Evening Prayer, Rite Two for Wednesday, September 11, 2024

September 11, 2024

Wednesday In The Week Of Proper 18

Philippians 1:2

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Confession of Sin

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

Invitatory and Psalter

Officiant: O God, make speed to save us.
People: O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Alleluia.

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious Light,

pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,

O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,

and our eyes behold the vesper light,

we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,

O Son of God, O Giver of life,

and to be glorified through all the worlds.

The Psalm or Psalms Appointed

Psalm 49

Hear this, all you peoples;

hearken, all you who dwell in the world, *

you of high degree and low, rich and poor together.

My mouth shall speak of wisdom, *

and my heart shall meditate on understanding.

I will incline my ear to a proverb *

and set forth my riddle upon the harp.

Why should I be afraid in evil days, *

when the wickedness of those at my heels surrounds me,

The wickedness of those who put their trust in their goods, *

and boast of their great riches?

We can never ransom ourselves, *

or deliver to God the price of our life;

For the ransom of our life is so great, *

that we should never have enough to pay it,

In order to live for ever and ever, *

and never see the grave.

For we see that the wise die also;

like the dull and stupid they perish *

and leave their wealth to those who come after them.

Their graves shall be their homes for ever,

their dwelling places from generation to generation, *

though they call the lands after their own names.

Even though honored, they cannot live for ever; *

they are like the beasts that perish.

Such is the way of those who foolishly trust in themselves, *

and the end of those who delight in their own words.

Like a flock of sheep they are destined to die;

Death is their shepherd; *

they go down straightway to the grave.

Their form shall waste away, *

and the land of the dead shall be their home.

But God will ransom my life; *

he will snatch me from the grasp of death.

Do not be envious when some become rich, *

or when the grandeur of their house increases;

For they will carry nothing away at their death, *

nor will their grandeur follow them.

Though they thought highly of themselves while they lived, *

and were praised for their success,

They shall join the company of their forebears, *

who will never see the light again.

Those who are honored, but have no understanding, *

are like the beasts that perish.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm 53

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." *

All are corrupt and commit abominable acts;

there is none who does any good.

God looks down from heaven upon us all, *

to see if there is any who is wise,

if there is one who seeks after God.

Every one has proved faithless;

all alike have turned bad; *

there is none who does good; no, not one.

Have they no knowledge, those evildoers *

who eat up my people like bread

and do not call upon God?

See how greatly they tremble,

such trembling as never was; *

for God has scattered the bones of the enemy;

they are put to shame, because God has rejected them.

Oh, that Israel's deliverance would come out of Zion! *

when God restores the fortunes of his people

Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The Lessons

1 Kgs 17:1-24

Elijah Predicts a Drought

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” The word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi. But after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

The Widow of Zarephath

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

Elijah Revives the Widow’s Son

After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.