Evening Prayer (Evensong) in Contemporary Language

¶ Evening Prayer
from the day after Ascension Day
until the Day of Pentecost
Thursday, 16 May 2024
Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877 [Commemoration]

Preparation

O God, make speed to save us.
AllO Lord, make haste to help us.

Send your Holy Spirit upon us,
Alland clothe us with power from on high. Alleluia.

One or more of the following is said or sung:

this or another prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
to you be glory and praise for ever.
Raised to your right hand on high
the ascended Christ shows the prints of love
and bestows on us the gifts of grace.
As your Spirit renews the face of the earth,
may we bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
and reveal your glory in all the world.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
AllBlessed be God for ever.

A Song of God’s Greatness (page 565), the following or another suitable hymn

Creator Spirit, Lord of grace,
come, make in us your dwelling place;
O purest Light, in darkness shine;
fill loveless hearts, O Love Divine.

Consoler, hear your people’s cry;
come down, O Gift of God, Most High.
Descend in peace, O heav’nly Dove;
come Fount of Life; come Flame of Love.

As once on Christ the Servant’s head
the oil of sevenfold grace you shed,
so now anoint from love’s deep springs
your chosen prophets, priests and kings.

Of ev’ry gift the living source,
of mighty deeds the unseen force,
the Father sends his promised One
to speak for all who serve his Son.

Keep far all those who wish us ill,
O Dove of Peace, be with us still,
in ev’ry danger at our side
O Friend, befriend us; be our guide.

Reveal to us the Father’s love,
reveal his Son, who reigns above.
To truth, O Truth, make us all true;
in love, O Love, make all things new.

James Quinn S J, based on Veni, Creator Spiritus
(Tune: LM)

This opening prayer may be said

That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,
let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence is kept.

As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,
so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts
and set us free to sing your praise
now and for ever.
AllAmen.

The Word of God

Psalmody

The appointed psalmody is said.

Psalm 139

Refrain: Search me out, O God, and know my heart.

1 O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; ♦
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

2 You mark out my journeys and my resting place ♦
and are acquainted with all my ways.

3 For there is not a word on my tongue, ♦
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4 You encompass me behind and before ♦
and lay your hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, ♦
so high that I cannot attain it. R

6 Where can I go then from your spirit? ♦
Or where can I flee from your presence?

7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; ♦
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning ♦
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

9 Even there your hand shall lead me, ♦
your right hand hold me fast.

10 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me ♦
and the light around me turn to night,’

11 Even darkness is no darkness with you;
the night is as clear as the day; ♦
darkness and light to you are both alike. R

12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; ♦
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

13 I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; ♦
marvellous are your works, my soul knows well.

14 My frame was not hidden from you, ♦
when I was made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.

15 Your eyes beheld my form, as yet unfinished; ♦
already in your book were all my members written,

16 As day by day they were fashioned ♦
when as yet there was none of them.

17 How deep are your counsels to me, O God! ♦
How great is the sum of them!

18 If I count them, they are more in number than the sand, ♦
and at the end, I am still in your presence. R

19 O that you would slay the wicked, O God, ♦
that the bloodthirsty might depart from me!

20 They speak against you with wicked intent; ♦
your enemies take up your name for evil.

21 Do I not oppose those, O Lord, who oppose you? ♦
Do I not abhor those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with a perfect hatred; ♦
they have become my own enemies also.

23 Search me out, O God, and know my heart; ♦
try me and examine my thoughts.

24 See if there is any way of wickedness in me ♦
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Refrain: Search me out, O God, and know my heart.

Creator God,
may every breath we take be for your glory,
may every footstep show you as our way,
that, trusting in your presence in this world,
we may, beyond this life, still be with you
where you are alive and reign
for ever and ever.

Each psalm or group of psalms may end with

AllGlory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

If there are two Scripture readings, the first may be read here, or both may be read after the canticle.

Deuteronomy 32.15-47

Jacob ate his fill;
   Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked.
   You grew fat, bloated, and gorged!
He abandoned God who made him,
   and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
They made him jealous with strange gods,
   with abhorrent things they provoked him.
They sacrificed to demons, not God,
   to deities they had never known,
to new ones recently arrived,
   whom your ancestors had not feared.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you;
   you forgot the God who gave you birth.

The Lord saw it, and was jealous;
   he spurned his sons and daughters.
He said: I will hide my face from them,
   I will see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,
   children in whom there is no faithfulness.
They made me jealous with what is no god,
   provoked me with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with what is no people,
   provoke them with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled by my anger,
   and burns to the depths of Sheol;
it devours the earth and its increase,
   and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap disasters upon them,
   spend my arrows against them:
wasting hunger,
   burning consumption,
   bitter pestilence.
The teeth of beasts I will send against them,
   with venom of things crawling in the dust.
In the street the sword shall bereave,
   and in the chambers terror,
for young man and woman alike,
   nursing child and old grey head.
I thought to scatter them
   and blot out the memory of them from humankind;
but I feared provocation by the enemy,
   for their adversaries might misunderstand
and say, ‘Our hand is triumphant;
   it was not the Lord who did all this.’

