28
March 2024
Holy
Thursday
(Maundy
Thursday)
Ringing
of
the Bell
–
The
bell rings as the call to worship, reminding
us to discontinue
conversation and reverently prepare for
worship.
Welcome
and
Announcements
SERVICE
OF
CORPORATE CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
Stand
The
sign of the cross may be made by all in
remembrance of their Baptism.
Invocation
P
In
the name of the Father and of the T
Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C
Amen.
Exhortation
P
I
will go to the altar of God,
C
to
God my exceeding joy.
P
Our
help is in the name of the Lord,
C
who
made heaven and earth.
431
Not All the Blood of Beasts LSB
431
1
Not
all the blood of beasts
On
Jewish altars slain
Could
give the guilty conscience peace
Or wash
away the
stain.
2
But
Christ, the heav’nly
Lamb,
Takes
all our sins away;
A
sacrifice of nobler name
And
richer blood than
they.
3
My
faith would lay its hand
On
that dear head of Thine,
While
as a penitent I stand,
And
there confess my sin.
4
My
soul looks back to see
The
burden Thou didst bear
When
hanging on the cursèd
tree;
I
know my guilt was there.
5
Believing,
we
rejoice
To
see the curse remove;
We
bless the Lamb with cheerful voice
And
sing His bleeding
love.
Text:
Isaac Watts, 1674–1748,
alt.
Text:
Public domain
Sit
Confessional
Address
P
During
this Lenten season we have heard our Lord’s
call to intensify our struggle against sin, death,
and the devil—all
that prevents us from trusting in God and loving
each other. Since it
is our intention to receive the Holy Supper of our
Lord Jesus Christ
on this night when He instituted this blessed meal
for our salvation,
it is proper that we complete our Lenten
discipline by diligently
examining ourselves, as St. Paul urges us to do.
This holy Sacrament
has been instituted for the special comfort of
those who are troubled
because of their sin and who humbly confess their
sins, fear God’s
wrath, and hunger and thirst for righteousness.
But
when we examine our hearts and consciences, we
find nothing in us but
sin and death, from which we are incapable of
delivering ourselves.
Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ has had mercy on
us. For our benefit
He became man so that He might fulfill for us the
whole will and law
of God and, to deliver us, took upon Himself our
sin and the
punishment we deserve.
So
that we may more confidently believe this and be
strengthened in the
faith and in holy living, our Lord Jesus Christ
took bread, broke it,
and gave it to His disciples and said: “Take,
eat; this is My body, which is given for you.”
It
is as if He said, “I
became man, and all that I do and suffer is for
your good. As a
pledge of this, I give you My body to eat.”
In
the same way also He took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it to them,
saying: “Drink
of
it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in
My blood, which
is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
Again,
it is as if He said, “I
have had mercy on you by taking into Myself all
your iniquities. I
give Myself into death, shedding My blood to
obtain grace and
forgiveness of sins, and to comfort and establish
the new testament,
which gives forgiveness and everlasting salvation.
As a pledge of
this, I give you My blood to drink.”
Therefore,
whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup,
confidently believing
this Word and promise of Christ, dwells in Christ
and Christ in him
and has eternal life.
We
should also do this in remembrance of Him, showing
His death—that
He was delivered for our offenses and raised for
our justification.
Giving Him our most heartfelt thanks, we take up
our cross and follow
Him and, according to His commandment, love one
another as He has
loved us. As our Lord on this night exemplified
this love by washing
His disciples’ feet, so
we by our words
and actions serve one another in love. For we are
all one bread and
one body, even as we are all partakers of this one
bread and drink
from the one cup. For just as the one cup is
filled with the wine of
many grapes and one bread made from countless
grains, so also we,
being many, are one body in Christ. Because of
Him, we love one
another, not only in word, but in deed and in
truth.
May
the almighty and merciful God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by
His Holy Spirit, accomplish this in us.
C
Amen.
P
Having
heard the Word of God, let us confess our sins,
imploring God our
Father for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, to
grant us
forgiveness.
Stand
Silence
for reflection on God’s
Word and for self-examination.
Confession
of Sins
P
O
almighty God, merciful Father,
C
I,
a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all
my sins and iniquities
with which I have ever offended You and justly
deserved Your temporal
and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry
for them and
sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your
boundless mercy and
for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter
sufferings and death of
Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious
and merciful to me, a
poor, sinful being.
P
God
be merciful to you and strengthen your faith.
C
Amen.
