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 116

PART ONE

  1. I love you O Lord because you heard my voice;
    when I made my supplication.
  2. because you turned your ear to me;
    when I called upon your name.
  3. The cords of death entangled me,
    and the grip of Sheol laid hold on me;
    distress and anguish descended upon me.
  4. Then I called upon the name of the Lord;
    'Deliver me O Lord I beseech you.'
  5. Gracious is the Lord and righteous:
    truly our God is a God of compassion.
  6. The Lord preserves the simple-hearted:
    when I was brought low the Lord saved me.
  7. Be at rest once more O my soul
    for the Lord has treated you kindly.
  8. The Lord has saved me from death;
    and kept my eyes from tears
    and my feet from stumbling.
  9. so that I may walk in the presence of the Lord:
    in the land of the living.

PART TWO

  1. I kept my faith, even when I said,
    'I am in sore distress':
    in my haste I said, 'No one can be trusted.'
  2. How can I repay you O Lord:
    for all the good things you have done to me?
  3. I will take up the cup of salvation:
    and call on the name of the Lord.
  4. I will pay my vows to the Lord:
    in the presence of all God's people.
  5. Grievous in the sight of the Lord:
    is the death of a faithful servant.
  6. Lord I am your servant,
    the child of your maidservant:
    you have freed me from my bonds.
  7. I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving:
    and call on the name of the Lord.
  8. I will pay my vows to the Lord:
    in the presence of all God's people.
  9. in the courts of the Lord's house:
    in your midst O Jerusalem.
    O praise the Lord.

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.

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Prayer 7s Ministry, New Zealand. You may not use the material for commercial purposes.