Evening Prayer
The Third Week of Lent
March 17, 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 63
1O God, you are my God, I seek you,
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
5My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
6when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
8My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10they shall be given over to the power of the sword,
they shall be prey for jackals.
11But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.
Psalm 66
1Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise.
3Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4All the earth worships you;
they sing praises to you,
sing praises to your name."
Selah
5Come and see what God has done:
he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6He turned the sea into dry land;
they passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in him,
7who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations —
let the rebellious not exalt themselves.
Selah
8Bless our God, O peoples,
let the sound of his praise be heard,
9who has kept us among the living,
and has not let our feet slip.
10For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.
11You brought us into the net;
you laid burdens on our backs;
12you let people ride over our heads;
we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
13I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,
14those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
Selah
16Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
17I cried aloud to him,
and he was extolled with my tongue.
18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the LORD would not have listened.
19But truly God has listened;
he has given heed to the words of my prayer.
20Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me.
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.
Isaiah 55:1-9
1Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
6Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
7let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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 That Meets You in the Wilderness
After the desert stillness.
After the wrestling.
After the hours and days and weeks of emptying.
After the hungering and the thirsting.
After the opening and seeing and knowing.
Let this blessing be the first sweetness that touches your lips,
the bread that falls into your arms.
the cup that welcoming hands press into yours.
Let this blessing be the road that returns you.
Let it be the strength to carry the wilderness home.
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 There in God's Garden
ELW 342 (vs. 1,4)
There in God's garden
stands the Tree of Wisdom,
whose leaves hold forth
the healing of the nations:
Tree of all knowledge,
Tree of all compassion,
Tree of all beauty.
See how its branches
reach to us in welcome;
hear what the Voice says,
"Come to me, ye weary!
Give me your sickness,
give me all your sorrow,
I will give blessing."
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.
There in God's Garden, Text: Király Imre von Pécselyi, c. 1590-c. 1641; tr. Erik Routley, 1917-1982. Text © 1976 Hinshaw Music, Inc. Music: K. Lee Scott. b. 1960. Music © 1987 Birnamwood Publication, a div. of MorningStar Music Publishers, Inc. Reprinted and/or streamed with permission under OneLicense #A-722274. All rights reserved.