P
Do
you believe that the forgiveness I speak is not my
forgiveness but
God’s?
C
Yes.
P
Let
it be done for you as you believe.
Absolution
P
In
the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus
Christ I forgive you
all your sins in the name of the Father and of the
T
Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C
Amen.
Blessing
P
Now
may the God of peace Himself sanctify you
completely, and may your
whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at
the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful;
He will surely do
it. Go in T
peace.
C
Amen.
SERVICE
OF THE WORD
Salutation
and Collect of the Day
P
The
Lord be with you.
C
And
also with you.
P
Let
us pray.
O
Lord, in this wondrous Sacrament You have left us
a remembrance of
Your passion. Grant that we may so receive the
sacred mystery of Your
body and blood that the fruits of Your redemption
may continually be
manifest in us; for You live and reign with the
Father and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C
Amen.
Sit
Psalm
Psalm
116:12–19;
antiphon:
v. 17
What
shall I render to the Lord
for
all his benefits to me?
I
will lift up the cup of salvation
and
call on the name of the Lord,
I
will pay my vows to the Lord
in
the presence of all his people.
Precious
in the sight of the Lord
is
the death of his saints.
O
Lord,
I am your servant;
I
am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You
have loosed my bonds.
I
will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and
call on the name of the Lord.
I
will pay my vows to the Lord
in
the presence of all his people,
in
the courts of the house of the Lord,
in
your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
Old
Testament Reading
Exodus
24:3–11
Moses
came and told the people all the words of the Lord
and all the just decrees. And all the people
answered with one voice
and said, “All
the words that the Lord
has spoken we will do.”
And
Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.
He rose early in the morning and built an altar
at the foot of the
mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the
twelve tribes of
Israel. And he sent young men of the people of
Israel, who offered
burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings
of oxen to the Lord.
And Moses took half of the blood and put it in
basins, and half of
the blood he threw against the altar. Then he
took the Book of the
Covenant and read it in the hearing of the
people. And they said,
“All
that the Lord
has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
And
Moses took the blood
and threw it on the people and said, “Behold
the blood of the covenant that the Lord
has made with you in accordance with all these
words.”
Then
Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy
of the elders of
Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.
There was under his
feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone,
like the very heaven
for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on
the chief men of the
people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and
drank.
A
This
is the Word of the Lord.
C
Thanks
be to God.
Epistle
1
Corinthians 10:16–17
The
cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a
participation in the blood
of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a
participation in the
body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we
who are many are one
body, for we all partake of the one bread.
A
This
is the Word of the Lord.
C
Thanks
be to God.
Stand
Verse John
13:1b
Having
loved his own who were in the world, he loved
them to the end.
Holy
Gospel
Mark
14:12–26
P
The
Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the fourteenth
chapter.
C
Glory
to You, O Lord.
On
the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they
sacrificed the Passover
lamb, [Jesus’]
disciples said to him, “Where
will you have us go and prepare for you to eat
the Passover?”
And he
sent two of his
disciples and said to them, “Go
into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water
will meet you.
Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the
master of the house,
‘The
Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I
may eat the Passover
with my disciples?’
And
he will show you a large upper room furnished
and ready; there
prepare for us.”
And
the disciples set out and went to the city and
found it just as he
had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
And
when it was evening, he came with the twelve.
And as they were
reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly,
I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who
is eating with me.”
They
began to be
sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is
it I?” He
said to them, “It
is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread
into the dish with me.
For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him,
but woe to that man
by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would
have been better for
that man if he had not been born.”
And
as they were eating, he took bread, and after
blessing it broke it
and gave it to them, and said, “Take;
this is my body.”
And
he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he
gave it to them, and
they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This
is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out
for many. Truly, I
say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit
of the vine until
that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of
God.”
And
when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the
Mount of Olives.
P
This
is the Gospel of the Lord.
C
Praise
to You, O Christ.
Sit
640
Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior LSB
640
1
Thee
we adore, O hidden Savior, Thee,
Who
in Thy Sacrament art pleased to be;
Both
flesh and spirit in Thy presence fail,
Yet
here Thy presence we devoutly hail.
2
In
this memorial of Thy death, O Lord,
Thou
dost Thy body and Thy blood afford:
Oh,
may our souls forever feed on Thee,
And
Thou, O Christ, forever precious be.
3
Thou,
like the pelican to feed her brood,
Didst
pierce Thyself to give us living food;
Thy
blood, O Lord, one drop has pow’r
to win
Forgiveness
for
our world and all its sin.
