Evening Prayer for Lenten Season
Let us seek the living God whose love is close at hand,
Let us pray to the One who waits patiently to be found.
May we abandon our dishonest ways,
And give up our unrighteous thoughts.
Let us come back to God with repentant hearts,
Let us come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins.
God is merciful and kind to those who return,
God’s love is extravagant and forgiving to all who come near.
Let us change our lives and not our clothes,
Let us come back to the God who never leaves us.
Though our sins are like scarlet wounds,
They will be washed away and become white as snow.
(Pause to remind yourself of the places in which you have experienced God’s forgiveness and redemptive love)
Have mercy on us, O God,
Because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
Blot out the sins that stain us.
Wash us clean from our guilt,
And purify our hearts from our sin.
Renew our inner spirit to become steadfast and unswerving,
So that we will be willing to obey you.
Do not turn us away from your loving presence O God,
Restore the joy of your salvation within us.
The sacrifice you desire is a penitent spirit,
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God
Read evening psalms for the day from the Daily Lectionary.
God may we reach within this night,
To the hidden places of our souls.
May we uncover the sins that bind us.
May we reach without this night,
Into the brokenness of our world.
May we expose our indifference to its cries.
May we reach down this night,
Into the pollution of creation.
May we admit to our part in its contamination.
God may we reach upward this night,
Into your forgiving embrace.
May we find the joy of eternal life.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours. Now and forever. Amen.
(Pause to offer up your own prayers and intercessions)
Lord we have denied you,
Each time we refused to see you in the faces of the hungry and the homeless.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
Lord we have betrayed you ,
Each time we have kept our distance from the anguish of the oppressed and the persecuted.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
Lord we have mocked you,
Each time we have pretended we do not know how radically you call us to live.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
Lord we are lost and have strayed,
Reconcile us to your image and make us new.
May the old in us pass away and all things become new.
All merciful One, God of infinite love and compassion, though we have strayed you have never abandoned us. In this season of repentance we come confessing our sins and reaching out for the healing power of your forgiveness. Through Christ our Lord, give us renewed and truthful hearts that will follow you in all of our ways.
Righteous God,
Compassionate and generous one
Who forgives our sins and has mercy on us
Fill our hidden places with your healing light,
Breathe on us afresh this night and grant us rest.
May your compassion bloom in us
May your righteousness bear fruit
May your generosity encourage us to share
May your love grow strong and deep within us
Breathe on us afresh this night and grant us rest.
Amen