Sun. evening Mar. 22
Opening response
Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
Make haste to help me, O LORD!
Let your way may be known on earth,
and your salvation among the nations.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation, to you be glory and praise forever. As we behold your Son, enthroned on the cross, stir up in us the fire of your love, that we may be cleansed from all our sins, and walk with you in newness of life singing the praise of him who died for us and our salvation.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.
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 forever.
Amen.
Hymn
The Church’s One Foundation
Words: Samuel J. Stone (1866)
Music: Samuel S. Wesley (1864)
Our Great Redeemer’s Praise (#388)
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation
By water and the Word:
From heav’n He came and sought her
To be His holy Bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
Elect from every nation,
Yet one o’er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth;
One holy Name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses,
With every grace endued.
’Mid toil and tribulation,
And tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation
Of peace for evermore;
Till, with the vision glorious,
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union
With God the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won:
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we,
Like them, the meek and lowly,
In love may dwell with Thee.
Confession of Sin
When we cry to the LORD in our trouble,
He will save us from our distress.
God will bring us out of darkness
and out of the shadow of death.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
A time of silence and self-examination may be kept.
May the Father forgive us by the death of his Son, and strengthen us to live in the power of the Spirit all our days.
Amen.
Let us give thanks to the LORD for His goodness,
and for His wonderful works to all people!
Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.
cf Psalm 107
Psalm 30
𝙍: O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me.
I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up,
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O LORD my God, I cried out to You,
and You healed me.
O LORD, You brought my soul up from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, so that I should not go down to the pit.
Sing to the LORD, you saints of His,
and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
For His anger endures but for a moment;
His favor is for a lifetime;
weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes in the morning.
𝙍: O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me.
In my prosperity I said,
“I shall never be moved.”
LORD, by Your favor
You made me stand as a strong mountain;
You hid Your face,
and I was dismayed.
I cried to You, O LORD,
and to the LORD I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise You?
Will it declare Your faithfulness?
Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me;
LORD, be my helper.”
𝙍: O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me.
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
You have taken off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
so that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be forever. Amen.
𝙍: O LORD my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me.
Psalm prayer
Lord, you hide your face when we trust in ourselves; strip us of false security and re-clothe us in your praise, that we may know you as the one who raises us from death, as you raised your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.
Old Testament reading
Lamentations 3:19-33
Remember my affliction and my wandering,
the wormwood and the gall.
Surely my soul remembers
and is humbled within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed;
His compassions do not fail.
They are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in Him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
to the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that a man should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
It is good for a man to bear the yoke
in his youth.
Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
For the Lord
will not cast off forever.
But though He causes grief, yet He will have compassion
according to the abundance of His mercies.
For He does not afflict from His heart,
nor grieve the sons of men.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Matthew 20:17-34
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes. And they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him, but on the third day He will rise.”
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons. And kneeling before Him, she asked for a certain thing.
He said to her, “What do you want?”
She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your kingdom.”
But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the cup that I am to drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
They said to Him, “We are able.”
He said to them, “You will indeed drink from My cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”
When the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you, let him be your servant, and whoever would be first among you, let him be your slave, even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
As they departed from Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the road, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
The crowd rebuked them, that they should be silent. But they cried out even more, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
Jesus stood still and called them, saying, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
They said to Him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”
So Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.
Silence may be kept.
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Luke 1:46-55
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded
the low estate of His servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His name.
His mercy is on those who fear Him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has pulled down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
in remembrance of His mercy,
as He spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now,
and will be forever. Amen.
Brief silence.
The Apostle’s Creed
Let us unite in this historic confession of the Christian faith:
I believe in God,
the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ,
his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the
right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge
the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
Thanksgiving and intercession
Thanksgiving may be made for the day.
Intercessions are offered
for peace
for individuals and their needs
Prayers may include the following concerns:
The persecuted Church
The oppressed peoples of the world
All who are lonely
All who are near death
All who are facing loss
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
In faith we pray
We pray to you, our God.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Standing at the foot of the cross, as our Savior taught us, so we pray
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.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
Conclusion
May Christ, who bore our sins on the cross, set us free to serve him with joy.
Amen.