Friday evening April 26

Saturday evening
Thursday evening

Preparation

Opening response

Favor us, Lord, and deliver us.
Lord, come quickly and 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.

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

Saw Ye Not the Cloud Arise

Charles Wesley
           
Saw ye not the cloud arise,
Little as the human hand?
Now it spreads along the skies,
Hangs over all the thirsty land.

Lo! the promise of a shower
Drops already from above,
But the Lord will shortly pour
All the Spirit of his love.

When he first the work begun
Small and feeble was his day,
Now the word doth swiftly run,
Now it wins its widening way;

More and more it spreads and grows,
Ever mighty to prevail;
Sin's strongholds it now overthrows,
Shakes the trembling gates of hell.

Sons of God your Savior praise,
He a door hath opened wide
He hath given the word of grace,
Jesus’ word is glorified.

Jesus mighty to redeem,
He alone the work hath wrought,
Worthy is the work of him,
Him who spoke a world from naught.

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 107

Refrain:
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever!

“Give thanks to the Lord because he is good,
        because his faithful love lasts forever!”
That’s what those who are redeemed by the Lord say,
    the ones God redeemed from the power of their enemies,
    the ones God gathered from various countries,
    from east and west, north and south.

Some of the redeemed had wandered into the desert, into the wasteland.
    They couldn’t find their way to a city or town.
They were hungry and thirsty;
    their lives were slipping away.
So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
    and God delivered them from their desperate circumstances.
    God led them straight to human habitation.
Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and his wondrous works for all people,
    because God satisfied the one who was parched with thirst,
    and he filled up the hungry with good things!

Some of the redeemed had been sitting in darkness and deep gloom;
    they were prisoners suffering in chains
    because they had disobeyed God’s instructions
    and rejected the Most High’s plans.
So God humbled them with hard work.
    They stumbled, and there was no one to help them.
So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
    and God saved them from their desperate circumstances.
God brought them out from the darkness and deep gloom;
    he shattered their chains.
Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and his wondrous works for all people,
    because God has shattered bronze doors
    and split iron bars in two!

Some of the redeemed were fools because of their sinful ways.
    They suffered because of their wickedness.
They had absolutely no appetite for food;
    they had arrived at death’s gates.
So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
    and God saved them from their desperate circumstances.
God gave the order and healed them;
    he rescued them from their pit.
Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and his wondrous works for all people.
Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices
    and declare what God has done in songs of joy!

Some of the redeemed had gone out on the ocean in ships,
    making their living on the high seas.
They saw what the Lord had made;
    they saw his wondrous works in the depths of the sea.
God spoke and stirred up a storm
    that brought the waves up high.
The waves went as high as the sky;
    they crashed down to the depths.
The sailors’ courage melted at this terrible situation.
    They staggered and stumbled around like they were drunk.
    None of their skill was of any help.
So they cried out to the Lord in their distress,
    and God brought them out safe from their desperate circumstances.
God quieted the storm to a whisper;
    the sea’s waves were hushed.
So they rejoiced because the waves had calmed down;
    then God led them to the harbor they were hoping for.
Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love
    and his wondrous works for all people.
Let them exalt God in the congregation of the people
    and praise God in the assembly of the elders.

God turns rivers into desert,
    watery springs into thirsty ground,
    fruitful land into unproductive dirt,
        when its inhabitants are wicked.
But God can also turn the desert into watery pools,
    thirsty ground into watery springs,
    where he settles the hungry.
They even build a city and live there!
    They plant fields and vineyards
    and obtain a fruitful harvest.
God blesses them, and they become many.
    God won’t even let their cattle diminish.
But when they do diminish—
    when they’re brought down by oppression, trouble, and grief—
    God pours contempt on their leaders,
        making them wander aimlessly in the wastelands.
But God raises the needy from their suffering;
    he makes their families as numerous as sheep!

Those who do right see it and celebrate,
    but every wicked person shuts their mouth.
Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things,
    carefully considering the Lord’s faithful love.

