Prayer
Come, brother Jesus, be our guest,
stay with us for day is ending.
Bring to this place your poverty,
for then shall we be rich.
Bring to this place your pain,
that in sharing it, we may also share your joy.
Bring to this place your understanding of us,
that we may be freed to learn more of you.
Bring to this place your Holy Spirit,
that we and all things might be made new.
With friend, with stranger,
with the unknown and well-known ones,
be among us tonight,
for the doors of the house are open,
and the doors of our hearts we leave ajar.
Scripture
In the world many things happen at night:
people travel,
people meet,
people have secret conversations,
people lie awake restless,
people sleep through exhaustion.
And this has always been so;
holy books bear witness to it.
So let us hear a night story from the gospel of Mark.
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:35-41)
Word of God, word of life
Thanks be to God
