welcome as we come to say our evening prayers this is the eve of saint mark's day and we keep up a first even song for the evangelist saint mark who wrote the second of the gospels in order but the one that is always reckoned to be the first to be written we give thanks for saint mark in our evening prayers this afternoon oh lord open thou our lips and our mouth shall show forth thy praise oh god make speed to save us o lord make haste to help us glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen the psalm for the 24th evening of the month begins the longest psalm of all and we read the first eight verses of psalm 119 it is a long psalm of thanksgiving for the law of the lord which governs our life blessed are those that are undefiled in the way and walk in the law of the lord blessed are they that keep his testimonies and seek him with their whole heart for they who do no wickedness walk in his ways thou has charged that we shall diligently keep thy commandments oh that my ways were made so direct that i might keep thy statutes so shall i not be confounded while i have respect unto all my commandments i will thank thee with an unfeigned heart when i shall have learned the judgments of thy righteousness i will keep thy ceremonies oh forsake me not utterly glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen the first of our lessons this afternoon is written in the 52nd chapter of the prophet isaiah we're beginning to read at verse seven how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news who publishes peace who brings good news of happiness who publishes salvation who says to zion your god reigns the voice of your watchmen they lift up their voice together they sing for joy for i to i they see the return of the lord to zion break forth together into singing you waste places of jerusalem for the lord has comforted his people he has redeemed jerusalem the lord has beared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our god here ends our first lesson and we say the song of mary the song of obedience magnificat my soul doth magnify the lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in god my savior for he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed for he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his name and his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations he has shown strength with his arm he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts he has put down the mighty from their seat and has exalted the humble and meek he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich she has sent empty he remembering his mercy hath opened his servant israel as he promised to our forefathers abraham and his seed forever glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen our second lesson is written in the first chapter of saint mark's own gospel beginning at the first verse the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ the son of god as it is written in isaiah the prophet behold i send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way of the lord make his paths straight john the baptist appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and all the country of judea and all jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the riven river jordan confessing their sins now john was closed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and at locusts and wild honey and he preached saying after me comes he who is mightier than i the strap of whose sandals i am not worthy to stoop down and untie i have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the holy spirit in those days jesus came from nazareth of galilee and was baptized by john in the jordan and when he came up out of the water immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven you are my beloved son with you i am well pleased the spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness and he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by satan and he was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him now after john was arrested jesus came into galilee proclaiming the gospel of god and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of god is at hand repent and believe in the gospel here ends the second lesson it's a wonderful thing to feel that this is a beginning of writing the gospel of jesus christ down we are near to the time when this gospel was written near to the time when those who knew jesus would begin to pass away and leave the story to others so it needed to be written down even though it was passed around by word of mouth now it was the time to put the whole thing down in words so that others could read it as we have this afternoon there's a long tradition that when sin mark wrote his gospel it was the apostle peter who was giving him as the cue and the information needed to write that gospel down indeed in the first letter of saint peter right at the end when he is giving greetings the last greeting given is from my son mark the sense of being in a christian family with the disciple who follows jesus peter and the disciple who follows peter mark and we give thanks this afternoon as we shall tomorrow for the many facets of saint mark's gospel and also for the life of saint mark the evangelist himself it's a gospel which starts with an enormous burst of energy and that energy never ceases from the first word until the last words of the gospel and as if to give it more energy constantly he uses the greek word usus immediately immediately on coming out of the water jesus saw the spirit descending like a dove immediately the spirit drove him into the desert and a little after in the verses which follow that passage we read when he calls the disciples immediately they leave their nets and follow jesus that sense of urgency is theirs throughout is the easiest of the gospels to sit down and read at one sitting forgetting chapters and verses and divisions within the thing to read it all the way through it never fails to fill one with the same energy of the good news and of the gospel that we ourselves trust and believe in so we say the canticle nunctimitis lord now let is thy thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou has prepared before the face of all people to be a light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of thy people israel glory be to the father and to the son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen i believe in god the father almighty maker of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy ghost born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified dead and buried he descended into hell the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of god the father almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead i believe in the holy ghost the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen let us pray lord have mercy upon us christ have mercy upon us lord have mercy upon us our 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 amen o lord show thy mercy upon us and grant us thy salvation o lord save the queen and mercifully hear us when we call upon me and do thy ministers with righteousness and make thy chosen people joyful o lord save thy people and bless sun inheritance give peace in our time o lord because there is none other that fighteth for us but only thou o god o god make clean our hearts within us and take not thy holy spirit from us the collect a special prayer for saint mark's day o almighty god who has to instructed thy holy church with the heavenly doctrine of thy evangelists and mark give us grace that being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine we may be established in the truth of thy holy gospel through jesus christ our lord amen o god from whom all holy desires all good councils and all just works to proceed give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of jesus christ our savior amen lighten our darkness we beseech thee oh lord and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night for the love of thy only son our savior jesus christ amen as we come to say prayers special for this day at this mother church of the anglican communion we pray today for the diocese of marobo in south sudan and for james kenny elia the bishop there and his people and the diocese of worcester here in england and for john inge the bishop of worcester and the people he serves there in this diocese of canterbury as we pray for just in our archbishop for rose bishop of dover for tim bishop at lambeth and for the parishes of this diocese today we remember especially the parish of christchurch ramsgate and pray for peter tisard in his ministry there saint mark is remembered in venice in saint mark's where his tomb is his sign is the lion and we pray for the city of venice today in the very middle of the fight against coronavirus in northern italy pray for all those who are combating that disease by their skills in medicine but also by the encouragement to healing that they are able to give others as we are to those whom we know and love perhaps it's interesting this afternoon as we remember the lion as the sign of sinmark that it's actually not leo who's with me it's the shyest and friendliest of our cats tiger who loves the herb and vegetable garden and loves walking amongst the box hedges as he is just doing now so some silence for you to say your own prayers this afternoon the prayer of synchro system almighty god who has given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplications unto thee and us promise that when two or three are gathered together in thy name that would grant their requests fulfill now o lord the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be most expedient for them granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth and in the world to come life everlasting amen so may god give you grace to follow sin mark and all his saints in faith and hope and love and the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you and upon those whom you love and would pray for this afternoon and always amen