Evening Prayer (Vespers)
You may wish to light a candle and place it before you as you
begin.
OPENING DIALOGUE
Wisdom shouts her warnings in the street.
We have come
to forsake our foolish ways.
Wisdom longs to pour out her Spirit on all
flesh.
We will not
shrink from her blessings.
Wisdom imparts holy knowledge to save us.
We will not
shut out the lessons she teaches.
Let us worship in spirit and in truth.
HYMN: Be glorified
YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1712QCYgOA
READINGS
First Reading: Proverbs
1:20-23
20 Wisdom
shouts in the street;
in the public square she raises her voice.
21 Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
22 “How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
mockers hold their mocking dear,
and fools hate knowledge?
23 You should respond when I correct you.
Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
I’ll reveal my words to you.
Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to
God.
Gospel:
Colossians 3:1-4, 9b-11 
A reading from: Colossians
3 Therefore, if you were raised with
Christ, look for the things that are above where Christ is sitting at God’s
right side. 2 Think about the things above and not things
on earth. 3 You died, and your life is hidden with Christ
in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then
you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Take off the old human
nature with its practices 10 and put on the new nature,
which is renewed in knowledge by conforming to the image of the one who created
it. 11 In this image there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ
is all things and in all people.
Word of
God, word of life. Thanks be to God.
REFLECTION:
Proverbs:
What
strikes you in that text? Why does it strike you?
I
love the plain name calling in the CEB. Clueless people with naivete. We all
know people who think they know everything about God. But the way they talk and the way they live
demonstrates that they really know nothing about God at all.
What
is God saying to you through this text?
Be
careful whom I judge, because I may also be naïve and clueless. Later in the
text, I am reminded that there are times when God needs to correct us, and
does, through God’s Spirit, who may come through a person.
SCRIPTURE
DIALOGUE
When Christ, who is your life, is revealed,
then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
PRAYERS
In Christ Jesus we meet
the God who knows our weakness and bears the wounds of the world. Therefore,
let us be bold as we pray, trusting that God draws near to those in any kind of
need.
Individual prayers are
offered silently or aloud.
Into your wide embrace,
O God, we place all our prayers, spoken and unspoken, trusting that you will
receive them into your heart of mercy, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior. Amen
LORD’S
PRAYER
Our
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,
and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
HYMN:
Great is thy faithfulness
YouTube
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTKIqmdfHSk
BLESSING
As we go forth, may the
words of our mouths be acceptable and true.
May the
meditations of our hearts be loving and
pure.
As we leave this place, may the actions of our
lives be compassionate and just.
May the
stirrings of our hearts be guided by
God’s thoughts and wisdom. Amen.
Scripture
from Common English Bible © 2012
Liturgy
from ELW Annual Liturgy License 26504
And
Abingdon Worship Annual 2021
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