Evening Prayer (Evensong) in Contemporary Language

¶ Evening Prayer
Easter Season
Tuesday, 28 April 2026
Peter Chanel, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841 [Commemoration]

Preparation

O God, make speed to save us.
AllO Lord, make haste to help us.

In your resurrection, O Christ,
Alllet heaven and earth rejoice. Alleluia.

One or more of the following is said or sung:

this or another prayer of thanksgiving

Blessed are you, Sovereign Lord,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to you be glory and praise for ever.
From the deep waters of death
you brought your people to new birth
by raising your Son to life in triumph.
Through him dark death has been destroyed
and radiant life is everywhere restored.
As you call us out of darkness into his marvellous light
may our lives reflect his glory
and our lips repeat the endless song.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
AllBlessed be God for ever.

A Song of David (page 573), the following or another suitable hymn

Ye choirs of new Jerusalem,
your sweetest notes employ,
the Paschal victory to hymn
in strains of holy joy.

How Judah’s lion burst his chains
and crushed the serpent’s head;
and brought with him, from death’s domains,
the long-imprisoned dead.

Triumphant in his glory now
his sceptre ruleth all,
earth, heaven, and hell before him bow,
and at his footstool fall.

While joyful thus his praise we sing,
his mercy we implore,
into his palace bright to bring
and keep us evermore.

All glory to the Father be,
all glory to the Son,
all glory, Holy Ghost, to thee,
while endless ages run. Alleluia, Amen.

Fulbert of Chartres, tr: Robert Campbell
(Tune: CM)

This opening prayer may be said

That this evening may be holy, good and peaceful,
let us pray with one heart and mind.

Silence is kept.

As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,
so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts
and set us free to sing your praise
now and for ever.
AllAmen.

The Word of God

Psalmody

The appointed psalmody is said.

Psalm 115

Refrain: The Lord has been mindful of us and he will bless us.

1 Not to us, Lord, not to us,
but to your name give the glory, ♦
for the sake of your loving mercy and truth.

2 Why should the nations say, ♦
‘Where is now their God?’

3 As for our God, he is in heaven; ♦
he does whatever he pleases.

4 Their idols are silver and gold, ♦
the work of human hands. R

5 They have mouths, but cannot speak; ♦
eyes have they, but cannot see;

6 They have ears, but cannot hear; ♦
noses have they, but cannot smell;

7 They have hands, but cannot feel;
feet have they, but cannot walk; ♦
not a whisper do they make from their throats.

8 Those who make them shall become like them ♦
and so will all who put their trust in them. R

9 But you, Israel, put your trust in the Lord; ♦
he is their help and their shield.

10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord; ♦
he is their help and their shield.

11 You that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; ♦
he is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord has been mindful of us and he will bless us; ♦
may he bless the house of Israel;
may he bless the house of Aaron;

13 May he bless those who fear the Lord, ♦
both small and great together. R

14 May the Lord increase you more and more, ♦
you and your children after you.

15 May you be blest by the Lord, ♦
the maker of heaven and earth.

16 The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, ♦
but the earth he has entrusted to his children.

17 The dead do not praise the Lord, ♦
nor those gone down into silence;

18 But we will bless the Lord, ♦
from this time forth for evermore.
Alleluia.

Refrain: The Lord has been mindful of us and he will bless us.

Living God,
defend us from the idols which our hearts enthrone,
that we may not go down into silence
but be raised to our heaven of heavens
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Psalm 116

Refrain: Gracious is the Lord and righteous.

1 I love the Lord,
for he has heard the voice of my supplication; ♦
because he inclined his ear to me
on the day I called to him.

2 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pains of hell took hold of me; ♦
by grief and sorrow was I held.

3 Then I called upon the name of the Lord: ♦
‘O Lord, I beg you, deliver my soul.’

4 Gracious is the Lord and righteous; ♦
our God is full of compassion. R

5 The Lord watches over the simple; ♦
I was brought very low and he saved me.

6 Turn again to your rest, O my soul, ♦
for the Lord has been gracious to you.

7 For you have delivered my soul from death, ♦
my eyes from tears and my feet from falling.

8 I will walk before the Lord ♦
in the land of the living. R

9 I believed that I should perish
for I was sorely troubled; ♦
and I said in my alarm,
‘Everyone is a liar.’

10 How shall I repay the Lord ♦
for all the benefits he has given to me?

11 I will lift up the cup of salvation ♦
and call upon the name of the Lord.

12 I will fulfil my vows to the Lord ♦
in the presence of all his people. R

13 Precious in the sight of the Lord ♦
is the death of his faithful servants.

14 O Lord, I am your servant, ♦
your servant, the child of your handmaid;
you have freed me from my bonds.

15 I will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving ♦
and call upon the name of the Lord.

16 I will fulfil my vows to the Lord ♦
in the presence of all his people,

17 In the courts of the house of the Lord, ♦
in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Alleluia.

Refrain: Gracious is the Lord and righteous.

