Friday After Ascension
Evening Prayer

Greeting

God ascends to shouts of joy.
The Lord amid trumpet blasts, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Acclaim God, all you peoples. Alleluia, Alleluia!

Doxology

Psalm 93

You reign with glory, Lord, the beauty of holiness fills you forever.

Lord, you reign with glory,
draped in splendor, girt with power.
The world stands firm,
not to be shaken,
for your throne, ageless God,
has stood from of old.

Onward roll the waves, OGod,
onward like thunder,
onward like fury.
Thundering above the waters,
high above ocean breakers,
you, God, rise with might.

Your decrees stand unshaken;
the beauty of holiness
fills you forever, Lord

Colossians 1:15-18

In Christ all things in heaven and on earth were created.

Christ is an image
of the God we cannot see.
Christ is firstborn in all creation.

Through Christ the universe was made,
things seen and unseen,
thrones, authorities, forces, powers.
Everything was created
through Christ and for Christ.

Before anything came to be, Christ was,
and the universe is held together by Christ.

Christ is also head of the body, the Church,
its beginning as firstborn from the dead
to become in all things first.

Reading: 1 John 3: 23-4:3a

This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

Canticle of Mary

We are the dwelling place of the Spirit who abides in us.

I acclaim the greatness of the Lord, I delight in God my savior, who regarded my humble state. Truly from this day on All ages will call me blest. For God, wonderful in power, has used that strength for me. Holy the name of the Lord! Whose mercy embraces the faithful, one generation to the next. The mighty arm of God scatters the proud in their conceit, Pulls tyrants from their thrones, and raises up the humble. The Lord fills the starving And lets the rich go hungry. God rescues lowly Israel, recalling the promise of mercy, the promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham’s heirs for ever.
Intercessions

We learn what it means to be spirit-filled persons by looking at Jesus whom the Spirit of God sustained throughout his life and through his death into resurrected life. And so we pray with thankfulness and trust:

Jesus, you pitched your tent among us:
--Teach us to honor our daily activities as moments of grace.
Jesus, your love knew no boundaries or distinctions:
--Teach us never to withhold our love from our brothers and sisters.
Jesus, you are the compassion of God:
--Teach us to hear the cries of the suffering in our world.
Jesus, you faced conflict, suffering and death with confident trust:
--Teach us never to doubt your presence with us in times of trial.
Jesus, you were faithful unto death:
__Teach us the way of faithfulness and obedience.
Jesus, you did not leave us orphaned but bestowed on us the gift of your Spirit:
--Teach us to listen and respond to the voice of the Spirit speaking in our hearts and in our world.

Our Father

Prayer

Spirit of God, come and transform us. Stir up in us an ardent desire to do your will and bring about the reign of mercy and justice. Holy Spirit, praying unceasingly within us, give our tongues the words to praise you, our hearts the fervor to love you. Sanctify the work of our lives that all our acts may give glory to God, today and always. Abide with us that we may abide with you. This we ask in faith. Amen.


Blessing

Christ be before me and behind me. Amen.
Christ be on my right and on my left. Amen.
Christ be within me and around me, never to part. Amen.