Tuesday Evening Prayer – 2nd January 2024

Tuesday Evening Prayer – 2^nd January 2024 Readings: Psalm 7; 8; Isaiah 30. 15-28; John 3. 1-21

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 Tuesday 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

O sing to the Lord a new song:

sing to the Lord all the earth. 

Psalm 96.1

Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit: 

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

 

2 The Opening Canticle, The Song of the Three

Blessed are you, the God of our forebears: 

worthy to be praised and exalted for ever. 
Blessed is your holy and glorious name: 
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever. 
Blessed are you, glorious in your holy temple: 
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever. 
Blessed are you who behold the depths: 
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever. 
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom: 
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever. 
Blessed are you in the heights of heaven: 
worthy to be praised and exalted for ever. 

Song of the Three 29–34

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 7; 8

7

¹ O Lord my God, to you have I come for shelter:

save me from all who pursue me, O save and deliver me,

² Lest like lions they tear my throat:

lest they carry me off and none can save me.

³ O Lord my God, if I have done such a thing:

if there is any wickedness on my hands,

⁴ If I have repaid with evil one that was my friend:

or plundered my enemy without just cause,

⁵ Then let the enemy pursue me and overtake me:

let them trample my life to the ground,

and lay my honour in the dust.

⁶ Arise, O Lord, in your anger:

rise up in wrath against my adversaries.

⁷ Awake, my God, you that ordain justice:

and let the assembly of the peoples gather about you;

⁸ Take your seat high above them:

and sit in judgement, O Lord, over the nations.

⁹ Judge for me, O Lord, according to my righteousness:

and as my integrity requires.

¹⁰ Let the wickedness of the ungodly cease,

but establish the righteous:

for you try our very hearts and minds, O righteous God.

¹¹ God is my shield over me:

he preserves the true of heart.

¹² God vindicates the righteous:

but God condemns evil every day.

¹³ If an evildoer will not turn, he whets his sword:

he strings the bow and makes it ready;

¹⁴ He prepares the instruments of death:

and makes his arrows darts of fire.

¹⁵ See how the ungodly conceive mischief:

how they swell with wickedness and give birth to lies.

¹⁶ They dig a pit and hollow it out:

but fall themselves into the trap they had made for others.

¹⁷ Their mischief rebounds upon their own head:

and their violence comes down on their own pate.

¹⁸ I will thank the Lord for his justice:

I will sing praises to the Lord Most High.

8

¹ O Lord our Governor:

how glorious is your name in all the earth!

² Your majesty above the heavens is yet recounted:

by the mouths of babes and sucklings.

³ You have founded a strong defence

against your adversaries:

to quell the enemy and the avenger.

⁴ When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers:

the moon and the stars which you have set in order,

⁵ What are we, that you should be mindful of us:

what are we, that you should care for us?

⁶ Yet you have made us little less than gods:

and have crowned us with glory and honour.

⁷ You have given us dominion over your handiwork:

and have put all things in subjection beneath our feet,

⁸ All sheep and oxen:

and all the creatures of the field,

⁹ The birds of the air and the fish of the sea:

and everything that moves

in the pathways of the great waters.

¹⁰ O Lord our Governor:

how glorious is your name in all the earth!

 

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

God of grace, we thank you for all your gifts to us:

grant us to accept both pain and joy in faith and hope,

and never to fail in love to you

 and to our sisters and brothers;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. 

Amen.

6 One or two Readings from the Bible as appointed.

 

1st Reading

Isaiah 30.15-28

¹⁵ For thus said the Lord God , the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
     in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
But you refused 
¹⁶ and said,
‘No! We will flee upon horses’—
     therefore you shall flee!
and, ‘We will ride upon swift steeds’—
     therefore your pursuers shall be swift! 
¹⁷ A thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
     at the threat of five you shall flee,
until you are left
     like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
     like a signal on a hill. 
¹⁸ Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
     therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
     blessed are all those who wait for him. 
¹⁹ Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. 
²⁰ Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 
²¹ And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ 
²² Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say to them, ‘Away with you!’ 
²³ He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures; 
²⁴ and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 
²⁵ On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 
²⁶ Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow. 
²⁷ See, the name of the Lord comes from far away,
     burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;
his lips are full of indignation,
     and his tongue is like a devouring fire; 
²⁸ his breath is like an overflowing stream
     that reaches up to the neck—
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
     and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads them astray.

2nd Reading

John 3.1-21

¹ Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’³ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’⁵ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷ ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’ 

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 Song of Simeon (Nunc Dimittis)

Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace: 
your word has been fulfilled. 
My own eyes have seen the salvation: 
which you have prepared in the sight of every people: 
A light to reveal you to the nations: 
and the glory of your people Israel. 

Luke 2.29–32

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. 

  

 

Prayer of the Week

Almighty God,

you have shed upon us the light of your incarnate Word:

may this light, kindled in our hearts,

shine forth in our lives;

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.

Let us pray

Graceful God, Thank you for your presence in our lives and your attention to our prayers. How great our lives due to your presence and your wisdom. We ask that we are endowed with Gods great wisdom, to share with all the people.

God of grace; Hear our prayer.

 

Gracious God, thank you for loving your people. How great life is with your forgiveness and mercy. We ask for guidance to show us how to live to prevent future generations making our mistakes, so they may rise to meet you where you dwell in the holiness of all.

God of grace; hear our prayer.

 

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

• The Diocese of Botswana – The Church of the Province of Central Africa
• The Diocese of Adelaide: †
• The Parish of The Gap:
• Anglicare SQ Community Aged & Disability, North Coast (Bokarina)
• Anglican Church Grammar School, East Brisbane:
• All Parishes seeking new incumbents.
• All Anglican schools seeking new chaplains.
• All Prison ministry chaplaincy teams

God of Grace; Hear our prayer

 

 

11 The Evening Collect

Be present, merciful God, 

and protect us through the hours of this night: 

that we, who are wearied 

by the changes and chances of this fleeting world, 

may rest on your eternal changelessness; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen.

 

12

The Lord be with you.

And also with you. 

Let us praise the Lord. 

Thanks be to God. 

 

May Jesus, the Lord of peace, give us peace at all times and in all ways. 

Amen.

2 Thessalonians 3.16