DINNER (Vespers)

MENU

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 66

1 Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2     sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise.
3 Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
    Because of your great power, 
    your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth worships you;
    they sing praises to you,
    sing praises to your name.’Selah

5 Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
  There we rejoiced in him,
7     who rules by his might for ever,
  whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
    let the rebellious not exalt themselves.
       Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples,
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept us among the living,
    and has not let our feet slip.
10 For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
 
11 You brought us into the net;
    you laid burdens on our backs;
12 you let people ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
   yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.
13 I will come into your house with burnt-offerings;
    I will pay you my vows,
14 those that my lips uttered
    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer to you burnt-offerings of fatlings,
    with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
   I will make an offering of bulls and goats.
   		Selah

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried aloud to him,
    and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly God has listened;
    he has given heed to the words of my prayer.

20 Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me.

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.