They are a nation void of sense;
   there is no understanding in them.
If they were wise, they would understand this;
   they would discern what the end would be.
How could one have routed a thousand,
   and two put a myriad to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
   the Lord had given them up?
Indeed their rock is not like our Rock;
   our enemies are fools.
Their vine comes from the vine-stock of Sodom,
   from the vineyards of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison,
   their clusters are bitter;
their wine is the poison of serpents,
   the cruel venom of asps.

Is not this laid up in store with me,
   sealed up in my treasuries?
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
   for the time when their foot shall slip;
because the day of their calamity is at hand,
   their doom comes swiftly.

Indeed the Lord will vindicate his people,
   have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone,
   neither bond nor free remaining.
Then he will say: Where are their gods,
   the rock in which they took refuge,
who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
   and drank the wine of their libations?
Let them rise up and help you,
   let them be your protection!

See now that I, even I, am he;
   there is no god besides me.
I kill and I make alive;
   I wound and I heal;
   and no one can deliver from my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven,
   and swear: As I live for ever,
when I whet my flashing sword,
   and my hand takes hold on judgement;
I will take vengeance on my adversaries,
   and will repay those who hate me.
I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
   and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
   from the long-haired enemy.

Praise, O heavens, his people,
   worship him, all you gods!
For he will avenge the blood of his children,
   and take vengeance on his adversaries;
he will repay those who hate him,
   and cleanse the land for his people.

Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua son of Nun. When Moses had finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them: ‘Take to heart all the words that I am giving in witness against you today; give them as a command to your children, so that they may diligently observe all the words of this law. This is no trifling matter for you, but rather your very life; through it you may live long in the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess.’

Canticle

A Song of God’s Children, or another suitable canticle, for example, number 60 or number 63, may be said

Refrain:

AllThe Spirit of the Father,
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead,
gives life to the people of God. Alleluia.

1The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus ♦
has set us free from the law of sin and death.

2All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God; ♦
for we have received the Spirit that enables us to cry, ‘Abba, Father’.

3The Spirit himself bears witness that we are children of God ♦
and if God’s children, then heirs of God;

4If heirs of God, then fellow-heirs with Christ; ♦
since we suffer with him now, that we may be glorified with him.

5These sufferings that we now endure ♦
are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed.

6For the creation waits with eager longing ♦
for the revealing of the children of God.

Romans 8.2, 14, 15b-19

AllGlory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

AllThe Spirit of the Father,
who raised Christ Jesus from the dead,
gives life to the people of God. Alleluia.

Scripture Reading

One or more readings appointed for the day are read.

The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence.

1 John 4.1-6

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

A suitable song or chant, or a responsory in this or another form, may follow

When you send forth your Spirit, we are created;
you renew the face of the earth.
AllWhen you send forth your Spirit, we are created;
you renew the face of the earth.
O Lord, how manifold are your works;
in wisdom you have made them all.
AllYou renew the face of the earth.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit.
AllWhen you send forth your Spirit, we are created;
you renew the face of the earth.
from Psalm 104

Gospel Canticle

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary) is normally said, or Great and Wonderful may be said

Refrain:

AllHow excellent is your name in all the world,
you have set your glory above the heavens. Alleluia.

1My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; ♦
he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.

2From this day all generations will call me blessed; ♦
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his name.

3He has mercy on those who fear him, ♦
from generation to generation.

4He has shown strength with his arm ♦
and has scattered the proud in their conceit,

5Casting down the mighty from their thrones ♦
and lifting up the lowly.

6He has filled the hungry with good things ♦
and sent the rich away empty.

7He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, ♦
to remember his promise of mercy,

8The promise made to our ancestors, ♦
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Luke 1.46-55

AllGlory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Refrain:

AllHow excellent is your name in all the world,
you have set your glory above the heavens. Alleluia.

Prayers

Thanksgiving may be made for the day.

Intercessions are offered
¶ for peace
¶ for individuals and their needs

Prayers may include the following concerns from the cycle on pages 364–365

¶ God’s royal priesthood, for empowerment by the Spirit
¶ Those who wait on God, that they may find renewal
¶ All people, that they may acknowledge the kingdom of the ascended Christ
¶ The earth, for productivity and for fruitful harvests
¶ All who are struggling with broken relationships

A form of prayer found on page 383 may be used.

These responses may be used

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer

(or)

Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.

Silence may be kept.

The Collect of the day is said

O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
AllAmen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said

Being made one by the power of the Spirit,
as our Saviour taught us, so we pray

AllOur 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.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.

(or)

Being made one by the power of the Spirit,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us

AllOur Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

The Conclusion

May the Spirit kindle in us the fire of God’s love.
AllAmen.

Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.
AllThanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.