Morning Prayer: Lent 5 - Jesus Gave of Himself
The Call to Prayer
The voice of YHWH resounds over the waters; the God of glory thunders over the raging seas.
God’s voice is powerful, God’s voice is full of majesty.
Psalm 29:3-4
The Request for Presence
Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, YHWH, God of truth!
Psalm 30:5
The Greeting
Give strength to your people, YHWH! Bless your people with peace!
Psalm 29:11
The Song/Hymn
Man of sorrows, wondrous name for the Son of God who came
ruined sinners to reclaim: Hallelujah! Gracious Saviour!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood,
sealed my pardon with his blood: Hallelujah! Loving Saviour!
Guilty, helpless, lost were we; spotless Lamb of God was he;
Full atonement—can it be? Hallelujah! Blessed Saviour!
Lifted up was he to die; “It is finished” was his cry,
Now in heaven exalted high: Hallelujah! Mighty Saviour!
When Christ comes, our glorious King, all the ransomed home to bring,
Then anew this song we’ll sing: Hallelujah! Wondrous Saviour!
Philip Bliss
PCC Hymn #210 Man of sorrows, wondrous name
The Refrain
It was for our offences that you were pierced, for our sins that you were crushed; upon you lies a chastening that brings us wholeness, and through your wounds we are healed.
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us goes our own way. But YHWH has laid upon you the guilt of us all.
Isaiah 53:5-6
The Reading
Now since we have been made right in God’s sight by our faith, we are at peace with God through our Saviour Jesus Christ. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us to the grace in which we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to the day on which we will become all that God has intended. But not only that—we even rejoice in our suffering! We know that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and character, hope. And such a hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
At the appointed time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for us godless people. It is not easy to die even for a good person—though of course for someone really worthy, there might be someone prepared to die—but the proof of God’s love is that Christ died for us even while we were sinners.
Now that we have been justified by Christ’s blood, it is all the more certain that we will be saved by Christ from God’s wrath. For if we were reconciled to God by Christ’s death while we were God’s enemies, how much more certain that we who have been reconciled will be saved by Christ’s life! Not only that, we go so far as to make God our boast through our Saviour Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:1-11
The Refrain
It was for our offences that you were pierced, for our sins that you were crushed; upon you lies a chastening that brings us wholeness, and through your wounds we are healed.
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us goes our own way. But YHWH has laid upon you the guilt of us all.
Isaiah 53:5-6
Psalm 22
(Words echoing Christ’s passion are italicized.)
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far away, so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?
I cry all day, my God, but you never answer; I call all night long, and sleep deserts me.
But you, Holy One—you sit enthroned on the praises of Israel.
Our ancestors put their trust in you; they trusted and you rescued them;
they cried to you and were saved; they trusted you and were never disappointed.
Yet here I am, more worm than human, the scorn of humanity, an object of ridicule:
All who see me mock me; they shake their heads and sneer,
“You trust in God? Ha! Let God save you now! If God is your friend, let God rescue you!”
Yet you drew me out of the womb; you nestled me in my mother’s bosom;
you cradled me in your lap from my birth; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Don’t stand aside now that trouble is near—I have no one to help me!
My enemies are like a herd of bulls surrounding me, like the strong bulls of Bashan closing in on me;
with jaws open wide to swallow me, they’re like lions tearing their prey, and roaring.
I am like water draining away; my bones are all disjointed; my heart is like wax melting inside me.
My strength is dried up like a piece of clay pottery and my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth: you lay me down in dusty death.
A pack of dogs surrounds me; a gang of brigands close me in; they pierce my hands and feet.
I can count every one of my bones, and there they stare at me, gloating.
They divide my garments among them and cast lost for my clothes.
But you, YHWH, don’t be far off! My strength, hurry to help me!
Rescue my life from the sword, my dear life from the power of these dogs!
Save me from the lion’s mouth, my poor soul from the wild bull’s horns!
Then I will proclaim your Name to my sisters and brothers, and praise you in the full assembly:
“You who worship YHWH, give praise! Daughters of Leah, daughters of Rachel, glorify YHWH! Sons of Jacob, fall down and worship!
For God has not despised—not disdained—the suffering of those in pain! God didn’t hide but answered them when they cried for help!”
You are the theme of my praise in the Great Assembly, and I will fulfill my vows in the presence of your worshipers.
Those who are poor will eat and be satisfied, those who seek you will give you praise—long life to their hearts!
The whole earth, from one end to the other, will remember and come back to you; all the families of the nations will bow down to you. For yours is the kingdom, you Ruler of nations!
Those who had feasted and devoured the poor—now they’ll bow down; the most affluent in the land will kneel before you. They all go down to the dust and none can keep themselves alive.
But my children will be faithful to you, and they will be told about YHWH for generations to come.
They will come and proclaim your justice to a people yet unborn, saying, “It is finished!”
Psalm 22
The Refrain
It was for our offences that you were pierced, for our sins that you were crushed; upon you lies a chastening that brings us wholeness, and through your wounds we are healed.
All of us, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us goes our own way. But YHWH has laid upon you the guilt of us all.
Isaiah 53:5-6
The Gloria
All glory to Almighty God
For love so deep, so high, so broad
The Trinity whom we adore
Forever and forevermore.
15th c. Latin, translated by Benjamin Webb
PCC Hymn #205 O love, how deep, how broad, how high
The Lord’s Prayer
The Prayer Appointed for the Day
Jesus, when you had nothing else to give you gave yourself. And as your friends shared and ate, they were confused and complicit, just like all of us. May we give—our lives and confusions; our hollowness and our hearts—because when we give like this, we are like you, who became like us. Amen.
Pádraig Ó Tuama
Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community, Pg. 28
The Concluding Prayer of the Church
God be in my head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.
R. Pynson (1514)
Bible translations from the NRSV or The Inclusive Bible