The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ - 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time [Proper 26]

Nahum 1:9-15 OR Ezekiel 20:32-49
Psalm 31: (105) 6-14 (15-16) 17-24 OR 40: (1-11) 12-17
Luke 23:26-32
Romans 15:1-3, 14-33


    

CALL TO WORSHIP [from GREATER ATTENTION: LERW, YEAR D]

Love the LORD, all you his saints.

         The LORD preserves the faithful,

         but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.

Let the lying lips be stilled that speak insolently

against the righteous with pride and contempt.

         O how abundant is your goodness, O LORD,

that you have laid up for those who fear you,

         and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,

         in the sight of everyone!

Those who have never been told of him shall see,

and those who have never heard of him shall understand.

For on my holy mountain, says the LORD God,

there I will accept them, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

INVOCATION [from GREATER ATTENTION: LERW, YEAR D]

O God our Father, who sent Jesus Christ into the world, not in order to please himself, but to graciously bear the insults that you and your saints have endured, to put up with the failings of the weak, to bless the barren, and to reveal your good purpose of building up those whom the enemy seeks to tear down: Come and refresh your weary people, refresh us with rest in your company, refresh us with the joy and the love of the Spirit. Rescue from unbelief and inspire us to earnest prayer, that our service to you may be acceptable in your sight and give none of your saints cause for stumbling. For by your grace we have come to share in the spiritual blessings, and we would glorify your name by uniting with your holy ones in the love of Christ and in the fullness of his blessing. Come, Lord Jesus, and refresh us in the power of your Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Good Friday (D) — A Prayer of Confession and Declaration of Forgiveness

Ezra 9:5-15 OR Jeremiah 25:15-38 OR 2Chronicles 7:1-22

Psalm 88

Luke 23:(1-12) 13-49

1Peter 4:1-19

Prayer of Confession [see Ezra 9]

O Lord our God, how can we lift our faces to you, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. From the days of our ancestors to the present, we have been deep in guilt, and we are ashamed of all our iniquities. For we have forsaken your commandments and filled the land from end to end with uncleanness. And now, our God, what shall we say? Here we are before you in our guilt, and no one can face you who may claim to be righteousness, no one but Jesus Christ, the Righteous One himself. After all that has come upon us for our sins and our great guilt, you, our God, have not punished us as our iniquities deserve; you have not forsaken us, but have extended your steadfast love to us, to give us new life in Christ. Forgive us, therefore, O merciful God, for the sake of your gracious Son, Jesus Christ, that his great suffering and his redeeming work might bring us fully into eternal fellowship with you, and that we might commit and commend our spirits, as he has done, into your loving and gracious hand.

Declaration of Forgiveness [see Luke 23; 1Peter 4]

Truly Jesus our Messiah came not to save himself, but to save sinners. In his suffering on the cross, and in his prayer that even his executioners might be forgiven, he who was found guiltless has atoned for our guilt and secured the salvation of all those who, though formerly his enemies, now trust in him whose love covers a multitude of sins. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to you who were once dead in your sins, so that you too might live in the Spirit as God does, no longer by human desires, but by the will of God and with all the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ, in whom we are forgiven and to whom, with the Father and the Spirit, belongs all glory and power, forever and ever. Blessed be God forever! Amen!