4
Fountain
of
goodness, Jesus, Lord and God:
Cleanse
us, unclean, with Thy most cleansing blood;
Increase
our
faith and love, that we may know
The
hope and peace which from Thy presence flow.
5
O
Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see,
May
what we thirst for soon our portion be:
To
gaze on Thee unveiled and see Thy face,
The
vision of Thy glory, and Thy grace.
Amen.
Text:
Thomas Aquinas, c. 1225–1274;
(sts. 1–2, 4–5):
tr. James R. Woodford, 1820–85,
alt.;
(sts. 2–3):
tr.
Stephen P. Starke, 1955
Text
(sts. 1, 4–5):
Public domain
Text
(sts. 2–3): ©
1998
Concordia
Publishing House. Used by permission: LSB Hymn
License no. 110004199
Sermon
- Pastor Eric Ash
Maundy
Thursday
March 28, 2024 Mark 14:12-26
Bloods
My
son
has a knack for giving me books that I
enjoy. One Christmas he
gave me The
Research
Guide to Body Fluids. That
is
probably something most folks wouldn't
be interested in, but I
found it fascinating. That may be
because I was a medical
technologist before going to seminary
and I used to spend a good part
of my day working with other people's
body fluids. The body fluid on
my mind tonight, the one mentioned so
predominantly in our lessons,
is blood.
I'll
never
forget my first day working as a student
at the Baltimore
Cancer Research Center. My supervisor
assigned someone to teach me
how to do what was called “bloods.” He
walked me over to an
incubator, the size of a commercial
freezer, that was filled with
cough-syrup sized bottles of blood. I
must have looked a little
shocked. “Are you afraid of blood?” he
asked. “No,” I said,
“I've just never seen so much of it in
one place.”
For
the
next six or seven years I would
regularly draw some blood out of
a bottle with a hypodermic needle and
put a few drops on a petri
dish. Sometimes I would do that more
than a hundred times a day. As
anyone who has worked in health care
around needles knows, dirty
needle sticks are a big problem. Stick
yourself with a dirty needle,
and whatever was in that person's blood
is now in your blood. You
are in viral communion with them. A lot
of people I knew got
hepatitis that way.
I
had about a half-dozen dirty needle
sticks myself and somehow managed
not to catch anything. I was rather
cavalier about it. That changed
when the Cancer Center treated the very
first wave of AIDS patients
in the United States. We had no idea
what caused AIDS or how to
treat it back then. I was telling my
doctor about this a few years
ago, and he insisted I get tested for
HIV. The good news is that I’m
HIV negative.
If
getting
some of someone else’s blood inside you
can be dangerous,
not having enough of your own is at
least equally dangerous. Exsanguination
is the technical term for death from
blood loss. Twice
I almost exsanguinated; twice I came
very close to bleeding out. If
you have never had people put down mats
because the doctors and
nurses are slipping in your blood, if
you have never heard a doctor
say, referring to you, “It looks bad,
we're losing him,” believe
me, you don't want to.
Jesus
likely
did not exsanguinate on the cross,
although his blood loss
from the flogging and beatings he
endured was probably a factor. Usually,
death by crucifixion results from
asphyxiation. The
condemned man weakens over time, and
hung in that awkward position,
cannot raise himself up to breath, so he
suffocates. Modern forensic
pathologists, though, think that Jesus
may have died of cardiac
rupture. His heart, the organ that
pumped his blood, ripped in two.
Jesus literally died of a broken heart.
Just
about
eighteen hours before his death, Jesus
shared his Last Supper
with his disciples. He told them
everything he needed to tell them. He
told them everything they needed to
hear. He poured out his heart
to them. He opened a vein for them.
Among the many things he said
to them, one is the specific reason
behind our worship gathering here
tonight. We know how Jesus took the
bread and said, “This is my
body,” and how he took the cup of wine
and said, “This is my
blood.” That the wine of the Holy
Communion is the very, real,
true blood of Christ our Lord is of
tremendous importance.
Why
so?
In the Old Testament God set up a system
of animal sacrifice as
a means for His people to atone for
their sins. Scripture says that
life, human life, and animal life, is in
the blood, and that sins
cannot be forgiven without the shedding
of blood. The sacrificial
animal bleeding out on the altar was
preview, a foreshadowing of
Jesus pouring out his blood for us so
that our sins might be
forgiven. Jesus’ blood will be on our
altar tonight.
