Friday Evening Prayer 8th December 2023

Friday Evening- 8th December 2023

 

Friday Evening Prayer 8th December 2023 – Readings. Psalm 89. 19-38; Isaiah 5. 1-17; Mark 5. 1–13.

Led by Felicity Scott, Liturgical Assistant at St John the Baptist Anglican Church Bulimba, QLD, Australia.

The full prayer transcript is available by going to this episode on the Podcast website.

https://dailyprayeranglicanprayerbookforaustralia.podbean.com

Welcome to Friday Evening prayer from the Anglican ‘A prayer book for Australia’.

We proclaim the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ:

GOD in his infinite mercy, forgives all sins, and through our baptism in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, we are given a rebirth into new life, free from the burden of all sin. ALLELUIA

Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Blessed be God forever.

Let us Pray.

 

1

Peace to those who are far off.

Peace to those who are near. 

Ephesians 2.17

  

 

Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit: 

as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen. 

  

 

2 The Opening Canticle, The Lord’s Servant

He was despised; he was rejected: 
a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. 
As one from whom people hide their faces: 
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 
Ours were the sufferings he bore: 
ours the torments he endured, 
While we thought he was being punished: 
struck by God and brought low. 
He was pierced for our sins: 
bruised for no fault but ours. 
His punishment has won our peace: 
and by his wounds we are healed. 
We had all strayed like sheep: 
all taking our own way; 
But the Lord laid on him: 
the guilt of us all. 

Isaiah 53.3–6

  

 

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 89.19-38

19 You spoke once in a vision:

and said to your faithful one,

20 ‘I have set a youth above a warrior:

I have exalted a young man out of the people.

21 ‘I have found my servant David:

and anointed him with my holy oil.

22 ‘My hand shall uphold him:

and my arm shall strengthen him.

23 ‘No enemy shall deceive him:

nor shall the wicked hurt him.

24 ‘I will crush his adversaries before him:

and strike down those that hate him.

25 ‘My faithfulness and loving-kindness shall be with him:

and through my name his head shall be lifted high.

26 ‘I will set the hand of his dominion

upon the Western Sea:

and his right hand shall stretch

to the streams of Mesopotamia.

27 ‘He will call to me “You are my Father:

my God, and the Rock of my salvation.”

28 ‘I will make him my first-born son:

and highest among the kings of the earth.

29 ‘I will ever maintain my loving-kindness toward him:

and my covenant with him shall stand firm.

30 ‘I will establish his line for ever:

and his throne like the days of heaven.

31 ‘If his children forsake my law:

and will not walk in my judgements;

32 ‘If they profane my statutes:

and do not keep my commandments,

33 ‘Then I will punish their rebellion with the rod:

and their iniquity with blows.

34 ‘But I will not cause my loving-kindness

to cease from him:

nor will I betray my faithfulness.

35 ‘I will not profane my covenant:

or alter what has passed from my lips.

36 ‘Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness:

I will not prove false to David.

37 ‘His posterity shall endure for ever:

and his throne be as the sun before me;

38 ‘Like the moon that is established for ever:

and stands in the heavens for evermore.’

 

5 At the end of the (last) pause there may follow

Holy Spirit, sanctifier, cleanse us from all hypocrisy, unite us to one another in the bonds of peace and love, and confirm us in holiness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

  

 

6 One or two Readings from the Bible as appointed.

 

The 1st Reading is from the book of

Isaiah 5.1–17

1 Let me sing for my beloved
     my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
     on a very fertile hill. 
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
     and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watch-tower in the midst of it,
     and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
     but it yielded wild grapes. 
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
     and people of Judah,
judge between me
     and my vineyard. 
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
     that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
     why did it yield wild grapes? 
5 And now I will tell you
     what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
     and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
     and it shall be trampled down. 
6 I will make it a waste;
     it shall not be pruned or hoed,
     and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
     that they rain no rain upon it. 
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
     is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
     are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
     but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
     but heard a cry! 
8 Ah, you who join house to house,
     who add field to field,
until there is room for no one but you,
     and you are left to live alone
     in the midst of the land! 
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
Surely many houses shall be desolate,
     large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. 
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
     and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah. 
11 Ah, you who rise early in the morning
     in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger in the evening
     to be inflamed by wine, 
12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,
     tambourine and flute and wine,
but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord ,
     or see the work of his hands! 
13 Therefore my people go into exile without knowledge;
their nobles are dying of hunger,
     and their multitude is parched with thirst. 
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
     and opened its mouth beyond measure;
the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down,
     her throng and all who exult in her. 
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
     and the eyes of the haughty are humbled. 
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,
     and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness. 
17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture,
     fatlings and kids shall feed among the ruins. 

2nd Reading

Mark 6.1–13

1 He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

 

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, A Song to the Lamb

You are worthy, our Lord and God: 
to receive glory and honour and power. 
For you have created all things: 
and by your will they have their being. 
You are worthy, O Lamb, for you were slain: 
and by your blood you ransomed for God 
saints from every tribe and language and nation. 
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests 
serving our God: 
and they will reign with you on earth. 
To the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb: 
be blessing and honour and glory and might, for ever and ever. Amen. 

Revelation 4.11; 5.9b–10

  

 

8 The Prayers

Lord have mercy. 

Christ have mercy. 

Lord have mercy 

  

 

 

9 The Lord’s Prayer and the Collect of the Day

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. 

  

 The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Loving God,
who chose the blessed virgin Mary
to be the mother of your incarnate Son:
grant that we, who are redeemed by his blood,
may share with her in the glory of your eternal kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

 

Richard Baxter, pastor and spiritual writer (d. 1691) W

[A Pastor]
Heavenly Father,
 loving shepherd of your people,
 we thank you for your servant N,
 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,

give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness

and put on the armour of light,

now in the time of this mortal life

in which your Son 

Jesus Christ came among us in great humility,

that on the last day,

when he shall come again in his glorious majesty

to judge the living and the dead,

we may rise to the life immortal;

through him 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.

Let us pray – God’s Guidance

 Almighty and everlasting God, we ask you to direct, sanctify, and govern our hearts and bodies in the ways of your law and works of your commandments.

By your mighty protection may we be kept safe in body and soul, serving you and the people with generous and joyful hearts, bringing glory to your holy name;

God of Grace; Hear our prayer

 

O Lord our God, we ask for your mercy on the Ukrainian people. We ask for your intervention, to impart peace as an initiative in the minds of all those at war across the world. We ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God of grace; Hear our prayer.

 

Blessed God, we ask your blessing for those listed on the Anglican cycle of prayer:

• The Diocese of Barrackpore – The Church of North India (United)
• The Diocese of Bunbury: †Ian Coutts; Clergy and People
• The Parish of Oakey: David Snape – Locum
• Ministry with the Medical Fraternity
• Matthew Flinders Anglican College, Buderim: Principal – Stuart Meade; Chaplain – Kathrin Koning; Chair of College Council – Peta Grenfell; members of College Council; staff & students
• All Parishes seeking new incumbents.
• All Anglican schools seeking new chaplains.
• All Prison Chaplaincy Ministry Teams

God of Grace; Hear our prayer

 

11 The Evening Collect

Lighten our darkness, Lord, we pray: 

and in your great mercy 

defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; 

for the love of your only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

Amen.

 

12

The Lord be with you.

And also with you. 

Let us praise the Lord. 

Thanks be to God. 

  

 

May the God of all grace, who has called us to eternal glory in Christ, restore, establish, strengthen us. To him be the dominion for ever and ever. 

Amen.

1 Peter 5.10–11