Daily Prayer from the Anglican Prayer Book for Australia
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
Saturday Evening - 25 November 2023
Saturday Evening Prayer 25th November 2023; Readings: Psalm 64, 67; Ecclesiastes 7.14–29; Revelation 10.
Led by Felicity Scott, Liturgical Assistant at St John the Baptist Anglican Church Bulimba, QLD, Australia.
Prayer Transcript:
Welcome to Saturday evening prayer according to the Anglican ‘A prayer book for Australia’.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Blessed be God forever;
Let us pray.
1
Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1.2
Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.
2 The Opening Canticle, A Song of the Shepherd
The Lord is my shepherd:
therefore can I lack nothing.
He shall make me lie down in green pastures:
and lead me beside still waters.
He shall refresh my soul:
and guide me in right pathways for his name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil:
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff comfort me.
You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me:
you have anointed my head with oil,
and my cup shall be full.
Surely your goodness and loving-kindness
shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Psalm 23
3 The Opening Prayer
The day is now past and the night is at hand.
Let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence may be kept.
Father of lights, receive the prayer and praise we offer you as our evening sacrifice; make us a light for all the world, delivered by your goodness from all the works of darkness; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.
Amen.
4 The Psalms as appointed. A pause is observed after each.
Psalm 64; 67
64
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaining:
preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked:
from the throng of evildoers,
3 Who sharpen their tongues like swords:
who string the bow, who take arrows of bitter words,
4 To shoot from hiding at the blameless:
to strike at them suddenly and unseen.
5 They are confirmed in an evil purpose:
they confide it to one another while they lay the snares,
saying ‘Who will see them?’
6 They hatch mischief, they hide a well-considered plan:
for the human heart and mind are very deep.
7 But God will shoot at them with his swift arrows:
they shall be suddenly struck through.
8 The Lord will bring them down
for what their tongues have spoken:
and all that see it shall toss their heads in scorn.
9 Then all shall fear:
and tell what the Lord has done, and ponder his works.
10 The righteous shall rejoice in the Lord,
and find in him their refuge:
and all the upright in heart shall exult.
67
1 Let God be gracious to us and bless us:
and make his face shine upon us,
2 That your ways may be known on earth:
your liberating power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God:
let all the peoples praise you.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing:
for you judge the peoples with integrity,
and govern the nations upon earth.
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God:
let all the peoples praise you.
6 Then the earth will yield its fruitfulness:
and God, our God, will bless us.
7 God shall bless us:
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.
5 At the end of the (last) pause there may follow
Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity.
Amen.
6 One or two Readings from the Bible as appointed.
1st Reading
Ecclesiastes 7.14–29
14 On the day of prosperity be joyful, and on the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that will come after them. 15 In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing. 16 Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself? 17 Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of the one, without letting go of the other; for the one who fears God shall succeed with both. 19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers that are in a city. 20 Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning. 21 Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; 22 your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others. 23 All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, ‘I will be wise’, but it was far from me. 24 That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out? 25 I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness. 26 I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. 27 See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, adding one thing to another to find the sum, 28 which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.
2nd Reading
Revelation 10
1 And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.
2 He held a little scroll open in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,
3 he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded.
4 And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.’
5 Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land
raised his right hand to heaven
6 and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: ‘There will be no more delay,
7 but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.’
8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, ‘Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’
9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, ‘Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.’
10 So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
11 Then they said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.’
The readings may be followed by a period of silence for reflection, a hymn or
May your word live in us
and bear much fruit to your glory.
7 The Canticle, the Easter Anthems
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us:
so let us celebrate the feast,
Not with the old leaven of corruption and wickedness:
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Christ once raised from the dead dies no more:
death has no more dominion over him.
In dying, he died to sin once for all:
in living, he lives to God.
See yourselves, therefore, as dead to sin:
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ has been raised from the dead:
the first fruits of those who sleep.
For since by one man came death:
by another has come also the resurrection of the dead,
For as in Adam all die:
even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
8 The Prayers
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
9 The Lord’s Prayer and the Collect of the Day
Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to 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.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
James Noble, pioneer Aboriginal deacon (d. 1941)
[A Pastor]
Heavenly Father,
loving shepherd of your people,
we thank you for your servant James Noble, Pioneer and Aboriginal Deacon,
who was faithful in the care and nurture of your flock;
and we pray that we may follow the good of his example
and grow into the fullness of the stature
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer of the Week
Almighty God,
whose sovereign purpose none can make void:
give us faith to be steadfast amid the tumults of this world,
knowing that your kingdom shall come and your will be done,
to your eternal glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
10 Intercessions and Thanksgivings may be made according to local custom and need.
O God, you have made of one blood, all the peoples of the earth and sent your Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near; grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; pour out your spirit upon all flesh and hasten the coming of your kingdom.
God of Grace: Hear our prayer
Merciful Lord, we ask for your mercy to be given to the country of Ukraine. We ask for your intervention, to impart peace as an initiative in the minds of all those at war across the world. We ask this in Jesus Christ’s name.
God of Grace: Hear our prayer
We pray for those listed on the Anglican cycle of prayer:
Loving God, we ask for your blessing on.
God of Grace: Hear our prayer
11 The Evening Collect
Come to visit us, Lord, this night,
so that by your strength we may rise at daybreak
to rejoice in the resurrection of Christ your Son,
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.
12
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us praise the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.
see Revelation 22.13
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