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Forgiveness (Vespers) | 6:00 p.m.

Traditional hour: evening/end of the day

As we turn on lamps at dusk, we greet the evening by welcoming God to abide with us anew.

 

Opening: Holy One, lift our burdens, for your yoke is easy.

Prayer:

O God, as the showers renew the earth, bathe us in your healing power. Stretch out your hand, that we may live and know that you alone are God, in whose faithfulness we have life all our days.
Amen.

Praise:

A Song of Our True Nature (Julian of Norwich)
Christ revealed our frailty and our falling, *
our trespasses and our humiliations.
Christ also revealed his blessed power, *
his blessed wisdom and love.
He protects us as tenderly and as sweetly when
we are in greatest need; *
he raises us in spirit
and turns everything to glory and joy without ending.

God is the ground and the substance, the very
essence of nature; *
God is the true father and mother of natures.
We are all bound to God by nature, *
and we are all bound to God by grace.
And this grace is for all the world, *
because it is our precious mother, Christ.
For this fair nature was prepared by Christ for
the honor and nobility of all, *
and for the joy and bliss of salvation.

 

Scripture:

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. By this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (I John 3:19-20)

Meditation:

Where there is no love, put love, and you will draw love out. (St. John of the Cross)

Where have we neglected to put love? Where do we ask that love be drawn from us?

Confession:

Most loving God,
we confess that we have not loved in thought, word, or deed. We have not loved you or our neighbors or ourselves. We are sorry. Remind us that you love us unconditionally and help us to rest in your love.

Assurance of Pardon:

Loving God, have mercy on us, forgive us for forgetting to love, and renew our ability to give and receive love in all that we do. Amen.

Prayers:

Gracious Lord, whenever we err,
Fill our hearts with your love.
When we wound or are wounded,
Fill our hearts with your love.
When tempted to judge,
Fill our hearts with your love.
Wherever there is hurt, loss, or despair,
Fill our world with your love.

[Here, the people may add particular intercessions or thanksgivings.]

Make us faithful instruments of your peace.
May we fill our world with your love.

Lord’s Prayer

Prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Going Out: Holy One, lift our burdens, for your yoke is easy.