Also
in
the Old Testament, God's people were
marked by circumcision. When
a person is circumcised, there is blood.
Jesus was circumcised as an
eight-day old baby. It was the first
blood he spilled for us. He
would spill out a lot more. For us
Christians, baptism serves a
similar function as circumcision. Of
course, Baptism uses water not
blood, but we'll see how they are
connected in a moment.
When
Jesus
was dead on the cross, the soldier
thrust a spear into his
side, where his ribs were. Recall how
God made Eve, Adam's wife, out
of one of the ribs from Adam's side.
Here from Jesus' side, the area
of his ribs, Jesus gives life to the
church, and the church is called
the Bride of Christ. What Adam was to
Eve, Christ is to His church.
When that spear was thrust into Jesus'
side water and blood came out. That is
exactly what modern forensic
pathologists tell us would
happen if Jesus died of cardiac rupture.
The
body
fluids in his chest, the blood and
pericardial fluid, which
looks like water, would separate, and
gush forth from such a wound. This shows
us how the sacraments come from Jesus'
atoning death for
us. See the connection now? The water is
for Baptism and the blood
is for the Lord's Supper. Scripture
tells us we must believe that
Jesus came both in the water and in the
blood.
The
Revelation
describes those who are saved as having
washed their robes
in the blood of the Lamb, who is Jesus.
The crimson stain of our
sins is bleached whiter than snow by
Jesus' red, red blood. Baptism
initiates us into God's Kingdom and Holy
Communion nourishes and
sustains us. There is life in Jesus'
blood. You want
Jesus' blood inside you, believe me. To
use the modern slang, when
we drink Jesus' blood, his grace, his
love goes viral within us. His
blood makes us at one with him, and that
is a foretaste of Paradise. But just as
Christ's blood is a blessing for those
who receive it in
faith, there is also a dire warning for
those who dare to take it
unworthily.
I
will illustrate it this way. The seal of
the confessional is sacred. Anything
confessed to me in a private confession
I must keep
confidential, no matter the
consequences. There is a lot more that
could be said about that but let that
suffice for now. The question
is often raised, “What if someone put
poison in the chalice,
Pastor? If the Communion wine was
poisoned, would you not tell
anyone?” My answer is, “No, I would not
tell anyone -- but I
would find a way to “accidentally” spill
that chalice!” For me
to allow people to poison themselves
from a tainted chalice would be
a great evil.
Jesus
washed
Judas’ feet, and Judas dipped his hand
into the dish with
Jesus at the Last Supper and then Satan
possessed Judas to betray our
Lord. One can know Jesus and still be
evil. Judas left the Last
Supper before Jesus instituted the
sacrament, before sharing in
Jesus’ blood. Scripture tells us that
anyone who receives our
Lord's blood unworthily is calling down
God's judgment and
condemnation on himself. Unbelievers,
the unrepentant, those who
mock Jesus' blood, drink it at their
temporal and eternal peril. It
is their own sin that convicts the
unbelievers, but as Christians
acting in the Apostles' stead, we must
prevent them from making Holy
Communion a scandal and a laughingstock.
Just as I wouldn't let
someone drink from a poisoned chalice,
we cannot let one who profanes
our Lord's blood call down God's curses
on himself and scandalize the
Church. We are here to give benedictions
and blessings, not
maledictions and curses.
Jesus
gave
us the most intimate connection to his
person possible, a body
fluid of all things, his very blood. You
can't get more personal and
more vulnerable with anyone than sharing
blood. May God grant that
we always honor and respect Christ’s
blood. May we always receive
the Lord's Supper as he has ordained, as
a memorial to his death, a
testimony to his life, the life he His
presence shares with us. Amen.
Stand
Prayer
of the Church
Let
us
pray.
For
the
deliverance of our souls, which are
precious in God’s sight;
and for confidence that Christ Himself
prays with us, let us pray to
the Lord: Lord,
have
mercy.
In
gratitude
for the new testament in Christ’s blood,
whose
institution is celebrated this day among
all peoples, that the world
for which He died may know Him and His
sacrifice, let us pray to the
Lord: Lord,
have
mercy.
For
all
who commune, that our Lord would receive
us at His Holy Supper as
He did the elders of Israel, not laying
His hand on us, but counting
us worthy to receive forgiveness, life
and salvation, let us pray to
the Lord: Lord,
have
mercy.
For
the
Holy Church, gathered with saints and
angels around the altar and
throne of Christ, that we who taste this
fellowship on earth may be
brought at length to share it forever in
eternal life, let us pray to
the Lord: Lord,
have
mercy.
