DINNER (Vespers)

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Grace

Dear God,
thank you for all that is good,
for our creation and for our humanity,
for the gifts of life and of one another,
for your love which is unbounded and eternal.
for the food before us,
the family and friends beside us
and the love between us.
Amen.

Psalm 45

1 My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
    I address my verses to the king;
    my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

2 You are the most handsome of men;
    grace is poured upon your lips;
    therefore God has blessed you for ever.
3 Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
    in your glory and majesty.

4 In your majesty ride on victoriously
    for the cause of truth and to defend the right;
    let your right hand teach you dread deeds.
5 Your arrows are sharp
    in the heart of the king’s enemies;
    the peoples fall under you.

6 Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever.
    Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity;
7 you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
  Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
8 your robes are all fragrant 
	with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
  From ivory palaces 
  	stringed instruments make you glad;
9 daughters of kings 
	are among your ladies of honour;
    at your right hand 
    stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
 
10 Hear, O daughter, 
	consider and incline your ear;
    forget your people and your father’s house,
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
	Since he is your lord, bow to him;
12 the people of Tyre will seek your favour 
	with gifts,
    the richest of the people 
13 with all kinds of wealth.

   The princess is decked in her chamber 
   with gold-woven robes;
14 in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;
    behind her the virgins, her companions, follow.
15 With joy and gladness they are led along
    as they enter the palace of the king.

16 In the place of ancestors you, O king,
	shall have sons;
    you will make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will cause your name 
	to be celebrated in all generations;
    therefore the peoples will praise you 
    for ever and ever.

Collect

Eternal Spirit, living God,
in whom we live and move and have our being,
all that we are, have been, and shall be is known to you,
to the very secret of our hearts
and all that rises to trouble us.
Living flame burn into us,
cleansing wind, blow through us,
fountain of water, well up within us,
that we may love and praise in deed and in truth.
Amen.