Cantica Gaudia

Ordinary Time, Early Summer: Saturday Evening Prayer

Opening: Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, act bravely -- do everything with love.

Canticle: I will take you from among all nations
And gather you from all lands to bring you home.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
And purify you from false gods and uncleanness
A new heart I will give you
And a new spirit put within you.
I will take the stone heart from your chest
And give you a heart of flesh.
I will help you walk in my laws
And cherish my commandments and do them.
You shall be my people,
And I will be your God.

Psalm: If you had not stood by us
We who rise to question and struggle
We would have said: If you had not stood by us
When the world’s weight fell we are broken
When the world’s flood surged we are swept down
Souls sunk in a watery cell
Breath cut off
The torrents washing out our dispersal
The presumptuous waters
Rolling down the nothing
The zero that remains

So we speak the unsayable name
Blessing you who have held us whole
Kept us from all that is trapped partial and torn

Because of you
Our souls flutters light
Like a bird escaped from a fowler’s snare
The snare is snapped and we fly up

Our help is in your unnameable name
Word of all words inside the ear
You to whom all speech is addressed

Glory to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be always.

Reading: He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

The 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,
For ever and ever.  Amen.

Prayer: Loving creator of all, watch over us this night and keep us in the light of your presence. May our praise continually blend with the song of all creation, until we come to those eternal joys which you promise in your love, through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Collect: Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift; Mother of lights, from whom comes our best insight and inspiration: help us to find you in stars and seasons, in darkness and silence, in love and longing, and to bless your holy name. Amen.

Going Forth: In the name of the true and living Holy One, who made us for love, who saved us by love, and who loves us still. Amen.