Into
Your
hands, O Lord, we commend ourselves, our
bodies and souls, and
all things; redeem us, O Lord, faithful
God; through Jesus Christ,
Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns
with You and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Sit
Offertory
Invitation
The
Psalmist wrote, "Ascribe to the Lord the honor
due his Name;
bring offerings and come into this courts."
Therefore, we now
make our offerings to God.
Thereis
a musical interlude while the offerings are
collected.
Stand
Offertory LSB
192
C
Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right
spirit within me.
Cast
me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy
Holy Spirit from me.
Restore
unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me
with Thy free spirit.
Amen.
Offertory
Prayer
Heavenly
Father, your Son offered Himself to you on the
altar of the Cross. Receive and bless these
gifts which we bring to your altar here in
praise of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world, Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
SERVICE
OF THE SACRAMENT
Preface
LSB
194
P
The
Lord be with you.
C
And
with thy spirit.
P
Lift
up your hearts.
C
We
lift them up unto the Lord.
P
Let
us give thanks unto the Lord, our God.
C
It
is meet and right so to do.
Proper
Preface
P
It
is truly good, right, and salutary that we should
at all times and in
all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty
Father,
everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who accomplished the
salvation of mankind by the tree of the cross
that, where death
arose, there life also might rise again and that
the serpent who
overcame by the tree of the garden might likewise
by the tree of the
cross be overcome. Therefore with angels and
archangels and with all
the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your
glorious name,
evermore praising You and saying:
Sanctus LSB
195
C
Holy,
holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth;
heav’n
and earth are full of Thy glory.
Hosanna,
hosanna, hosanna in the highest.
Blessed
is He, blessed is He, blessed is He that cometh
in the name of the
Lord.
Hosanna,
hosanna, hosanna in the highest.
Prayer
of Thanksgiving
P
Blessed
are You, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have
had mercy on those
whom You created and sent Your only-begotten Son
into our flesh to
bear our sin and be our Savior. With repentant joy
we receive the
salvation accomplished for us by the all-availing
sacrifice of His
body and His blood on the cross.
Gathered
in the name and the remembrance of Jesus, we beg
You, O Lord, to
forgive, renew, and strengthen us with Your Word
and Spirit. Grant us
faithfully to eat His body and drink His blood as
He bids us do in
His own testament. Gather us together, we pray,
from the ends of the
earth to celebrate with all the faithful the
marriage feast of the
Lamb in His kingdom, which has no end. Graciously
receive our
prayers; deliver and preserve us. To You alone, O
Father, be all
glory, honor, and worship, with the Son and the
Holy Spirit, one God,
now and forever.
C
Amen.
The
Words of Our Lord
P
On
the night, in which he was betrayed, our Lord
Jesus took bread, gave
thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples
saying, take, eat;
this is my body which is given for you. Do this in
remembrance of
me. In the same also, after supper, he took the
cup, gave thanks,
and gave it to them saying, this cup is the New
Testament in my
blood, shed for you and for many, for the
forgiveness of sins. Do
this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of
me.
Proclamation
of Christ
P
As
often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we
proclaim the Lord’s
death until He comes.
C
Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus.
P
O
Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, in
giving us Your body and
blood to eat and to drink, You lead us to remember
and confess Your
holy cross and passion, Your blessed death, Your
rest in the tomb,
Your resurrection from the dead, Your ascension
into heaven, and Your
coming for the final judgment. So remember us in
Your kingdom and
teach us to pray:
Lord’s
Prayer
C
Our
Father who art in heaven,
hallowed
be Thy name,
Thy
kingdom come,
Thy
will be done on earth
as
it is in heaven;
give
us this day our daily bread;
and
forgive us our trespasses
as
we forgive those
who
trespass against us;
and
lead us not into temptation,
but
deliver us from evil.
For
Thine is the kingdom
and
the power and the glory
forever
and ever. Amen.
Agnus
Dei LSB
198
C
O
Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the
sin of the world, have
mercy upon us.
O
Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the
sin of the world, have
mercy upon us.
O
Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the
sin of the world,
grant us Thy peace. Amen.
Sit
Distribution
The
body of Christ, given for you.
Amen.
The
blood of Christ, shed for you.
Amen.
The
Dismissal
LSB
199
P
The
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen
and preserve you
in body and soul to life everlasting. Depart T
in peace.
C
Amen.
Stand
Post-Communion
Prayer
A
Let
us pray.