As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
may we call upon your name,
raise the cup of salvation,
and so proclaim your death, O Lord,
until you come in glory.

Each psalm or group of psalms may end with

AllGlory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

If there are two Scripture readings, the first may be read here, or both may be read after the canticle.

Deuteronomy 9.23 - 10.5

And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and occupy the land that I have given you’, you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God, neither trusting him nor obeying him. You have been rebellious against the Lord as long as he has known you.

Throughout the forty days and forty nights that I lay prostrate before the Lord when the Lord intended to destroy you, I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Lord God, do not destroy the people who are your very own possession, whom you redeemed in your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; pay no attention to the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin, otherwise the land from which you have brought us might say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to let them die in the wilderness.” For they are the people of your very own possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Carve out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you smashed, and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. Then he wrote on the tablets the same words as before, the ten commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark that I had made; and there they are, as the Lord commanded me.

Canticle

A Song of Faith, or another suitable canticle, for example, number 60 (page 618) or number 74 (page 632), may be said

Refrain:

AllGod raised Christ from the dead,
the Lamb without spot or stain. Alleluia.

1Blessed be the God and Father ♦
of our Lord Jesus Christ!

2By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope ♦
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

3Into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, ♦
kept in heaven for you,

4Who are being protected by the power of God through faith, ♦
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

5You were ransomed from the futile ways of your ancestors ♦
not with perishable things like silver or gold

6But with the precious blood of Christ ♦
like that of a lamb without spot or stain.

7Through him you have confidence in God,
who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, ♦
so that your faith and hope are set on God.

1 Peter 1.3-5, 18, 19, 21

AllGlory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

AllGod raised Christ from the dead,
the Lamb without spot or stain. Alleluia.

Scripture Reading

One or more readings appointed for the day are read.

The reading(s) may be followed by a time of silence.

Ephesians 4.17-end

Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practise every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

A suitable song or chant, or a responsory in this or another form, may follow

The Lord is my strength and my song:
he has become my salvation.
AllThe Lord is my strength and my song:
he has become my salvation.
I shall not die, but live,
and declare the works of the Lord.
AllHe has become my salvation.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
AllThe Lord is my strength and my song:
he has become my salvation.

from Psalm 118

Gospel Canticle

The Magnificat (The Song of Mary) is normally said,
or Great and Wonderful (page 629) may be said

Refrain:

AllThe stone which the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.

1My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; ♦
he has looked with favour on his lowly servant.

2From this day all generations will call me blessed; ♦
the Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is his name.

3He has mercy on those who fear him, ♦
from generation to generation.

4He has shown strength with his arm ♦
and has scattered the proud in their conceit,

5Casting down the mighty from their thrones ♦
and lifting up the lowly.

6He has filled the hungry with good things ♦
and sent the rich away empty.

7He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, ♦
to remember his promise of mercy,

8The promise made to our ancestors, ♦
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Luke 1.46-55

AllGlory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

Refrain:

AllThe stone which the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.

Prayers

Thanksgiving may be made for the day.

Intercessions are offered
¶ for peace
¶ for individuals and their needs

Prayers may include the following concerns from the cycle on pages 364–365

¶ The people of God, that they may proclaim the risen Lord
¶ God’s creation, that the peoples of the earth may meet their responsibility to care
¶ Those in despair and darkness, that they may find the hope and light of Christ
¶ Those in fear of death, that they may find faith through the resurrection
¶ Prisoners and captives

A form of prayer found on page 382 may be used.

These responses may be used

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer

(or)

Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.

Silence may be kept.

The Collect of the day is said

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life:
raise us, who trust in him,
from the death of sin to the life of righteousness,
that we may seek those things which are above,
where he reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
AllAmen.

The Lord’s Prayer is said

Rejoicing in God’s new creation,
as our Saviour taught us, so we pray

AllOur 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 for ever.
Amen.

(or)

Rejoicing in God’s new creation,
let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us

AllOur Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

The Conclusion

May the risen Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.
AllAmen.

Let us bless the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.
AllThanks be to God. Alleluia, alleluia.