Thursday, November 27

The Vespers Office To Be Observed on the Hour or Half Hour Between 5 and 8 p.m

The Call to Prayer

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting;* and let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!

Psalm 106:48

The Request for Presence

Send forth your strength, O God;* establish, O God, what you have wrought for us.

Psalm 68:28

The Greeting

My heart is firmly fixed, O God, my heart is fixed;* I will sing and make melody.

Psalm 57:7

The Hymn

Come, you thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home: All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin; God, our Maker, does provide for our wants to be supplied; Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home. All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto his praise to yield; Wheat and tares together sown, unto joy or sorrow grown: First the blade, and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear: Grant, O harvest Lord, that we wholesome grain and pure may be. Even so, Lord quickly come to your final harvest home; Gather you your people in, free from sorrow, free from sin; There, for ever purified, in your presence to abide; Come, with all your angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.

Henry Alford

The Refrain for the Vespers Lessons

I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

Psalm 52:8b

The Vespers Psalm

Let My Prayer Be as the Evening Sacrifice

O LORD, I call to you; come to me quickly;* hear my voice when I cry to you. Let my prayer be set forth in your sight 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,* nor eat of their choice foods. Let the righteous smite me in friendly rebuke;* let not the oil of the unrighteous anoint my head; for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds. Let their rulers be overthrown in stony places,* that they may know my words are true.

Psalm 141:1-6

The Refrain

I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

Psalm 52:8b

The Cry of the Church

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name. May your kingdom come, and 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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Prayer Appointed for the Week

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your wellbeloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.†

Concluding Prayers of the Church

Accept, O Lord, my thanks and praise for all that you have done for me. I thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love. Above all, I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of His Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom. Amen.† Almighty God, whose loving hand has given me all that I possess: Grant me grace that I may honor you with my substance, and, remembering the account which I must one day give, may be a faithful steward of your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.†