P: Almighty God, you gave your Son
both as a sacrifice for sin and a
model of the godly life. Enable us to receive him
always with
thanksgiving and to conform our lives to his;
through the same Jesus
Christ our Lord.
C
Amen.
STRIPPING
OF THE ALTAR
The
communion vessels are reverently removed from
the altar, the altar is
stripped, and the chancel is cleared in
preparation for the solemn
services of Good Friday.
My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why
are you so far from saving me, from the words of
my groaning?
O
my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and
by night, but I find no rest.
Yet
you are holy,
enthroned
on the praises of Israel.
In
you our fathers trusted;
they
trusted, and you delivered them.
To
you they cried and were rescued;
in
you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But
I am a worm and not a man,
scorned
by mankind and despised by the people.
All
who see me mock me;
they
make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He
trusts
in the Lord;
let him deliver him;
let
him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet
you are he who took me from the womb;
you
made me trust you at my mother’s
breasts.
On
you was I cast from my birth,
and
from my mother’s
womb you have been my God.
Be
not far from me,
for
trouble is near,
and
there is none to help.
Many
bulls encompass me;
strong
bulls of Bashan surround me;
they
open wide their mouths at me,
like
a ravening and roaring lion.
I
am poured out like water,
and
all my bones are out of joint;
my
heart is like wax;
it
is melted within my breast;
my
strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and
my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you
lay me in the dust of death.
For
dogs encompass me;
a
company of evildoers encircles me;
they
have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they
stare and gloat over me;
they
divide my garments among them,
and
for my clothing they cast lots.
But
you, O Lord,
do not be far off!
O
you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver
my soul from the sword,
my
precious life from the power of the dog!
Save
me from the mouth of the lion!
You
have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
I
will tell of your name to my brothers;
in
the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You
who fear the Lord,
praise him!
All
you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of
Israel!
For
he has not despised or abhorred
the
affliction of the afflicted,
and
he has not hidden his face from him,
but
has heard, when he cried to him.
From
you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my
vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The
afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those
who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May
your hearts live forever!
All
the ends of the earth shall remember
and
turn to the Lord,
and
all the families of the nations
shall
worship before you.
For
kingship belongs to the Lord,
and
he rules over the nations.
All
the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before
him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even
the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity
shall
serve him;
it
shall be told of the Lord to the coming
generation;
they
shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a
people yet
unborn,
that
he has done it.
All
leave the church in silence.
Acknowledgments
Holy
Thursday from Lutheran Service Book
Unless
otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are
from the ESV®
Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®),
copyright © 2001
by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.
Created
by Lutheran Service Builder ©
2024
Concordia
Publishing House.
28 March 2024
Holy Thursday
(Maundy Thursday)
Ringing of the Bell
– The bell rings as the call to worship, reminding us to discontinue conversation and reverently prepare for worship.
Welcome and Announcements
SERVICE OF CORPORATE CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
Stand
The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism.
Invocation
P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
Exhortation
P I will go to the altar of God,
C to God my exceeding joy.
P Our help is in the name of the Lord,
C who made heaven and earth.
431 Not All the Blood of Beasts LSB 431
1
Not
all the blood of beasts
On
Jewish altars slain
Could
give the guilty conscience peace
Or wash
away the
stain.
2
But
Christ, the heav’nly
Lamb,
Takes
all our sins away;
A
sacrifice of nobler name
And
richer blood than
they.
3
My
faith would lay its hand
On
that dear head of Thine,
While
as a penitent I stand,
And
there confess my sin.
4
My
soul looks back to see
The
burden Thou didst bear
When
hanging on the cursèd
tree;
I
know my guilt was there.
5
Believing,
we
rejoice
To
see the curse remove;
We
bless the Lamb with cheerful voice
And
sing His bleeding
love.
Text:
Isaac Watts, 1674–1748,
alt.
Text:
Public domain
Sit
Confessional Address
P During this Lenten season we have heard our Lord’s call to intensify our struggle against sin, death, and the devil—all that prevents us from trusting in God and loving each other. Since it is our intention to receive the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ on this night when He instituted this blessed meal for our salvation, it is proper that we complete our Lenten discipline by diligently examining ourselves, as St. Paul urges us to do. This holy Sacrament has been instituted for the special comfort of those who are troubled because of their sin and who humbly confess their sins, fear God’s wrath, and hunger and thirst for righteousness.
