Thursday evening April 14
Friday evening
Wednesday evening
Preparation
Opening response
O God, make speed to save us.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
In your resurrection, O Christ,
let heaven and earth rejoice. Alleluia.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Blessed are you, Sovereign Lord,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
to you be glory and praise forever.
From the deep waters of death
you brought your people to new birth
by raising your Son to life in triumph.
Through him dark death has been destroyed
and radiant life is everywhere restored.
As you call us out of darkness into his marvelous light
may our lives reflect his glory
and our lips repeat the endless song.
Blessed be God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God forever.
Hymn
A Stranger in the World Below
Charles Wesley
A stranger in the world below,
I calmly sojourn here;
Nor can its happiness or woe
Provoke my hope or fear;
Its evils in a moment end;
Its joys as soon are past;
But O, the bliss to which I tend
Eternally shall last!
To that Jerusalem above,
With singing I repair;
While in the flesh, my hope and love,
My heart and soul are there.
There my exalted Savior stands,
My merciful High Priest;
And still extends his wounded hands
To take me to his breast.
Confession of sin
Come, Holy Spirit of God,
and search our hearts with the light of Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said:
The first commandment is this:
‘Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord,
and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your being, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’
No other commandment is greater than these.
All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.
Amen. Lord, have mercy.
After a period of reflection
Come, let us return to the Lord and say:
Lord our God,
in our sin we have avoided your call.
Our love for you is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early.
Have mercy on us;
deliver us from judgment;
bind up our wounds and revive us;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
cf Hosea 6
May almighty God,
who sent his Son into the world to save sinners,
bring us his pardon and peace, now and forever.
Amen.
The Word of God
Psalm 73
Refrain:
I have taken my refuge in you, my Lord God.
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure of heart.
But me? My feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped
because I envied the arrogant;
I observed how the wicked are well off:
They suffer no pain;
their bodies are fit and strong.
They are never in trouble;
they aren’t weighed down like other people.
That’s why they wear arrogance like a necklace,
why violence covers them like clothes.
Their eyes bulge out from eating so well;
their hearts overflow with delusions.
They scoff and talk so cruel;
from their privileged positions
they plan oppression.
Their mouths dare to speak against heaven!
Their tongues roam the earth!
That’s why people keep going back to them,
keep approving what they say.
And what they say is this: “How could God possibly know!
Does the Most High know anything at all!”
Look at these wicked ones,
always relaxed, piling up the wealth!
Meanwhile, I’ve kept my heart pure for no good reason;
I’ve washed my hands to stay innocent for nothing.
I’m weighed down all day long.
I’m punished every morning.
If I said, “I will talk about all this,”
I would have been unfaithful to your children.
But when I tried to understand these things,
it just seemed like hard work
until I entered God’s sanctuary
and understood what would happen to the wicked.
You will definitely put them on a slippery path;
you will make them fall into ruin!
How quickly they are devastated,
utterly destroyed by terrors!
As quickly as a dream departs from someone waking up, my Lord,
when you are stirred up, you make them disappear.
When my heart was bitter,
when I was all cut up inside,
I was stupid and ignorant.
I acted like nothing but an animal toward you.
But I was still always with you!
You held my strong hand!
You have guided me with your advice;
later you will receive me with glory.
Do I have anyone else in heaven?
There’s nothing on earth I desire except you.
My body and my heart fail,
but God is my heart’s rock and my share forever.
Look! Those far from you die;
you annihilate all those who are unfaithful to you.
But me? It’s good for me to be near God.
I have taken my refuge in you, my Lord God,
so I can talk all about your works!
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.
Refrain:
I have taken my refuge in you, my Lord God.
Psalm prayer
Holy God,
may we find wisdom in your presence
and set our hope not on uncertain riches
but on the love that holds us to the end;
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Old Testament reading
Deuteronomy 7:1-11
Now once the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to take possession of, and he drives out numerous nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: seven nations that are larger and stronger than you— once the Lord your God lays them before you, you must strike them down, placing them under the ban. Don’t make any covenants with them, and don’t be merciful to them. Don’t intermarry with them. Don’t give your daughter to one of their sons to marry, and don’t take one of their daughters to marry your son, because they will turn your child away from following me so that they end up serving other gods. That will make the Lord’s anger burn against you, and he will quickly annihilate you.
Instead, this is what you must do with these nations: rip down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their sacred poles, and burn their idols because you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God chose you to be his own treasured people beyond all others on the fertile land. It was not because you were greater than all other people that the Lord loved you and chose you. In fact, you were the smallest of peoples! No, it is because the Lord loved you and because he kept the solemn pledge he swore to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with a strong hand and saved you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, Egypt’s king. Know now then that the Lord your God is the only true God! He is the faithful God, who keeps the covenant and proves loyal to everyone who loves him and keeps his commands—even to the thousandth generation! He is the God who personally repays anyone who hates him, ultimately destroying that kind of person. The Lord does not waste time with anyone who hates him; he repays them personally. So make sure you carefully keep the commandment, the regulations, and the case laws that I am commanding you right now.
Silence may be kept.
New Testament reading
Ephesians 2:11-22
So remember that once you were Gentiles by physical descent, who were called “uncircumcised” by Jews who are physically circumcised. At that time you were without Christ. You were aliens rather than citizens of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of God’s promise. In this world you had no hope and no God. But now, thanks to Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace. He reconciled them both as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God.
When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit. So now you are no longer strangers and aliens. Rather, you are fellow citizens with God’s people, and you belong to God’s household. As God’s household, you are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is joined together in him, and it grows up into a temple that is dedicated to the Lord. Christ is building you into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
Silence may be kept.
Gospel canticle
The Magnificat (The Song of Mary)
Refrain:
The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.
With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.
Luke 1:46-55
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.
Refrain:
The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Alleluia.
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,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
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,
is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and 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.
Prayers
Thanksgiving and intercession
Thanksgiving may be made for the day.
Intercessions are offered
for peace
for individuals and their needs
Response
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Silence may be kept.
Collect of the day
Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
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
Rejoicing in God’s new creation,
as our Savior taught us, so we pray
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and forever.
Amen.
Conclusion
May the risen Christ grant us the joys of eternal life.
Amen.