Opening response

Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Let your ways be known upon earth,
your saving power among the 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

Weary of Wandering from My God

Charles Wesley

Weary of wandering from my God,
And now made willing to return,
I hear and bow me to the rod;
For thee, not without hope, I mourn:
I have an Advocate above,
A friend before the throne of love.

O Jesus, full of pardoning grace,
More full of grace than I of sin;
Yet once again I seek thy face:
Open thine arms and take me in;
And freely my backslidings heal,
And love the faithless sinner still.

Thou knowest the way to bring me back,
My fallen spirit to restore;
O, for thy truth and mercy's sake,
Forgive, and bid me sin no more:
The ruins of my soul repair,
And make my heart a house of prayer.

The stone to flesh again convert,
The veil of sin again remove;
Sprinkle thy blood upon my heart,
And melt it by thy dying love;
This rebel heart by love subdue,
And make it soft, and make it new.

Ah! give me, Lord, the tender heart
That trembles at the approach of sin;
A godly fear of sin impart,
Implant, and root it deep within,
That I may dread thy gracious power,
And never dare to offend thee more.

Confession of sin

When we cry out to the LORD in our trouble,
he will bring us out of 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 loving devotion,
and his wonders to the sons of men.

Let us offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and declare God’s works with rejoicing.

cf Psalm 107

Psalm 102

𝙍: My help comes from the LORD.

Hear my prayer, O LORD;
let my cry for help come before You.
Do not hide Your face from me
in my day of distress.
Incline Your ear to me;
answer me quickly when I call. 𝙍

For my days vanish like smoke,
and my bones burn like glowing embers.
My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass;
I even forget to eat my bread.
Through my loud groaning
my flesh clings to my bones.
I am like a desert owl,
like an owl among the ruins.
I lie awake;
I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

All day long my enemies taunt me;
they ridicule me and curse me.
For I have eaten ashes like bread
and mixed my drink with tears
because of Your indignation and wrath,
for You have picked me up and cast me aside.
My days are like lengthening shadows,
and I wither away like grass. 𝙍

But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever;
Your renown endures to all generations.
You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,
for it is time to show her favor—
the appointed time has come.
For Your servants delight in her stones
and take pity on her dust.

So the nations will fear the name of the LORD,
and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory.
For the LORD will rebuild Zion;
He has appeared in His glory.
He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute;
He will not despise their prayer. 𝙍

Let this be written for the generation to come,
so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.
For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary;
the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth
to hear a prisoner’s groaning,
to release those condemned to death,
that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion
and praise Him in Jerusalem,
when peoples and kingdoms assemble
to serve the LORD. 𝙍

He has broken my strength on the way;
He has cut short my days.
I say: “O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days!
Your years go on through all generations.
In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
They will perish, but You remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing You will change them,
and they will be passed on.
But You remain the same,
and Your years will never end.
The children of Your servants will dwell securely,
and their descendants will be established before You.”

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: My help comes from the LORD.

Psalm prayer

Have pity on our frailty, God,
and in the hour of our death
cast us not away as clothing that is worn,
for you are our eternal refuge;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Old Testament reading

Jeremiah 11:18-20

And the LORD informed me, so I knew.
Then You showed me their deeds.
For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter;
I did not know that they had plotted against me:
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name may be remembered no more.”

O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously,
who examines the heart and mind,
let me see Your vengeance upon them,
for to You I have committed my cause.

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading

Luke 22:54-71

Then they seized Jesus, led Him away, and took Him into the house of the high priest. And Peter followed at a distance.

When those present had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. A servant girl saw him seated in the firelight and looked intently at him. “This man also was with Him,” she said.

But Peter denied it. “Woman, I do not know Him,” he said.

A short time later, someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”

About an hour later, another man insisted, “Certainly this man was with Him, for he too is a Galilean.”

“Man, I do not know what you are talking about,” Peter replied.

While he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.

Then Peter remembered the word that the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

The men who were holding Jesus began to mock Him and beat Him. They blindfolded Him and kept demanding, “Prophesy! Who hit You?” And they said many other blasphemous things against Him.

At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and scribes, met together. They led Jesus into their Sanhedrin and said, “If You are the Christ, tell us.”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask you a question, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

So they all asked, “Are You then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You say that I am.”

“Why do we need any more testimony?” they declared. “We have heard it for ourselves from His own lips.”

Silence may be kept.

The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah)

Luke 1:68-79

𝙍: The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has visited and redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke through His holy prophets,
those of ages past,
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us deliverance from hostile hands,
that we may serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our lives.

And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord
to prepare the way for Him,
to give to His people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,
to shine on those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the path 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.

𝙍: The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.

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

Loving God, we look to you.
Receive our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
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.