But when we examine our hearts and consciences, we find nothing in us but sin and death, from which we are incapable of delivering ourselves. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ has had mercy on us. For our benefit He became man so that He might fulfill for us the whole will and law of God and, to deliver us, took upon Himself our sin and the punishment we deserve.
So that we may more confidently believe this and be strengthened in the faith and in holy living, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you.” It is as if He said, “I became man, and all that I do and suffer is for your good. As a pledge of this, I give you My body to eat.”
In the same way also He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Again, it is as if He said, “I have had mercy on you by taking into Myself all your iniquities. I give Myself into death, shedding My blood to obtain grace and forgiveness of sins, and to comfort and establish the new testament, which gives forgiveness and everlasting salvation. As a pledge of this, I give you My blood to drink.”
Therefore, whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup, confidently believing this Word and promise of Christ, dwells in Christ and Christ in him and has eternal life.
We should also do this in remembrance of Him, showing His death—that He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification. Giving Him our most heartfelt thanks, we take up our cross and follow Him and, according to His commandment, love one another as He has loved us. As our Lord on this night exemplified this love by washing His disciples’ feet, so we by our words and actions serve one another in love. For we are all one bread and one body, even as we are all partakers of this one bread and drink from the one cup. For just as the one cup is filled with the wine of many grapes and one bread made from countless grains, so also we, being many, are one body in Christ. Because of Him, we love one another, not only in word, but in deed and in truth.
May the almighty and merciful God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, accomplish this in us.
C Amen.
P Having heard the Word of God, let us confess our sins, imploring God our Father for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, to grant us forgiveness.
Stand
Silence for reflection on God’s Word and for self-examination.
Confession of Sins
P O almighty God, merciful Father,
C I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.
P God be merciful to you and strengthen your faith.
C Amen.
P Do you believe that the forgiveness I speak is not my forgiveness but God’s?
C Yes.
P Let it be done for you as you believe.
Absolution
P In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
Blessing
P Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it. Go in T peace.
C Amen.
SERVICE OF THE WORD
Salutation and Collect of the Day
P The Lord be with you.
C And also with you.
P Let us pray.
O Lord, in this wondrous Sacrament You have left us a remembrance of Your passion. Grant that we may so receive the sacred mystery of Your body and blood that the fruits of Your redemption may continually be manifest in us; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
Sit
Psalm Psalm 116:12–19; antiphon: v. 17
What
shall I render to the Lord
for
all his benefits to me?
I
will lift up the cup of salvation
and
call on the name of the Lord,
I
will pay my vows to the Lord
in
the presence of all his people.
Precious
in the sight of the Lord
is
the death of his saints.
O
Lord,
I am your servant;
I
am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You
have loosed my bonds.
I
will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and
call on the name of the Lord.
I
will pay my vows to the Lord
in
the presence of all his people,
in
the courts of the house of the Lord,
in
your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!
Old Testament Reading Exodus 24:3–11
Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the just decrees. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.
A This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
Epistle 1 Corinthians 10:16–17
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
A This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
Stand
Verse John 13:1b
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Holy Gospel Mark 14:12–26
P The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the fourteenth chapter.
C Glory to You, O Lord.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, [Jesus’] disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
P This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C Praise to You, O Christ.
Sit
640 Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior LSB 640
1
Thee
we adore, O hidden Savior, Thee,
Who
in Thy Sacrament art pleased to be;
Both
flesh and spirit in Thy presence fail,
Yet
here Thy presence we devoutly hail.
2
In
this memorial of Thy death, O Lord,
Thou
dost Thy body and Thy blood afford:
Oh,
may our souls forever feed on Thee,
And
Thou, O Christ, forever precious be.
3
Thou,
like the pelican to feed her brood,
Didst
pierce Thyself to give us living food;
Thy
blood, O Lord, one drop has pow’r
to win
Forgiveness
for
our world and all its sin.
4
Fountain
of
goodness, Jesus, Lord and God:
Cleanse
us, unclean, with Thy most cleansing blood;
Increase
our
faith and love, that we may know
The
hope and peace which from Thy presence flow.
5
O
Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see,
May
what we thirst for soon our portion be:
To
gaze on Thee unveiled and see Thy face,
The
vision of Thy glory, and Thy grace.
Amen.
Text:
Thomas Aquinas, c. 1225–1274;
(sts. 1–2, 4–5):
tr. James R. Woodford, 1820–85,
alt.;
(sts. 2–3):
tr.
