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

December 11, 2024

Wednesday In The Week Of 2 Advent

Psalm 16:7, 8

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel; my heart teaches me, night after night. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not fall.

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 119:25-48

Daleth Adhæsit pavimento

My soul cleaves to the dust; *

give me life according to your word.

I have confessed my ways, and you answered me; *

instruct me in your statutes.

Make me understand the way of your commandments, *

that I may meditate on your marvelous works.

My soul melts away for sorrow; *

strengthen me according to your word.

Take from me the way of lying; *

let me find grace through your law.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness; *

I have set your judgments before me.

I hold fast to your decrees; *

O LORD, let me not be put to shame.

I will run the way of your commandments, *

for you have set my heart at liberty.

He Legem pone

Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes, *

and I shall keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; *

I shall keep it with all my heart.

Make me go in the path of your commandments, *

for that is my desire.

Incline my heart to your decrees *

and not to unjust gain.

Turn my eyes from watching what is worthless; *

give me life in your ways.

Fulfill your promise to your servant, *

which you make to those who fear you.

Turn away the reproach which I dread, *

because your judgments are good.

Behold, I long for your commandments; *

in your righteousness preserve my life.

Waw Et veniat super me

Let your loving-kindness come to me, O LORD, *

and your salvation, according to your promise.

Then shall I have a word for those who taunt me, *

because I trust in your words.

Do not take the word of truth out of my mouth, *

for my hope is in your judgments.

I shall continue to keep your law; *

I shall keep it for ever and ever.

I will walk at liberty, *

because I study your commandments.

I will tell of your decrees before kings *

and will not be ashamed.

I delight in your commandments, *

which I have always loved.

I will lift up my hands to your commandments, *

and I will meditate on your statutes.

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

Amos 8:1-14

The Basket of Fruit

This is what the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me,

“The end has come upon my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by.
The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,”
says the Lord God;
“the dead bodies shall be many,
cast out in every place. Be silent!”

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
    and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
saying, “When will the new moon be over
    so that we may sell grain;
and the sabbath,
    so that we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
    and practice deceit with false balances,
buying the poor for silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    and selling the sweepings of the wheat.”

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

On that day, says the Lord God,
    I will make the sun go down at noon,
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.
I will turn your feasts into mourning,
    and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
    and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
    and the end of it like a bitter day.

The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
    when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,
    but of hearing the words of the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea,
    and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
    but they shall not find it.

In that day the beautiful young women and the young men
    shall faint for thirst.
Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,
    and say, “As your god lives, O Dan,”
and, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives”—
    they shall fall, and never rise again.

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.