Mon. morning Mar. 30
Opening response
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
Let your ways be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation, to you be praise and glory forever. As a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, your only Son was lifted up that he might draw the whole world to himself. May we walk this day in the way of the cross and always be ready to share its weight, declaring your love for all the world.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.
The night has passed, and the day lies open before us; let us pray with one heart and mind.
Silence is kept.
As we rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts on fire with love for you; 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
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor recompensed us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward those who fear Him.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Holy God,
Holy and strong,
Holy and immortal,
have mercy upon us.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits.
Psalm 41
𝙍: LORD, be merciful to me.
Blessed is he who considers the poor;
the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.
The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive,
and he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed;
in his illness, You will restore him to health.
I said, “LORD, be merciful to me;
heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”
𝙍: LORD, be merciful to me.
My enemies speak evil of me:
“When will he die, and his name perish?”
And if he comes to see me, he speaks vain words;
his heart gathers iniquity to itself;
when he goes out, he tells it.
All who hate me whisper together against me;
against me they devise my hurt.
They say, “An evil disease clings to him.
And now that he lies down, he will not rise again.”
Even my own familiar friend,
in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread,
has lifted up the heel against me.
𝙍: LORD, be merciful to me.
But You, O LORD, be gracious to me,
and raise me up, that I may repay them.
By this I know that You are well pleased with me:
because my enemy does not triumph over me.
As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,
and set me in Your presence forever.
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.
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: LORD, be merciful to me.
Psalm prayer
God our deliverer, raise up the poor and comfort the betrayed, through the one who for our sakes became poor and whose betrayal brought our salvation, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Lamentations 1:1-12a
How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How she has become like a widow,
who was once great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave!
She weeps sorely in the night,
her tears are on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.
Judah has gone into captivity,
under affliction and great servitude;
she dwells among the nations,
she finds no rest;
all her persecutors overtook her
in the midst of distress.
The roads to Zion mourn
because no one comes to the solemn feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
her priests sigh,
her virgins are afflicted,
and she herself suffers bitterly.
Her adversaries have become her masters,
her enemies prosper;
for the LORD has afflicted her
because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her children have gone into captivity
before the enemy.
From the daughter of Zion
all her beauty has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.
In the days of her affliction and misery
Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things
that she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
there was no one to help her.
The adversaries saw her
and mocked at her desolation.
Jerusalem has sinned grievously;
therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her,
for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself sighs
and turns away.
Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
she took no thought of her future;
therefore her fall is astounding;
she has no comforter.
“O LORD, look upon my affliction,
for the enemy has triumphed!”
The adversary has spread his hand
over all her precious things;
for she has seen the nations
enter her sanctuary,
those whom You commanded
not to enter Your congregation.
All her people groan,
as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
to restore their strength.
Look, O LORD, and consider,
for I am despised.
Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Luke 22:1-23
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, drew near. And the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to kill Jesus, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. He went and discussed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray Him to them. They were glad and agreed to give him money. He fully consented and searched for an opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the crowds.
Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came, when the Passover lamb must be killed. He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat it.”
They said to Him, “Where will You have us prepare it?”
He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you there. Follow him into the house which he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ He will show you a large furnished upper room. Prepare there.”
They went and found it as He had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
When the hour had come, He and the twelve apostles with Him sat down. And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will never eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
And He took the cup and gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
Then He took the bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
In like manner, He took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me on the table. Indeed, the Son of Man goes as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!” They began to inquire among themselves which of them it was who would do this.
Silence may be kept.
The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)
Luke 1:68-79
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for He has visited and redeemed His people,
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets of long ago,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath which He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies,
might serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest;
for you will go before the presence of the Lord to prepare His ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to His people
by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise from on high has visited us;
to give light to those who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
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.
Intercession and thanksgiving
Prayers may be offered for:
the day and its tasks
the world and its needs
the church and her life
Prayers may include the following concerns:
The persecuted church
The oppressed peoples of the world
All who are lonely
All who are near to death
All who are facing loss
Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads.
Response
Lord, hear your people
and answer our prayers.
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.