O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Hear our voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love,according to your judgement give us life.
Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation,
to you be glory and praise for ever.
In the darkness of our sin you have shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
Open our eyes to acknowledge your presence,
that freed from the misery of sin and shame
we may grow into your likeness from glory to glory. Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.
Hymn
Lord Jesus Think On Me
1.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
and purge away my sin;
from earth born passions set me free, and make me pure within.
2.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
with care and woe oppressed; let me thy loving servant be, and taste thy promised rest.
3.
Lord Jesus, think on me amid the battle’s strife;
in all my pain and misery be thou my health and life.
4.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
nor let me go astray;
through darkness and perplexity point thou the heavenly way.
5.
Lord Jesus, think on me, when flows the tempest high: when on doth rush the enemy, O Saviour, be thou nigh.
6.
Lord Jesus, think on me,
that, when the flood is past,
I may the eternal brightness see, and share thy joy at last.
That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful, let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
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.
The Word of God
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgement.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
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.
Scripture Reading
Isaiah 1.10-18
Hear the word of the Lord you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
learn to do good; seek justice,
rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
Canticle
A Song of Christ the Servant
Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
He committed no sin, no guile was found on his lips, when he was reviled, he did not revile in turn.
When he suffered, he did not threaten,but he trusted himself to God who judges justly.
Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By his wounds, you have been healed,
for you were straying like sheep,
but have now returned
to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
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.
Scripture Reading
Luke 15.11-32
1 Peter 2.21b-25
Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.
He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.”Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!”
Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”’
Reflection
See ‘Message from the Minister’ for Ash Wednesday. ...............
Forsake me not, O Lord;be not far from me, O my God.Forsake me not, O Lord;
be not far from me, O my God.Make haste to help me,
O Lord of my salvation.
Be not far from me, O my God.Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Forsake me not, O Lord;
be not far from me, O my God.
Gospel Canticle
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Refrain:
from Psalm 38
Come, let us return to the Lord,for our God will richly pardon.
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.
Luke 1.46-55
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.Refrain:
Come, let us return to the Lord, for our God will richly pardon.
Prayers
Inspire your Church to witness to her Lord at this
season by following him in humility and simplicity of
life.
Give us wisdom to make good resolve and grace to maintain them. Grant that we may so deepend and purify our worship that we shall know more fully your holy will.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for those who use the good things of this
world selfishly and for those whose power makes
them insensitive to the needs of others.
Show them the way of love and self-denial.
Cleanse the peoples of the earth from worshipping the false gods of wealth and possessions.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Fill us with the grace of prayer and service.
Enable us to give ourselves more readily, in our homes, our
work and all our dealings with others.
Shield those known to us who are beset by temptation to do wrong.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
We pray for those whose lives are austere not by
choice but by misfortune.
For those who have no comforts to renounce because they struggle to survive. We pray for the starving and undernourished,
the homeless and the unprotected.
Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Have mercy on the dead who once trusted in the things of this world.
Have mercy also on those who looked for salvation
In your unfailing love, grant them eternal life
which all may gain through faith but none can merit.
In the name of Jesus Christ we raise up these prayers,
along with prayers for those who are on our hearts and minds.
Amen.
The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Trusting in the compassion of God,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught usOur Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
The Conclusion
May God our Redeemer show us compassion and love.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.