Cantica Gaudia

Season of Epiphany: Friday Evening Prayer

Opening:  Light and peace, in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Canticle:  O gracious light,
Pure brightness of the living 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 throughout the worlds.

Psalm: Hear this warning
O you would rise up to struggle and question –
Listen to me!

Do not give yourself up to what’s limited
Do not strip your soul of its immensity
For I have brought you into the clearing
Out into the open
Out from your narrowness and dimness

Open wide your mouth
And I will fill it up with song.

Glory to God, who made us, who bears our pain, and who loves us;
As it once was, is, and ever shall be.  Amen.

Reading: Is this not the fast that I choose:
To loose the bonds of injustice,
To undo the thongs of the yoke,
To let the oppressed go free,
And to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And bring the homeless poor into your house;
When you see the naked, to cover them,
And not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then shall your light shall break forth like the dawn,
And your healing shall spring up quickly;
Your vindicator shall go before you,
The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then shall you call, and the Lord shall answer;
You shall cry for help, and God will say, Here I am.

The Lord’s Prayer: Abba our God,
Whom the heavens disclose,
May your name be held holy,
Your authority come.
May your longing be fulfilled
As in heaven, so on earth.
Give us today the bread of tomorrow,
And cancel our debts
As we have already forgiven our debtors.
Do not draw us in
To sinful enticement,
But set us free
From the grip of evil;
For authority and power and glory
Are yours alone, for ever.  Amen.

Prayer: God our Creator, our centre, our friend,
We thank you for our good life,
For those who are dear to us
For our dead, and for all who have helped and influenced us.
We thank you for the measure of freedom we have,
And the extent to which we control our lives;
And most of all we thank you for the faith that is in us,
For our awareness of you and our hope in you. 
Keep us, we pray you, thankful and hopeful
And useful until our lives shall end.  Amen.

Collect: God of love, through your most Holy Spirit, Mary the Jewish girl conceived your Son.  May his beauty, his humanity, his all-transforming grace be born in us, and may we never despise the strange and stirring gentleness of your almighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Going forth: May God’s light shine on us this night, and always.  Thanks be to God!