ADVENT I Thursday

 December 1st– We add the image of Abraham to the Jesse Tree

SERVICE OF LIGHT

Greeting/Invocation

Each evening this week, we light the First Candle on the Advent Wreath, and say or sing:

Light and Peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!

~Thanks be to God!

 

Let your face shine on us, O God;

~And we shall be saved.

 

ADVENT EVENING HYMN

All may sing or alternate the verses of an Advent Hymn such as Comfort My People.

Comfort my people and quiet her fear, Tell her the time of salvation draws near.

Tell her I come to remove all her shame, ‘She that is pitied’ shall be her new name.

 

Say to the cities of Judah: “Behold! Gentle yet mighty the arm of the Lord

Rescues the captives of darkness and sin Bringing them justice and joy without end.

 

Mountains and hills shall become as a plain; Vanished are mourning and hunger and pain;

Never again shall these war against you; See Love comes quickly to make all things new!”

Text: Based on Isaiah 40,  Tune: COMFORT MY PEOPLE, St. Joseph’s Abbey, 1967.

 

 

SERVICE OF THE WORD

PSALMODY

An Advent Antiphon may be sung with the Evening  Psalm.

 Break forth together in shouts of joy, for Adonai has taken pity on this people.

Psalm 32/33a

Shout joy to the ONE, O you just,
Those who love can’t help but sing praise.

 

Give thanks plucking strings of your harp,
On a lute with ten strings sing your psalms.
O sing a song that is new
Play loudly with the best of your skill.

 

For the Word of the Creator is Truth,
And all creation reflects Its Beauty.
This Lover of justice and truth
Fills the Earth with great love.

 

With a Word, the heavens are made,
With a Breath, all the stars appear;
The waves of the sea are collected
And stored as a treasure in the deep.  

 

May all peoples be astounded,
All on earth stand in wonder and awe!
When Love speaks, creation is freed;
All that is– springs into being.

 

To plan without Love leads to nothing;
Such designs will crumble and fall.
Love’s design will stand forever,
The plans of Compassion for ages.

 

Glory to the ONE and to the WORD

and to the BREATH of Love;

as always before, 

so now and evermore. Amen.

 

Break forth together in shouts of joy, for Adonai has taken pity on this people.

 

 

READING:  Isaiah 11: 8-9

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall like down with the kid,

the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.  They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Adonai as the waters cover the sea.

The Word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God

 

Responsory:

R. Adonai will come to save this people; *and God’s own Self will be our peace.

V. On that promised day all the peaks will drip with newest wine and the hills shall flow with milk and honey. *and God’s own Self will be our peace.

V. Glory to the Abba and to the Word and to the Breath of Love.

 

 

Canticle  of Mary

Antiphon

With a strong sober thirst my soul attends,
T’is time that heart and voice be lifted high,

Salvation to all that love is nigh, alleluia.

My heart +  is radiant with Adonai,

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 the WORD

and to the BREATH of Love;

as always before, 

so now and evermore. Amen.

With a strong sober thirst my soul attends,
T’is time that heart and voice be lifted high,

Salvation to all who love is nigh, alleluia.

 

SERVICE OF PRAYER

 

Intercessory Prayer

Let us call on the the One who is to come, the happiness of all who wait for God’s Reign:

Come, O Love, do not delay.

 

We wait in joyful hope

For your Love to appear again.

 

You created the world, freeing all things to be;

Walk with us now in beauty and peace.

 

You came to share life to the full

Free all creation to flourish together.

 

You gather all in your loving embrace

Show us again your radiant face.

 

Prayer of Jesus

Gathering our prayers and praise into one, we pray as Jesus taught the disciples:

Our Father …

 

 

Closing Prayer & Blessing

Stir up your love, O Jesus, and come. As a mother hen spreads her wings to gather her brood, extend your arms to gather and protect us.  Free us to bring the warmth of your love to a world freezing in loneliness and fear.  For yours is the glory and power of Love, now and forever.  Amen.

 

May God + bless us, protect us from evil and bring us to everlasting life.  Amen.

Let us bless Adonai.   ~Thanks be to God.

 

 

Those who wish may complete Evening Prayer with the Marian Antiphon for the Season.

Loving Mother of our Savior, holding open heaven’s only hope, Star for steerage in this vastness, rise to help us, save the sinking.  Nature’s greatest  Wonder: you have borne your own true Maker, giving human life to him. Virgin ever, before and after, that Good News from Gabriel, Word of Life for living, tell it now: mercy to all people!