Evening Prayer -- bulletin

+ SERVICE OF LIGHT +

L Jesus Christ is the Light of the world,

C the light no darkness can overcome.

L Stay with us, Lord, for it is evening,

C and the day is almost over.

L Let Your light scatter the darkness

C and illumine Your Church.

PHOS HILARON LSB 244

L Joyous light of glory:

C of the immortal Father;

heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ.

We have come to the setting of the sun,

and we look to the evening light.

We sing to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

You are worthy of being praised

with pure voices forever.

O Son of God, O Giver of life:

the universe proclaims Your glory.

THANKSGIVING FOR LIGHT LSB 245

L Blessèd are You, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who led Your people Israel by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Enlighten our darkness by the light of Your Christ; may His Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path; for You are merciful, and You love Your whole creation and we, Your creatures, glorify You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

PSALM 141 LSB 245

C Let my prayer rise before You as incense,

the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

! O Lord, I call to You; come to me quickly;

hear my voice when I cry to You.

C Let my prayer rise before You as incense,

the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

@ Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord,

and guard the door of my lips.

! Let not my heart incline to any evil thing;

let me not be occupied in wickedness with evildoers.

@ But my eyes are turned to You, O God;

in You I take refuge.

Strip me not of my life.

C Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Let my prayer rise before You as incense,

the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

L Let us pray.

Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before You, O Lord, and let Your loving-kindness descend on us that, with purified minds, we may sing Your praises with the Church on earth and the whole heavenly host and may glorify You forever.

C Amen.

READING Matthew 27:45–66

45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

51And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

55There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

57When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

62Next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

God-Forsaken

 (Matthew 27:45-50 NIV)  46And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?

Jesus, the Son of God, forsaken by God.

There is the beauty of the cross. There is the glory of the cross. But there is also the stumbling block and the offense of the cross.

Through these readings in Lent we have hear of the physical sufferings our Lord endured.

The flogging – lashes of a big whip.

The soldiers pushed Him around and hit Him in the face.

He carried His rough cross on his freshly striped shoulders.

The nails pierced His hands and His feet.

He cried out in thirst. 

In this way, we can meditate on the suffering of the body that Jesus underwent.

But now hear of the suffering of the soul of Jesus. 

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

What anguish He must have felt as He was forsaken by His God and Father! Such suffering! Such pain of spirit! Such darkness of the soul that was mirrored in the dark sky above Him.

Scripture tells us that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).

God who is holy, just and good, can’t stand sin. He hates sin, but wants to love sinners. So He made Jesus be sin, and take the punishment, of the despised sinner.

Such a puzzling thing, such a surprising thing that God would do things this way!

Wouldn’t there have been some other way, some better way for God to save the world, than by the suffering and death of His Son Jesus, innocent Jesus?

But who are we to ask such a question? How can we second guess God? Can we really even try to think we know better than Him?

But we often do.

We think of the horrific death of Jesus on the cross and say, really, did it have to be such a big deal? Is sin such a problem, that it takes such a dramatic fix? Yes, I’ve made some errors in life. Regrets, I have a few. But is it really that bad to make Jesus die so horribly? So alone? In such abandonment?

When we doubt God’s word, or try to talk our way out of it in any way, we are saying we know better than God. His ways are not as good as our ways. 

We say, “Why did God do this or that? Why did God allow this tragedy to happen? Why did God not give me what I have so fervently wanted?” We are not praying as we have been taught to pray, “Thy will be done, not mind, but yours, dear Father.”

Furthermore, it is exactly here at the death of His Son Jesus that we must believe God is at His best, at His most merciful, most glorious, most good.

Galatians 6:14-     But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 

    By His death, Our Lord Jesus Christ transformed that gruesome instrument of torture and death into a glorious symbol of our religion and faith.

By His death, Our Lord Jesus Christ transformed us sinners, into the redeemed glorious children of the heavenly Father. Amen

LITANY LSB 249

L In peace let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For all pastors in Christ, for all servants of the Church, and for all the people, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For [name of president or monarch], for all public servants, for the government and those who protect us, that they may be upheld and strengthened in every good deed, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For those who work to bring peace, justice, health, and protection in this and every place, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For those who bring offerings, those who do good works in this congregation, those who toil, those who sing, and all the people here present who await from the Lord great and abundant mercy, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For favorable weather, for an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L For our deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger, and need, let us pray to the Lord:

C Lord, have mercy.

L Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

COLLECT FOR PEACE

L O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER LSB 251

L Taught by our Lord and trusting His promises, we are bold to pray:

C 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.

BENEDICAMUS LSB 252

L Let us bless the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

BENEDICTION LSB 252

P The almighty and merciful Lord, the Father, the T Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless and preserve you.

C Amen.

433 GLORY BE TO JESUS

1 Glory be to Jesus,
    Who in bitter pains
Poured for me the lifeblood
    From His sacred veins!

2 Grace and life eternal
    In that blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
    Infinitely kind!

3 Blest through endless ages
    Be the precious stream
Which from endless torment
    Did the world redeem!

4 Abel’s blood for vengeance
    Pleaded to the skies;
But the blood of Jesus
    For our pardon cries.

5 Oft as earth exulting
    Wafts its praise on high,
Angel hosts rejoicing
    Make their glad reply.

6 Lift we, then, our voices,
    Swell the mighty flood;
Louder still and louder
    Praise the precious blood!

Text: Public domain

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Evening Prayer from Lutheran Service Book

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.