Cantica Gaudia

Season of Epiphany: Tuesday Evening Prayer

Opening: Let my prayer be set forth in your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Canticle:
God chose to be our mother in all things
And so made the foundation of his work
Most humbly and most pure, in the Virgin’s womb.
God, the perfect wisdom of all,
Arrayed himself in this humble place.
Christ came in our poor flesh
To share a mother’s care.
Our mothers bear us for pain and for death;
Our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.
Christ carried us within him in love and travail,
Until the full time of his passion.
And when all was completed and he had carried us so for joy,
Still all this could not satisfy the power of his wonderful love.
All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God,
For the love of Christ works in us;
Christ is the one whom we love.

Psalm: Hear, people, and I will speak –
You who struggle with me
You who question me
I will testify
For I am the is of what is –
Yours that is –

Your sacrifice doesn’t appease me
Nor the offerings you dutifully make
I will not take a bullock out of your house
Nor a goat from your fold

All the life of all the forests
All the cattle on a thousand mountains
Is already mine –
I embrace the mountain fowl
Whatever moves in the fields moves in me

If I were hungry, would I come crying to you for food?
I am the world and all that animates it
Do I need to eat the flesh of fatted calves
Or drink the blood of goats?

Offer me your heart’s intention
Pay me your forged words
Give me your sorrows – call on me
So I can answer you
So that your soul can speak to me.

Glory be to God, who made us, who bears our pain, and who loves us. 
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.  Amen.

Reading: You know about the holy, even if you won't admit it. For how could that not be God, flowing through your veings and sometimes whispering to you, when you are quiet enough to hear.

You grew from a pot in His window. He watered you every time that even a single cell of yours spoke, Lord I am thirsty, and my body needs to stretch a bit more into the infinite, I think.

A different kind of sun, one from a world with ten times the seasons the earth knows, turned you green and crimson and gold. You were magical!

But then you fell asleep and awoke so overgrow, you forgot your great powers and felt fear.

Seeing from where you came and which direction you are heading, it is a miracle to me, a miracle, that you might think you ever did anything wrong.

The Lord’s Prayer: Seed and source,
Far in the distance and in our souls,
You are holy and make us whole.
May we perceive your divine will
That loved us into being
Help us to join your creative force
And let it prosper here.
Give us what we need to survive,
And release us from our transgressions
As we release others from theirs.
Keep us away from paths of destruction
And from those who would ruin what you have made,
For you are the matrix of life, love and wisdom,
Now and forever.  Amen.

Prayer:
Be present, Spirit of God, within us, your dwelling place and home, 
That this place may be one where all darkness is penetrated by your light,
All troubles calmed by your peace,
All evil redeemed by your love,
All pain transformed in your suffering,
And all dying glorified in your risen life.  Amen.

Collect:  O God of all, whom the whole heavens adore: let the whole earth also worship you, all nations obey you, all tongues confess and bless you, and men and women everywhere love you and serve your in peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Going forth: May God the Holy Spirit shed her radiance upon the earth this night, blessing all who seek her, renewing our hopes, entering our souls, and making us friends of God.  Amen.