OPENING SENTENCES
If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night," darkness is not dark to you, O Lord; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike. Psalm 139:10, 11
CONFESSION OF SIN
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
Evening Examen: Was there time today when I felt guilty, ashamed, or lonely? What was most joyful about my day? Let God guide you as you reflect on your day by asking him for light, grace, and gratitude.
O God, make speed to save us. *
O Lord, make haste to help us.
EVENING PSALM
PSALM 35
Fight those who fight me, O Lord; *
attack those who are attacking me.
Take up shield and armor *
and rise up to help me.
Draw the sword and bar the way against those
who pursue me; *
say to my soul, "I am your salvation."
Let those who seek after my life be shamed and humbled; *
let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed.
Let them be like chaff before the wind, *
and let the angel of the Lord drive them away.
Let their way be dark and slippery, *
and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; *
without a cause they have dug a pit to take me alive.
Let ruin come upon them unawares; *
let them be caught in the net they hid;
let them fall into the pit they dug.
Then I will be joyful in the Lord; *
I will glory in his victory.
My very bones will say, "Lord, who is like you? *
You deliver the poor from those who are too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them."
Malicious witnesses rise up against me; *
they charge me with matters I know nothing about.
They pay me evil in exchange for good; *
my soul is full of despair.
But when they were sick I dressed in sack-cloth *
and humbled myself by fasting;
I prayed with my whole heart,
as one would for a friend or a brother; *
I behaved like one who mourns for his mother,
bowed down and grieving.
But when I stumbled, they were glad and gathered together;
they gathered against me; *
strangers whom I did not know tore me to pieces and
would not stop.
They put me to the test and mocked me; *
they gnashed at me with their teeth.
O Lord, how long will you look on? *
rescue me from the roaring beasts,
and my life from the young lions.
I will give you thanks in the great congregation; *
I will praise you in the mighty throng.
Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over me, *
nor let those who hate me without a cause
wink at each other.
For they do not plan for peace, *
but invent deceitful schemes against the
quiet in the land.
They opened their mouths at me and said, *
"Aha! we saw it with our own eyes."
You saw it, O Lord; do not be silent; *
O Lord, be not far from me.
Awake, arise, to my cause! *
to my defense, my God and my Lord!
Give me justice, O Lord my God,
according to your righteousness; *
do not let them triumph over me.
Do not let them say in their hearts,
"Aha! just what we want!" *
Do not let them say, "We have swallowed him up."
Let all who rejoice at my ruin be ashamed and disgraced; *
let those who boast against me be clothed with
dismay and shame.
Let those who favor my cause sing out with joy and be glad; *
let them say always, "Great is the Lord,
who desires the prosperity of his servant."
And my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness *
and of your praise all the day long.
Lord God, you rose to the aid of your beloved Son against those who unjustly sought his life. Look on your Church as we journey to you, and rescue the poor from their oppressors, that they may tell of your righteousness and your praise; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Glory 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.
EVENING SONG
I Shall Not Want - Audrey Assad
EVENING LESSONS
GENESIS 11:27—12:8
Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,
Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord.
HEBREWS 7:1-17
This “King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him”; and to him Abraham apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.” Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. See how great he is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal; in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
Now if perfection had been attainable through the levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under this priesthood—what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
CONCLUDING PRAYER
In the evening, pray for:
peace
individuals and their needs
Conclude with the Lord's Prayer and/or the following Collect for the Second Week of Epiphany:
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord. *
Thanks be to God!
The Almighty and merciful Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless us and keep us. Amen.