The Vicar reads Evening Prayer.
Tonight’s video is here – enter password ^1k=%ygd
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.
Rockefeller Center in New York City lit up last night with the 89th annual tree-lighting ceremony. (John Minchilla/AP)
Watch, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning, lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. Mark 13:35-36
INVITATORY AND PSALTER
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. Alleluia.
Hymn: Light of the World
Light of the world in grace and beauty,
Mirror of God’s eternal face,
Transparent flame of love’s free duty,
You bring salvation to our race.
Now, as we see the lights of evening,
We raise our voice in hymns of praise;
Worthy are you of endless blessing,
Sun of our night, lamp of our days.
Psalm 18:21-50
21 The LORD rewarded me because of my righteous dealing; *
because my hands were clean God rewarded me;
22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD *
and have not offended against my God;
23 For all God’s judgments are before my eyes, *
and the decrees of the LORD I have not put away from me;
24 For I have been blameless with the LORD *
and have kept myself from iniquity;
25 Therefore the LORD rewarded me according to my righteous dealing, *
seeing the cleanness of my hands.
26 With the faithful you show yourself faithful, O God; *
with the forthright you show yourself forthright.
27 With the pure you show yourself pure, *
but with the crooked you are wily.
28 You will save a lowly people, *
but you will humble the haughty eyes.
29 You, O LORD, are my lamp; *
my God, you make my darkness bright.
30 With you I will break down an enclosure; *
with the help of my God I will scale any wall.
31 As for you, O God, your ways are perfect;
the words of the LORD are tried in the fire; *
you are a shield to all who trust in you.
32 For who is God, but the LORD? *
who is the Rock, except our God?
33 It is God who girds me about with strength *
and makes my way secure.
34 You make me sure-footed like a deer *
and let me stand firm on the heights.
35 You train my hands for battle *
and my arms for bending even a bow of bronze.
36 You have given me your shield of victory; *
your right hand also sustains me;
your loving care makes me great.
37 You lengthen my stride beneath me, *
and my ankles do not give way.
38 I pursue my enemies and overtake them; *
I will not turn back till I have destroyed them.
39 I strike them down, and they cannot rise; *
they fall defeated at my feet.
40 You have girded me with strength for the battle; *
you have cast down my adversaries beneath me;
you have put my enemies to flight.
41 I destroy those who hate me;
they cry out, but there is none to help them; *
they cry to the LORD, who does not answer.
42 I beat them small like dust before the wind; *
I trample them like mud in the streets.
43 You deliver me from the strife of the peoples; *
you put me at the head of the nations.
44 A people I have not known shall serve me;
no sooner shall they hear than they shall obey me; *
strangers will cringe before me.
45 The foreign peoples will lose heart; *
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds.
46 The LORD lives! Blessed is my Rock! *
Exalted is the God of my salvation!
47 The LORD is the God who gave me victory *
and cast down the peoples beneath me.
48 You rescued me from the fury of my enemies;
you exalted me above those who rose against me; *
you saved me from my deadly foe.
49 Therefore will I extol you among the nations, O LORD, *
and sing praises to your Name.
50 You multiply the victories of your king; *
you show loving-kindness to your anointed,
to David and his descendants for ever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Meister of the Codex Aureus of Esternach, c. 1050: Parable of the Wicked Tenants. (German National Museum, Nuremberg)
THE LESSON
Matthew 21:33-46 (NRSV)
Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Canticle: The Song of Mary
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *
for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your Name.
You have mercy on those who fear you *
from generation to generation.
You have shown strength with your arm, *
and scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones, *
and lifting up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things, *
and sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *
for you have remembered your promise of mercy,
The promise made to our forebears, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ,
God’s only son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and 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 PRAYERS
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 for ever. Amen.
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us by your Holy Spirit.
The founder of Rikkyo University (St. Paul’s), Ikebukuro, Japan, Bishop Channing Williams. It’s the biggest Anglican university in Japan, one of the Big Six private schools. Fire destroyed it soon after its founding as St. Paul’s Academy for Boys, but The Episcopal Church rebuilt it, then in 1894 an earthquake leveled it. Today’s campus dates from 1919 and serves 21,000 undergraduate and graduate students. (Dick Thomas Johnson)
Collect of the Day: Channing Moore Williams, Bishop & Missionary, 1910
O God, who in your providence called Channing Moore Williams to the ministry of this church and gave him the gifts and the perseverance to preach the Gospel in new lands: Inspire us, by his example and prayers, to commit our talents to your service, confident that you uphold those whom you call; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
In Time of Calamity
O most mighty and merciful God, in this time of hurricanes, fires, floods, droughts and viruses, we flee to you for succor. Deliver the people, we beseech you, from their peril; give strength and skill to all those who minister to the needy; prosper the means of their safety; and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is, we all may apply our hearts unto your heavenly wisdom which leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A Collect for the Presence of Christ
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken 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.
Anglican Cycle of Prayer: Diocese of Ifo, Nigeria
Thursday Evening Prayer List
For Sobriety & Recovery
Men of Reconciliation House
Jon
Stacey
Ian
Talmadge
Martin
Perry
Blake
Beth
Phoebe
For Those with Addictions
O blessed Lord, you ministered to all who came to you: Look with compassion on all who through addiction have lost their health and freedom. Restore to them the assurance of your unfailing mercy; remove from them the fears that beset them; strengthen them in the work of their recovery; and to those who care for them, give patient understanding and persevering love. Amen.
For Mental Health & Family Harmony
Samantha
Scotty
Adam
Lyle
Beth
For those with mental illness
by Josh Thomas
O heavenly Father, look with your love on all your children who are living with mental illness; bless them with kindness and patience. Give them true friends who understand them and knowledgable therapists with competence and compassion. Soothe their worries, lift their spirits, help them to trust others, quiet their negative thinking, help them care for themselves, and give them peace; through the infinite mercy of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Please add your own prayers here.
For the Mission of the Church
Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to yourself: We praise and bless you for those whom you have sent in the power of the Spirit to preach the Gospel to all nations. We thank you that in all parts of the earth a community of love has been gathered together by their prayers and labors, and that in every place your servants call upon your Name; for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours for ever. Amen.
The General Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your 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 your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21++
VIDEO: What is the crying at Jordan? (#69, St. Mark’s, Berkeley, Irish melody; Carol Christopher Drake, alt.) – Miserable Offenders, 2012
The Daily Office 