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:
Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love lasts forever!

Psalm prayer

O living Christ,
rescue us from foolish passion
and still the storms of our self-will;
and, as you are our anchor in this life,
so bring us to the haven you have prepared for us;
for your mercy’s sake.

Old Testament reading
Exodus 13:17-14:14

When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn’t lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, even though that was the shorter route. God thought, If the people have to fight and face war, they will run back to Egypt. So God led the people by the roundabout way of the Reed Sea desert. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt ready for battle. Moses took with him Joseph’s bones just as Joseph had made Israel’s sons promise when he said to them, “When God takes care of you, you must carry my bones out of here with you.” They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. The Lord went in front of them during the day in a column of cloud to guide them and at night in a column of lightning to give them light. This way they could travel during the day and at night. The column of cloud during the day and the column of lightning at night never left its place in front of the people.

Then the Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to turn back and set up camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea in front of Baal-zephon. You should set up camp in front of it by the sea. Pharaoh will think to himself, The Israelites are lost and confused in the land. The desert has trapped them. I’ll make Pharaoh stubborn, and he’ll chase them. I’ll gain honor at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. And they did exactly that.

When Egypt’s king was told that the people had run away, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people. They said, “What have we done, letting Israel go free from their slavery to us?” So he sent for his chariot and took his army with him. He took six hundred elite chariots and all of Egypt’s other chariots with captains on all of them. The Lord made Pharaoh, Egypt’s king, stubborn, and he chased the Israelites, who were leaving confidently. The Egyptians, including all of Pharaoh’s horse-drawn chariots, his cavalry, and his army, chased them and caught up with them as they were camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth in front of Baal-zephon.

As Pharaoh drew closer, the Israelites looked back and saw the Egyptians marching toward them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt like this? Didn’t we tell you the same thing in Egypt? ‘Leave us alone! Let us work for the Egyptians!’ It would have been better for us to work for the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”

But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand your ground, and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never ever see again. The Lord will fight for you. You just keep still.”

Silence may be kept.

New Testament reading
1 Corinthians 15:35-50

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have when they come back?” Look, fool! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t come back to life unless it dies. What you put in the ground doesn’t have the shape that it will have, but it’s a bare grain of wheat or some other seed. God gives it the sort of shape that he chooses, and he gives each of the seeds its own shape. All flesh isn’t alike. Humans have one kind of flesh, animals have another kind of flesh, birds have another kind of flesh, and fish have another kind. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The heavenly bodies have one kind of glory, and the earthly bodies have another kind of glory. The sun has one kind of glory, the moon has another kind of glory, and the stars have another kind of glory (but one star is different from another star in its glory). It’s the same with the resurrection of the dead: a rotting body is put into the ground, but what is raised won’t ever decay. It’s degraded when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in glory. It’s weak when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised in power. It’s a physical body when it’s put into the ground, but it’s raised as a spiritual body.

If there’s a physical body, there’s also a spiritual body. So it is also written, The first human, Adam, became a living person, and the last Adam became a spirit that gives life. But the physical body comes first, not the spiritual one—the spiritual body comes afterward. The first human was from the earth made from dust; the second human is from heaven. The nature of the person made of dust is shared by people who are made of dust, and the nature of the heavenly person is shared by heavenly people. We will look like the heavenly person in the same way as we have looked like the person made from dust.

This is what I’m saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood can’t inherit God’s kingdom. Something that rots can’t inherit something that doesn’t decay.

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

Prayers may include the following concerns:

The people of God, that they may proclaim the risen Lord
God’s creation, that the peoples of the earth may meet their responsibility to care
Those in despair and darkness, that they may find the hope and light of Christ
Those in fear of death, that they may find faith through the resurrection
Prisoners and captives

Other intercessions and supplications may be offered as the Holy Spirit leads. 

Response

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.

Silence may be kept.

Collect of the day

Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death
to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honor, glory and might,
now and in all eternity.
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.