with them in trouble,
I will rescue them and honor them.
16With long life I will satisfy them,
and show them my salvation.
Psalm 93
1The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
2your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
3The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
more majestic than the waves of the sea,
majestic on high is the LORD!
5Your decrees are very sure;
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, forevermore.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. Amen.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
1When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. 3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, "Today I declare to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us." 4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the LORD your God, 5you shall make this response before the LORD your God: "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me." You shall set it down before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God. 11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reflection
23May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
Dialogue
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
A prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
Lord make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine master grant that I 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,
And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Make me an instrument of your peace.
Amen.
Prayers
In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For the health of the creation, for abundant harvests that all may share, and for the peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For public servants, the government, and those who protect us; for those who work to bring peace, justice, healing, and protection in this and every place, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For those who travel, for those who are sick and suffering, and for those who are in captivity, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For deliverance in the time of affliction, wrath, danger, and need, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For all servants of the church, for this assembly, and for all people who await from the Lord great and abundant mercy, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy
Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord. O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is infectious and widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
A Blessing by Jan Richardson
Beloved Is Where We Begin
If you would enter into the wilderness;
do not begin without a blessing.
Do not leave without hearing who you are:
Beloved, named by the One who has traveled this path before us.
Do not go without letting it echo in your ears, and if you find it is hard to let it into your heart, do not despair. That is what this journey is for. I cannot promise this blessing will free you from danger, from fear, from hunger, or thirst, from the scorching of sun or the fall of the night.
But I can tell you that on this path there will be help. I can tell you that on this way there will be rest. I can tell you that you will know the strange graces that come to our aid only on a road such as this, that fly to meet us bearing comfort and strength, that come alongside us for no other cause than to lean themselves toward our ear and with their curious insistence whisper our name: Beloved. Beloved. Beloved.
Lord’s Prayer
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.
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.
Benediction
Postlude Be Thou My Vision
(vs. 1,2)
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art:
thou my best thought both by day and by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word;
I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord.
Thou my soul's shelter, and thou my high tow'r,
raise thou me heav'nward, O Pow'r of my pow'r.
Liturgical Text and Music from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, © 2006 and 2020 Augsburg Fortress. Reprinted and/or streamed with permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies License #SAS016761. All rights reserved.
Circle of Grace, A Book of Blessings for the Seasons by Jan Richardson, © 12015, by Jan Richardson, Wanton Gospeller Press, Orlando, Florida. Used with permission.
Be Thou My Vision, Text: Irish, 8th cent.; vers. Eleanor H. Hull, 1860-1935, alt.; tr Mary E. Byrne, 1880-1931. Music: Irish traditional. Public domain.
