The Season of Lent | Saturday 01 Apr 2023
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
Almighty God,
you alone can bring into order
the unruly wills and affections of sinners:
Grant your people grace
to love what you command and desire what you promise;
that, among the swift and varied changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
“Listen,” [Jesus] said,
“we’re going up to Jerusalem,
where the Son of Man will be betrayed”….
(Mark 10:33a)
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From Psalms: Psalm 31:9-16 – Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church
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OT Reading: Lamentations 3:55-66 (NLT)
3:55 But I called on your name, Lord,
from deep within the pit.
You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!
Hear my cry for help!”
Yes, you came when I called;
you told me, “Do not fear.”
Lord, you have come to my defense;
you have redeemed my life.
You have seen the wrong they have done to me, Lord.
Be my judge, and prove me right.
You have seen the vengeful plots
my enemies have laid against me.
Lord, you have heard the vile names they call me.
You know all about the plans they have made.
My enemies whisper and mutter
as they plot against me all day long.
Look at them! Whether they sit or stand,
I am the object of their mocking songs.
Pay them back, Lord,
for all the evil they have done.
Give them hard and stubborn hearts,
and then let your curse fall on them!
Chase them down in your anger,
destroying them beneath the Lord’s heavens.
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Begone Unbelief – Indelible Grace (– John Newton, 1803)
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NT Reading: Mark 10:32-34 (NLT)
Jesus Again Predicts His Death
10:32 They were now on the way up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with awe, and the people following behind were overwhelmed with fear. Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him. “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
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Son Of Suffering – Matt Redman
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+ Most loving Father, you will us to give thanks for all things, to dread nothing but the loss of you, and to cast all our care on the One who cares for us. Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, and grant that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which you have manifested unto us in your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
+ Dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: we hold up all our weaknesses to your strength, our failures to your faithfulness, our sinfulness to your perfection, our loneliness to your compassion, our little pains to your great agony on the Cross. We pray that you will cleanse us, strengthen us, guide us, so that in all ways our lives may be lived as you would have them lived, without cowardice and for you alone. Show us how to live in true humility, true contrition, and true love. Amen.
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Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch
For those of us whose hearts are troubled
at the start of this new day,
be the voice that we hear,
the warmth that we feel,
the wisdom we seek,
the strength we require,
and the one in whose arms we rest.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 