Monday, April 12
The Vespers Office To Be Observed on the Hour or Half Hour Between 5 and 8 p.m


The Call to Prayer
Come now and look upon the works of the LORD,* what awesome things he has done on earth.
Psalm 46:9

The Request for Presence
Hear my cry, O God,* and listen to my prayer. I call upon you from the ends of the earth.
Psalm 61:1–2


The Greeting

O ruler of the universe, Lord God, great deeds are they that you have done,* surpassing human understanding. Your ways are ways of righteousness and truth,* O King of all the ages.
The Song of the Redeemed

The Hymn

Let the Lower Lights Be Burning

Brightly beams our Father’s mercy From His lighthouse evermore, But to us He gives the keeping Of the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor, fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save. Dark the night of sin has settled, Loud the angry billows roar, Eager eyes are watching, longing For the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor, fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save. Trim your feeble lamp, my brother: Some poor sailor tempest tossed, Trying now to make the harbor, In the darkness may be lost. Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave! Some poor, fainting, struggling seaman You may rescue, you may save.
Philip Bliss

The Refrain for the Vespers Lessons

Happy are those who act with justice* and always do what is right!
Psalm 106:3

The Vespers Psalm

The Lord Comes in Holiness

The Lord gave the word;* great was the company of women who bore the tidings: “Kings with their armies are fleeing away;* the women at home are dividing the spoils.” Though you lingered among the sheepfolds,* you shall be like a dove whose wings are covered with silver, whose feathers are like green gold. When the Almighty scattered kings,* it was like snow falling in Zalmon. O mighty mountain, O hill of Bashan!* O rugged mountain, O hill of Bashan! Why do you look with envy, O rugged mountain, at the hill which God chose for his resting place?* truly, the LORD will dwell there for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands;* the Lord comes in holiness from Sinai. You have gone up on high and led captivity captive; you have received gifts even from your enemies,* that the LORD God might dwell among them. Blessed be the Lord day by day,* the God of our salvation, who bears our burdens. He is our God, the God of our salvation;* God is the LORD, by whom we escape death.
Psalm 68:11–20

The Refrain

Happy are those who act with justice* and always do what is right!

The Cry of the Church

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name. May your kingdom come, and 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 yours are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Prayer Appointed for the Week

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of my faith, that I may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. †

The Concluding Prayer of the Church

Almighty God, who after the creation of the world rested from all your works and sanctified a day of rest for all your creatures: Grant that I, putting away all earthly anxieties, may be duly prepared for the service of public worship, and grant as well that my Sabbath upon earth may be a preparation for the eternal rest promised to your people in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. †