Opening Versicles

P: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen.

P: O Lord, open my lips,

C: and my mouth will declare Your praise.

P: Make haste, O God, to deliver me;

C: make haste to help me, O Lord.

C: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Praise to You, O Christ, King who comes to save us.

Hymn: “Arise, O Christian People”

1 Arise, O Christian people! Prepare yourselves today;

Prepare to greet the Savior, Who takes you sins away.

To us by grace alone The truth and light were given;

The promised Lord from heaven To all the world is shown.

2 Prepare the way before Him; Prepare for Him the best.

Cast out what would offend Him, This great, this heav'nly guest.

Make straight, make plain the way: The lowly valleys raising,

The heights of pride abasing, His path, all even lay.

3 The humble heart and lowly God raises up on high;

Beneath His feet in terror The haughty soul shall lie.

The heart sincere and right, That heeds God's invitation

And makes true preparation-- It is the Lord's delight.

4 Prepare my heart, Lord Jesus; Turn not from me aside,

And help me to receive You This blessed Advent-tide.

From stall and manger low Come now to dwell within me;

I'll sing Your praises gladly And forth Your glory show.

Holden Evening Prayer (Sung)

P: Jesus Christ, you are the light of the world;

C: the light no darkness can overcome;

P: Stay with us now, for it is evening,

C: and the day is almost over.

P: Let your light scatter the darkness,

C: and shin within your people here….

All: Joyous light of heav’nly glory, loving glow of God’s own face,

you who sing creation’s story, shine on ev’ry land and race.

Now as evening falls around us, we shall raise our songs to you,

God of daybreak, God of shadows, come and light our hearts anew.

In the stars that grace the darkness, in the blazing sun of dawn,

in the light of peace and wisdom, we can hear your quiet song.

Love that fills the night with wonder, love that warms the weary soul,

Love that burst all chains asunder, set us free and make us whole.

You who made the heaven’s splendor, ev’ry dancing star of night,

make us shine with gentle justice, let us each reflect your light.

Mighty God of all creation, gentle Christ who lights our way,

Loving Spirit of salvation, lead us on to endless day.

P: May God be with you all

C: And also with you.

P: Let us sing our thanks to God.

C: It is right to give God thanks and praise.

P: Blessed are you, Creator of the universe--from old you have led your people by night and day. May the light of your Christ make our darkness bright, for your Word and your Presence are the light of our pathways, and you are the light and life of all creation.

C: Amen.

All: Let my prayer rise up like incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you. O God, I call to you, come to me now; O hear my voice when I cry to you. Let my prayer rise up like incense before you, the lifting of my hands as an offering to you. Keep watch within me, God; deep in my heart may the light of your love be burning bright, Let my prayer rise up like incense before you, the lifting of my hands as an offering to you. All praise to the God of all--Creator of life; all praise be to Christ and the Spirit of love. Let my prayer rise up like incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.

(Silence for Meditation)

P: May our prayers come before you, O God, as incense, and may your presence surround and fill us, so that in union with all creation, we might sing your praise and love in our lives.

C: Amen.

Scripture Readings

Isaiah 22:1-14

1 The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,

all of you, to the housetops,

2 you who are full of shoutings,

tumultuous city, exultant town?

Your slain are not slain with the sword

or dead in battle.

3 All your leaders have fled together;

without the bow they were captured.

All of you who were found were captured,

though they had fled far away.

4 Therefore I said:

“Look away from me;

let me weep bitter tears;

do not labor to comfort me

concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5 For the Lord God of hosts has a day

of tumult and trampling and confusion

in the valley of vision,

a battering down of walls

and a shouting to the mountains.

6 And Elam bore the quiver

with chariots and horsemen,

and Kir uncovered the shield.

7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.

8 He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

12 In that day the Lord God of hosts

called for weeping and mourning,

for baldness and wearing sackcloth;

13 and behold, joy and gladness,

killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,

eating flesh and drinking wine.

“Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die.”

14 The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:

“Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,”

says the Lord God of hosts.

P: The Light shines in the darkness

C: and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 11:30-36

30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Luke 19:41-44

41 When he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

P: The Light shines in the darkness

C: and the darkness has not overcome it.

Responsory for Advent

P: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous

Branch.

C: This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

P: In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.

C: This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

P: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

C: This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

Hymn: “O Christ, Who Shared Our Mortal Life” LSB # 552

O Christ, who shared our mortal life And ended death’s long reign,

Who healed the sick and raised the dead And bore our grief and pain:

We know our years on earth are few, That death is always near.

Come now to us, O Lord of Life; Bring hope that conquers fear!

Two weeping sisters, worn by grief And mired in depths of gloom,

Stood watching where their brother lay Within a rock-sealed tomb.

When, Lord, You met them as they mourned, You wept compassion’s tear.

But Martha, sore with sorrow, said,“He’d lived had You been here!”

10) “I am the Lord of life and death!” You answered Martha’s cry,

“And all who hear and trust My Word Shall live, although they die!”

You walked the path to Laz’rus’ tomb, You called him forth by name,

And living, loving once again, From death to life he came!

4) Death’s power holds us still in thrall And bears us toward the tomb.

Death’s dark’ning cloud hangs like a pall That threatens earth with doom.

But You have broken death’s embrace And torn away its sting.

Restore to life our mortal race! Raise us, O Risen King!

Sermon Hard questions that hardly anybody’s asking, but that have answers in Advent

Holden Evening Prayer (con’t)

P: An angel went from God to a town called Nazareth to a woman whose name was Mary. The angel said to her, “Rejoice, O highly favored, for God is with you. You shall bear a child, and his name shall be Jesus, the Chosen One of God Most High.” And Mary said, “I am the servant of my God, I live to do your will.”

C: My soul proclaims your greatness, O God, and my spirit rejoices in you, You have looked with love on your servant here, and blessed me all my life through. Great and mighty are you, O Holy One, strong is your kindness evermore. How you favor the weak and lowly one, humbling the proud of heart. You have cast the mighty down from their thrones, and up lifted the humble of heart, You have filled the hungry with wondrous things, and left the wealthy no part. Great and mighty are you, O Faithful One, strong is your justice strong your love, as you promised to Sarah and Abraham, kindness forevermore. My soul proclaims your greatness, O God, and my spirit rejoices in you, You have looked with love on your servant here, and blessed me all my life through.

Prayers