Holy Week | Holy Saturday 08 Apr 2023
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O God, Creator of heaven and earth:
Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son
was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath,
so may we await with him the coming of the third day,
and rise with him to newness of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We request that you seal the tomb until the third day.
This will prevent his disciples
from coming and stealing his body
and then telling everyone
he was raised from the dead!
(Matthew 27:64)
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OT Reading: Lamentations 3:19-24 (NLT)
3:19 The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.
I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
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Psalms: Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16 (NLT) – Father, Into Your Hands – Francesca LaRosa
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NT Reading: 1 Peter 4:1-8 (NLT)
Living for God
4:1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. But remember that they will have to face God, who stands ready to judge everyone, both the living and the dead. That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead—so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.
The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.
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My Prayer For You (Official Lyric Video) – Alisa Turner
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Gospel Reading: Matthew 27:57-66 (NLT)
The Burial of Jesus
27:57 As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching.
The Guard at the Tomb
27:62 The next day, on the Sabbath, the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. They told him, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’ So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”
Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.” So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.
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Though for Now We’re Waiting – Young Oceans
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+ Dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: I hold up all my weakness to your strength, my failure to your faithfulness, my sinfulness to your perfection, my loneliness to your compassion, my little pains to your great agony on the Cross. I pray that you will cleanse me, strengthen me, guide me, so that in all ways my life may be lived as you would have it lived, without cowardice and for you alone. Show me how to live in true humility, true contrition, and true love. Amen.
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Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch
Grant us the strength, Lord,
of body and of spirit,
to offer you the sacrifice
of our lives
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 