OPENING SENTENCES
The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. Habakkuk 2:20
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.
Silence for reflection
He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. Amen.
Lord, open our lips. *
And our mouths shall proclaim your praise!
MORNING PSALM
Psalm 88
O LORD, my God, my Savior, *
by day and night I cry to you.
Let my prayer enter into your presence; *
incline your ear to my lamentation.
For I am full of trouble; *
my life is at the brink of the grave.
I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; *
I have become like one who has no strength;
Lost among the dead, *
like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom you remember no more, *
for they are cut off from your hand.
You have laid me in the depths of the Pit, *
in dark places, and in the abyss.
Your anger weighs upon me heavily, *
and all your great waves overwhelm me.
You have put my friends far from me;
you have made me to be abhorred by them; *
I am in prison and cannot get free.
My sight has failed me because of trouble; *
LORD, I have called upon you daily;
I have stretched out my hands to you.
Do you work wonders for the dead? *
will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?
Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? *
your faithfulness in the land of destruction?
Will your wonders be known in the dark? *
or your righteousness in the country where all
is forgotten?
But as for me, O LORD, I cry to you for help; *
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
LORD, why have you rejected me? *
why have you hidden your face from me?
Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the
point of death; *
I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.
Your blazing anger has swept over me; *
your terrors have destroyed me;
They surround me all day long like a flood; *
they encompass me on every side.
My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, *
and darkness is my only companion.
Lord Jesus, author of our salvation and redeemer of all, for us you descended to the dead and broke the grip of death. Hear the prayers of your family, and lift us from our slavery in evil, that we may be set free to see your Father's glory now and forever.
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.
MORNING SONG
For the Beauty of the Earth - Midwestern Hymnal
MORNING LESSONS
For those not receiving Evening Prayer emails, the lectionary OT & NT Lessons for today are Joel 2:28-3:8; James 1:16-27.
Luke 16:1-9
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
Silence for reflection
CONCLUDING PRAYER
In the morning, pray for:
the day and its tasks
the world and its needs
the Church and her life
Conclude with the Lord's Prayer and/or the following Collect:
O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord. *
Thanks be to God!