Evening Prayer
The Fifth Week of Lent
April 7, 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.
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 again
and 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 31
1In you, O LORD, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.
2Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.
3You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name's sake lead me and guide me,
4take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.
5Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
6You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the LORD.
7I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have taken heed of my adversities,
8and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.
9Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.
10For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.
11I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
12I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
13For I hear the whispering of many —
terror all around! —
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.
14But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my God."
15My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.
17Do not let me be put to shame, O LORD,
for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
18Let the lying lips be stilled
that speak insolently against the righteous
with pride and contempt.
19O how abundant is your goodness
that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of everyone!
20In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
from contentious tongues.
21Blessed be the LORD,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was beset as a city under siege.
22I had said in my alarm,
"I am driven far from your sight."
But you heard my supplications
when I cried out to you for help.
23Love the LORD, all you his saints.
The LORD preserves the faithful,
but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.
24Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the LORD.
Psalm 38
1O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger,
or discipline me in your wrath.
2For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.
3There is no soundness in my flesh
because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
because of my sin.
4For my iniquities have gone over my head;
they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.
5My wounds grow foul and fester
because of my foolishness;
6I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
all day long I go around mourning.
7For my loins are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
8I am utterly spent and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
9O LORD, all my longing is known to you;
my sighing is not hidden from you.
10My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
as for the light of my eyes — it also has gone from me.
11My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,
and my neighbors stand far off.
12Those who seek my life lay their snares;
those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin,
and meditate treachery all day long.
13But I am like the deaf, I do not hear;
like the mute, who cannot speak.
14Truly, I am like one who does not hear,
and in whose mouth is no retort.
15But it is for you, O LORD, that I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
16For I pray, "Only do not let them rejoice over me,
those who boast against me when my foot slips."
17For I am ready to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
18I confess my iniquity;
I am sorry for my sin.
19Those who are my foes without cause are mighty,
and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
20Those who render me evil for good
are my adversaries because I follow after good.
21Do not forsake me, O LORD;
O my God, do not be far from me;
22Make haste to help me,
O LORD, my salvation.
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.
Philippians 2:5-11
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death —
even death on a cross.
9Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reflection
May 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. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this. 1 Thessalonians 5: 23-24
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
Blessing the Seed
I should tell you at the outset:
this blessing will require you
to do some work.
First you must simply let this blessing fall
from your hand, as if it were a small thing
you could easily let slip through your fingers,
as if it were not most precious to you,
as if your life did not depend on it.
Next you must trust that this blessing knows
where it is going, that it understands
the ways of the dark, that it is wise
to seasons and to times.
Then – and I know this blessing
has already asked much of you –
it is to be hoped that you will rest
and learn that something is at work
when all seems still, seems dormant,
seems dead.
I promise you this blessing has not abandoned you.
I promise you this blessing is on its way back to you.
I promise you – when you are least expecting it,
when you have given up your last hope –
this blessing will rise green and whole and new.
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 Jesus I Will Ponder Now
ELW 338 (vs. 1, 4)
Jesus, I will ponder now
on your holy passion;
let your Spirit now endow
me for meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith
may the image cherish
of your suff'ring, pain, and death,
that I may not perish.
Let me view your pain and loss
with repentant grieving,
nor prepare again your cross
by unholy living.
May I give you love for love!
Hear me, O my Savior,
that I may in heav'n above
sing your praise forever.
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, © 2015, by Jan Richardson, Wanton Gospeller Press, Orlando, Florida. Used with permission.
Jesus I Will Ponder Now, Text: Sigismund von Birken, 1626-1681; tr. August Crull, 1846-1923, alt. Music: Melchior Vulpius, 1570-1615. Public domain.
