Wednesday 4 June 2014

Night Prayer - June 4

Petroc, Abbot of Padstow, 6th century

O God, make speed to save us. O Lord, make haste to help us.
Send your Holy Spirit upon us, and clothe us with power from on high. Alleluia..

Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, to you be glory and praise for ever.
Raised to your right hand on high
the ascended Christ shows the prints of love and bestows on us the gifts of grace.
As your Spirit renews the face of the earth,
may we bring forth the fruit of the Spirit and reveal your glory in all the world.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for ever.

A Song of God’s Greatness
Creator Spirit, Lord of grace, come, make in us your dwelling place;
O purest Light, in darkness shine; fill loveless hearts, O Love Divine.

Consoler, hear your people’s cry; come down, O Gift of God, Most High.
Descend in peace, O heav’nly Dove; come Fount of Life; come Flame of Love.

As once on Christ the Servant’s head the oil of sevenfold grace you shed,
so now anoint from love’s deep springs your chosen prophets, priests and kings.

Of ev’ry gift the living source, of mighty deeds the unseen force,
the Father sends his promised One to speak for all who serve his Son.

Keep far all those who wish us ill, O Dove of Peace, be with us still,
in ev’ry danger at our side O Friend, befriend us; be our guide.

Reveal to us the Father’s love, reveal his Son, who reigns above.
To truth, O Truth, make us all true; in love, O Love, make all things new.

That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful, let us pray with one heart and mind.

A time of silent reflection upon the day now past.

As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,
so may your mercy come down upon us to cleanse our hearts
and set us free to sing your praise now and for ever. Amen.

Psalm 36
Sin whispers to the wicked, in the depths of their heart; there is no fear of God before their eyes.
They flatter themselves in their own eyes that their abominable sin will not be found out.
Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens and your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness stands like the strong mountains, your justice like the great deep; you, Lord, shall save both man and beast.

How precious is your loving mercy, O God! All mortal flesh shall take refuge under the shadow of your wings. They shall be satisfied with the abundance of your house; they shall drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the well of life and in your light shall we see light.

O continue your loving-kindness to those who know you and your righteousness to those who are true of heart. Let not the foot of pride come against me, nor the hand of the ungodly thrust me away. There are they fallen, all who work wickedness. They are cast down and shall not be able to stand.

Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains tremble in the heart of the sea; Though the waters rage and swell, and though the mountains quake at the towering seas. There is a river whose streams make glad the city  of God, the holy place of the dwelling of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; therefore shall she not be removed; God shall help her at the break of day.

The nations are in uproar and the kingdoms are shaken, but God utters his voice and the earth shall melt away.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come and behold the works of the Lord, what destruction he has wrought upon the earth. He makes wars to cease in all the world; he shatters the bow and snaps the spear and burns the chariots in the fire.

‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.’

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

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.


Deuteronomy 31.30-32.14
Then Moses recited the words of this song, to the very end, in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:

Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
May my teaching drop like the rain, my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain on grass, like showers on new growth.
For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!

The Rock, his work is perfect, and all his ways are just.
A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he; yet his degenerate children have dealt falsely with him, a perverse and crooked generation.

Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

Remember the days of old, consider the years long past; ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods; the Lord’s own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.

He sustained him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, and hovers over its young; as it spreads its wings, takes them up, and bears them aloft on its pinions, the Lord alone guided him; no foreign god was with him. He set him upon the heights of the land, and fed him with produce of the field; he nursed him with honey from the crags, with oil from flinty rock; curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs and rams; Bashan bulls and goats, together with the choicest wheat - you drank fine wine from the blood of grapes.

1 John 3.11-end
For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

The Magnificat
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed; the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.
He has mercy on those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm and has scattered the proud in their conceit, casting down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, to remember his promise of mercy,
The promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children for ever.
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.


A time of prayer when thanks for the day, and intercessions, are made.

Intercessions are offered for peace and for individuals and their needs

The Collect
O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Being made one by the power of the Spirit, as our Saviour taught us, so we pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom 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.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

May the Spirit kindle in us the fire of God’s love. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.
Thanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.

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