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SERVICE OF LIGHT

Greeting/Invocation

 We light the Evening Candle and say or sing:

Light and Peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!

~Thanks be to God!

Stay with us Lord for it is evening,

~And the day is almost over.

TUESDAY EVENING HYMN

Life, never bounded or constrained,

tamed chaos, took the flood in hand,

determined these should now recede

and bare what would become the land.

 

And so, this day, their bound’ries set,

God named one “Earth!” the other “Sea!”

And then, beholding both were good,

Love’s eye was drawn to shrub and tree.

 

Life thus addressed our Mother Earth,

and charged her: “Color, bloom and root!

Be lavish in the gifts you bear

of greening forests, plants and fruit!”

 

And so it was and it was good!

Our planet’s splendors stood untrod;

each peak, each valley, plain and pond

poured forth its poetry to God.

 

Thus evening came and morning came

the third day, when our Earth first breathed;

so fragile, faithful, fruitful, free:

by Life sustained, by Love conceived!  Amen.

_{Text: Aelred-Seton Shanley; Tune: O KINDLY MAKER, L.M. Gethsemani Abbey (1971)}

SERVICE OF THE WORD

PSALMODY

 Antiphon

Let the Earth and all she bears rejoice;

All the trees of the woods and orchards clap their hands!

Psalm 97/98

 Sing a new song to Adonai,

the God of wonderful deeds;

whose right hand and holy arm

have brought salvation.

 

God has made the victory known

and has revealed justice to the nations,

Remembering both truth and love

for the house of Israel.

 

All the ends of Earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

Shout to Adonai, O Earth,

ring out your joy!

 

Sing praise to God with the harp,

with strings and the sound of music.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn

acclaim our Sovereign God!

 

Let the sea and its creatures roar,

the world and all its creatures.

Let the rivers clap their hands

and the hills ring out  their joy

at the presence of Adonai, who comes,

who comes to rule the Earth.

 

God will rule the world with justice

and govern the peoples with fairness.

 

Glory to the ONE and to the WORD

And to the BREATH of Love;

as always before,

so now and evermore. Amen.

Let the Earth and all she bears rejoice;

All the trees of the woods and orchards clap their hands!

Reading   ROMANS 12: 1-2

Brothers and Sisters, I beg of you through the mercy of God

to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your ind, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

Responsory

R. The earth has yielded her fruit, * God, our God has blessed us.   V. The meadows are covered with fruit trees, the valleys are decked with wheat. * God, our God has blessed us. V. Glory to the ONE, to the WORD, and to the Holy BREATH of Life.

Gospel Canticle of Mary

Antiphon

“Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
Rebuke for us this stormy sea,
and bring to us a great calm.

It is customary to make the sign of the cross at the beginning of the Gospel Canticle.

My heart + is radiant with the Lord,

My whole being delights in God my Savior.

 

All people now will call me blessed

For God has loved this humble handmaid.

The Almighty has shown me great favor

Holy is the NAME,

 

Whose mercy embraces the faithful,

From one generation to the next.

The mighty arm of God,

Scatters the proud in their own conceit,

 

Pulls tyrants from their thrones

While lifting up the lowly:

Fills the famished with bounty,

And reveals the emptiness of riches.

 

Rescues lowly Israel,

Sharing such loving kindness,

As promised to our ancestors

To Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants forever.

 

Glory to the ONE and to  WORD

And to the BREATH of Love!

As always before,

so now and evermore.  Amen

“Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
Rebuke for us this stormy sea,
and bring to us a great calm.

 

SERVICE OF PRAYER

Litany of Intercession

For all who hunger–whose lives are endangered by lack of fresh fruit and vegetables–whose families and livestock are perishing from lack of vegetation,

~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

For all whose poverty force them to survive on grains and vegetables when they can find them, and for those who willingly adopt this simple diet so others may simply live,

~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

For all who work closely with soil–farmers, scientists, and gardeners–who recognize its fragile beauty and strive to restore its natural balance,

~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

For those who farm and garden the Earth using permaculture and other sustainable methods that harmonize with the life of entire ecosystems,

~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

For those who hoard the produce of the land, who build larger barns and funnel grains and greens that could feed the whole world into the unsustainable production of pork, beef and poultry to satisfy the cravings of the elite,

~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

 

For those who hunger for meaning, cut off from the life-giving and sustaining love of God manifest in the cycle of life in all its paradox and diversity,

~God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Prayer of Jesus

Our Father …

Closing Prayer & Blessing

Creator God, we stand in wonder and awe before Mother Earth, whom you invited to join you in the on-going work of Creation; and now each peak, valley, field and pond pours forth its poetry of gratitude and praise.   As we celebrate  the appearance of dry land and the birth of plants and vegetation on this third day of the week, give us the wisdom and will to care for and conserve the Earth and the many life forms to which she has given birth.   May we join the trees in clapping our hands and join all your saints in singing your praise, for yours is the love, the power and the glory now and forever.  Amen.

May the God of all creation +   bless us with a hunger and thirst for justice.   Amen.

Let us bless Adonai!    ~And give thanks to God.

Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Salve Regina

Marian Antiphon

Mother of Mercy, Our Queen we greet you. Our life, our hope, our happiness we hail you. We call to you as Eve’s own children, and exiles.  To you we lift our hearts in sorrow and fear,  in this valley of tears.  Turn then, our loving Advocate, and look with favor upon us.  And after our life in exile, show us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.  O gracious, O loving, O Virgin benign, our Mother Mary.

 

Pray for us, Holy Mother of God ~ That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

 

Let us pray.  Holy, Mighty and Immortal God, through the working of the Holy Spirit, you prepared the body and soul of the glorious virgin Mother Mary, as a worthy dwelling for your Word; grant that we, who celebrate her memory each evening, may with the help of her prayers, be freed from ever-present evil, and come to share the fulness of life eternal.   Amen.