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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.
Evening Hymn
O Splendor of Eternal Light, Who in full glory dwell on high,
The world began as light from Light, all goodness in the Abba’s sight.
Upon the twilight chaos played Your Wisdom forming night and day.
As night descends to you we sing To hover near on brooding wing.
Forgive the sins we cannot bear, Lest, overwhelmed by earthly care,
The mind forget eternal life, And dwell in exile from its light.
Let Heaven’s Spirit pulse within To purge away all grievous sin,
Thus, casting ev’ry fear away, We take by storm high heaven’s gate.
O Loving Abba, hear our cry, through Jesus Christ our Love most high,
Whom in the Spirit we adore, Who reigns with you forevermore. Amen.
SERVICE OF THE WORD
Evening Psalm
Antiphon/Refrain
Let my prayer come before you like incense
the raising of my hands like an evening oblation.
Psalm 140/141
I call for your help, O Adonai,
Listen to me when I call to you.
God, I cry to you, listen to my prayer,
I am invoking you.
Keep me from evil, watch over me.
Set a guard at the door of my lips.
Do not turn my heart to things that are wrong,
to evil deeds with those who are sinners.
Never allow me to share in the feasts of the wicked;
Let those who are good correct me with kindness.
Keep the favor of the wicked from anointing my head,
My prayer stands as protection from their malice.
From the trap they have laid for me keep me safe;
keep me from the snares of those who do evil.
Let the wicked be stopped by the traps they have set
while I pursue my way unharmed.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
and to the BREATH of Love
As always before, so now and ever more, Amen.
Let my prayer come before you like incense
the raising of my hands like an evening oblation.
Reading Exodus 22:23-26
Thus says Adonai:
“You shall not molest or oppress an alien,
for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.
You shall not wrong any widow or orphan.
If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,
I will surely hear their cry.
Responsory
R. Those who oppress the migrant or widow insult their Maker; *those who are kind to the needy honor God. V. God has chosen those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the reign of God *those who are kind to the needy honor God. V. Glory to the Abba and to the Word and to the Holy Breath of Love.
Gospel Antiphon
Love Adonai, your God with all your heart,
al your soul and all your mind.
Then love your neighbor as yourself, alleluia!
Canticle from Philippians 2: 6-11
Though he was in the form of God
Jesus did not snatch at equality with God.
He emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of human beings.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself,
and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name above every name.
That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth.
And every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
And to the BREATH of Love
As always before, so now and evermore, Amen.
Love Adonai, your God with all your heart,
al your soul and all your mind.
Then love your neighbor as yourself, alleluia!
SERVICE OF PRAYER
Litany of Intercession
When you are hungry and we discuss food deserts and proper nutrition for the poor… ~ Forgive us O God.
When you are in prison and we insist on tougher sentencing for crimes and the building of more prisons… ~ Forgive us O God.
When you are naked and we debate the morality of your appearance… ~ Forgive us O God.
When you are sick or injured and we cross to the other side of the road while thanking God for our own health… ~ Forgive us O God.
When you are homeless and we build mansions for ourselves while proclaiming we are poor in spirit … ~ Forgive us O God.
When you are lonely, isolated or marginalized and we avoid being with you by promising to pray for you… ~ Forgive us O God.
When we seem so holy, so close to God– but you are still very hungry, and lonely and cold… ~ Forgive us O God.
Prayer of Jesus
Our Dear Abba in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kin-dom 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.
Do not bring us to the test but deliver us from evil;
For the kin-dom the power and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Closing Prayer & Blessing
God of Day and God of Darkness, the harmony and balance of creation reveal the mystery of your love. Through the change of seasons you enable Mother Earth to give birth to a wondrous diversity of landscapes and life-forms, winds and weather, creatures and crops. Help us to recognize and honor the holiness of each earthly being and the communion we share with all things so that our ways of living and loving may lead to the freedom, flourishing and fullness of life for people and the rest of your beloved creation. For yours is the power and the glory of love, now and forever. ~Amen.
May the God who blesses creation with times and seasons + bless us with reverence and love for all people and all Earthkind. ~Amen
Let us bless Adonai. ~Thanks be to God.
Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Marian Antiphon.
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 heart 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, O 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.