O God, make speed to save us.
AllO Lord, make haste to help us.
The Blessing of Light (page 110) may replace the Preparation at Evening Prayer on any occasion.
One or more of the following is said or sung:
A prayer of thanksgiving (page 110),
Blessed are you, Lord God, creator of day and night:
to you be praise and glory for ever.
As darkness falls you renew your promise
to reveal among us the light of your presence.
By the light of Christ, your living Word,
dispel the darkness of our hearts
that we may walk as children of light
and sing your praise throughout the world.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
AllBlessed be God for ever.
or a suitable hymn,
or A Song of God’s Light
1The Lord is my light
and my salvation;
whom then shall I fear? ♦
The Lord is the strength of my life;
of whom then shall I be afraid?
2Though a host encamp
against me,
my heart shall not be afraid, ♦
and though there rise up war against me,
yet will I put my trust in him.
3One thing have I asked
of the Lord
and that alone I seek: ♦
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
4To behold the fair beauty
of the Lord ♦
and to seek his will in his temple.
5For in the day of trouble
he shall hide me in his shelter; ♦
in the secret place of his dwelling shall he hide me
and set me high upon a rock.
6Therefore will I offer
in his dwelling an oblation
with great gladness; ♦
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Psalm 27.1, 3-6, 8
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.
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 appointed psalmody is said.
Refrain: O praise the name of the Lord.
1 Alleluia.
Praise the Lord from the heavens; ♦
praise him in the heights.
2 Praise him, all you his angels; ♦
praise him, all his host.
3 Praise him, sun and moon; ♦
praise him, all you stars of light.
4 Praise him, heaven of heavens, ♦
and you waters above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord; ♦
for he commanded and they were created.
6 He made them fast for ever and ever; ♦
he gave them a law which shall not pass away. R
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, ♦
you sea monsters and all deeps;
8 Fire and hail, snow and mist, ♦
tempestuous wind, fulfilling his word;
9 Mountains and all hills, ♦
fruit trees and all cedars;
10 Wild beasts and all cattle, ♦
creeping things and birds on the wing;
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, ♦
princes and all rulers of the world;
12 Young men and women,
old and young together; ♦
let them praise the name of the Lord.
13 For his name only is exalted, ♦
his splendour above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up the horn of his people
and praise for all his faithful servants, ♦
the children of Israel, a people who are near him.
Alleluia.
Refrain: O praise the name of the Lord.
O glorious God,
your whole creation sings your marvellous work;
may heaven’s praise so echo in our hearts
that we may be good stewards of the earth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Refrain: Sound praises to the Lord, all the earth.
1 Alleluia.
O sing to the Lord a new song; ♦
sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their maker; ♦
let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance; ♦
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and lyre.
4 For the Lord has pleasure in his people ♦
and adorns the poor with salvation. R
5 Let the faithful be joyful in glory; ♦
let them rejoice in their ranks,
6 With the praises of God in their mouths ♦
and a two-edged sword in their hands;
7 To execute vengeance on the nations ♦
and punishment on the peoples;
8 To bind their kings in chains ♦
and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute on them the judgement decreed: ♦
such honour have all his faithful servants.
Alleluia.
Refrain: Sound praises to the Lord, all the earth.
Glorious and redeeming God,
give us hearts to praise you all our days
and wills to reject the world’s deceits,
that we may bind the evils of our age
and proclaim the good news of salvation
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Refrain: Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
1 Alleluia.
O praise God in his holiness; ♦
praise him in the firmament of his power.
2 Praise him for his mighty acts; ♦
praise him according to his excellent greatness. R
3 Praise him with the blast of the trumpet; ♦
praise him upon the harp and lyre.
4 Praise him with timbrel and dances; ♦
praise him upon the strings and pipe. R
5 Praise him with ringing cymbals; ♦
praise him upon the clashing cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath ♦
praise the Lord.
Alleluia.
Refrain: Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
God of life and love,
whose Son was victorious over sin and death,
make us alive with his life,
that the whole world may resound with your praise;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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.
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.’ So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, ‘Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people, so that I may know how many there are.’ But Joab said to the king, ‘May the Lord your God increase the number of the people a hundredfold, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see it! But why does my lord the king want to do this?’ But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to take a census of the people of Israel. They crossed the Jordan, and began from Aroer and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, towards Gad and on to Jazer. Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went round to Sidon, and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beer-sheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. Joab reported to the king the number of those who had been recorded: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand soldiers able to draw the sword, and those of Judah were five hundred thousand.
But afterwards, David was stricken to the heart because he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.’ When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, ‘Go and say to David: Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’ So Gad came to David and told him; he asked him, ‘Shall three years of famine come to you on your land? Or will you flee for three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.’ Then David said to Gad, ‘I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into human hands.’
So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from that morning until the appointed time; and seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba. But when the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was bringing destruction among the people, ‘It is enough; now stay your hand.’ The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was destroying the people, he said to the Lord, ‘I alone have sinned, and I alone have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.’
That day Gad came to David and said to him, ‘Go up and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’ Following Gad’s instructions, David went up, as the Lord had commanded. When Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming towards him; and Araunah went out and prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground. Araunah said, ‘Why has my lord the king come to his servant?’ David said, ‘To buy the threshing-floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague may be averted from the people.’ Then Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.’ And Araunah said to the king, ‘May the Lord your God respond favourably to you.’
But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt-offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and offerings of well-being. So the Lord answered his supplication for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
A Song of God’s Love, or another suitable canticle, for example, number 53 (page 606), may be said
Refrain:
AllGod’s love was revealed
among us
so that we might live through Jesus. Alleluia.
1Beloved, let us love
one another,
for love is of God; ♦
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
2Whoever does not love
does not know God, ♦
for God is love.
3In this the love of
God was revealed among us, ♦
that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through him.
4In this is love,
not that we loved God but that he loved us, ♦
and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.
5Beloved, since God loved
us so much, ♦
we ought also to love one another.
6For if we love one another,
God abides in us, ♦
and God’s love will be perfected in us.
1 John 4.7-11, 12b
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.
AllGod’s love was revealed
among us
so that we might live through Jesus. Alleluia.
One or more readings appointed for the day are read.
The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence.
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the ruler, and Saul. While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John also to assist them. When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. But the magician Elymas (for that is the translation of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now listen—the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.’ Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.
A suitable song or chant, or a responsory in this or another form, may follow
Your salvation is near to those who fear you;
that glory may dwell in our land.
AllYour salvation is near
to those who fear you;
that glory may dwell in our land.
Mercy and truth have met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
AllThat glory may dwell
in our land.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit.
AllYour salvation is near
to those who fear you;
that glory may dwell in our land.
from Psalm 85
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary) is normally said,
or A Song of Praise (page 627)
may be said
Refrain:
All
Those who gave up their lives for Christ and followed in the Way
rejoice with God now and for ever. 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:
All
Those who gave up their lives for Christ and followed in the Way
rejoice with God now and for ever. Alleluia.
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 362–363
¶ Our homes, families, friends and all whom
we love
¶ Those whose time is spent caring for others
¶ Those who are close to death
¶ Those who have lost hope
¶ The worship of the Church
One of the forms of prayer found on pages 362–371 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
Almighty God,
whose only Son has opened for us
a new and living way into your presence:
give us pure hearts and steadfast wills
to worship you in spirit and in truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
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
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)
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.
All The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit,
be with us all evermore.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.
AllThanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.
©
The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, 2000–2005
Official Common Worship apps, books and eBooks are available from
Church House Publishing.
The Bible readings (other than the psalms) are from The New Revised Standard Version Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Implemented by Simon Kershaw at
Crucix.
Implementation copyright © Simon Kershaw, 2002–2021.