Stephen P. Starke, 1955
Text
(sts. 1, 4–5):
Public domain
Text
(sts. 2–3): ©
1998
Concordia
Publishing House. Used by permission: LSB Hymn
License no. 110004199
Sermon - Pastor Eric Ash
Maundy Thursday March 28, 2024 Mark 14:12-26
Bloods
My son has a knack for giving me books that I enjoy. One Christmas he gave me The Research Guide to Body Fluids. That is probably something most folks wouldn't be interested in, but I found it fascinating. That may be because I was a medical technologist before going to seminary and I used to spend a good part of my day working with other people's body fluids. The body fluid on my mind tonight, the one mentioned so predominantly in our lessons, is blood.
I'll never forget my first day working as a student at the Baltimore Cancer Research Center. My supervisor assigned someone to teach me how to do what was called “bloods.” He walked me over to an incubator, the size of a commercial freezer, that was filled with cough-syrup sized bottles of blood. I must have looked a little shocked. “Are you afraid of blood?” he asked. “No,” I said, “I've just never seen so much of it in one place.”
For the next six or seven years I would regularly draw some blood out of a bottle with a hypodermic needle and put a few drops on a petri dish. Sometimes I would do that more than a hundred times a day. As anyone who has worked in health care around needles knows, dirty needle sticks are a big problem. Stick yourself with a dirty needle, and whatever was in that person's blood is now in your blood. You are in viral communion with them. A lot of people I knew got hepatitis that way.
I had about a half-dozen dirty needle sticks myself and somehow managed not to catch anything. I was rather cavalier about it. That changed when the Cancer Center treated the very first wave of AIDS patients in the United States. We had no idea what caused AIDS or how to treat it back then. I was telling my doctor about this a few years ago, and he insisted I get tested for HIV. The good news is that I’m HIV negative.
If getting some of someone else’s blood inside you can be dangerous, not having enough of your own is at least equally dangerous. Exsanguination is the technical term for death from blood loss. Twice I almost exsanguinated; twice I came very close to bleeding out. If you have never had people put down mats because the doctors and nurses are slipping in your blood, if you have never heard a doctor say, referring to you, “It looks bad, we're losing him,” believe me, you don't want to.
Jesus likely did not exsanguinate on the cross, although his blood loss from the flogging and beatings he endured was probably a factor. Usually, death by crucifixion results from asphyxiation. The condemned man weakens over time, and hung in that awkward position, cannot raise himself up to breath, so he suffocates. Modern forensic pathologists, though, think that Jesus may have died of cardiac rupture. His heart, the organ that pumped his blood, ripped in two. Jesus literally died of a broken heart.
Just about eighteen hours before his death, Jesus shared his Last Supper with his disciples. He told them everything he needed to tell them. He told them everything they needed to hear. He poured out his heart to them. He opened a vein for them. Among the many things he said to them, one is the specific reason behind our worship gathering here tonight. We know how Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my body,” and how he took the cup of wine and said, “This is my blood.” That the wine of the Holy Communion is the very, real, true blood of Christ our Lord is of tremendous importance.
Why so? In the Old Testament God set up a system of animal sacrifice as a means for His people to atone for their sins. Scripture says that life, human life, and animal life, is in the blood, and that sins cannot be forgiven without the shedding of blood. The sacrificial animal bleeding out on the altar was preview, a foreshadowing of Jesus pouring out his blood for us so that our sins might be forgiven. Jesus’ blood will be on our altar tonight.
Also in the Old Testament, God's people were marked by circumcision. When a person is circumcised, there is blood. Jesus was circumcised as an eight-day old baby. It was the first blood he spilled for us. He would spill out a lot more. For us Christians, baptism serves a similar function as circumcision. Of course, Baptism uses water not blood, but we'll see how they are connected in a moment.
When Jesus was dead on the cross, the soldier thrust a spear into his side, where his ribs were. Recall how God made Eve, Adam's wife, out of one of the ribs from Adam's side. Here from Jesus' side, the area of his ribs, Jesus gives life to the church, and the church is called the Bride of Christ. What Adam was to Eve, Christ is to His church. When that spear was thrust into Jesus' side water and blood came out. That is exactly what modern forensic pathologists tell us would happen if Jesus died of cardiac rupture.
The body fluids in his chest, the blood and pericardial fluid, which looks like water, would separate, and gush forth from such a wound. This shows us how the sacraments come from Jesus' atoning death for us. See the connection now? The water is for Baptism and the blood is for the Lord's Supper. Scripture tells us we must believe that Jesus came both in the water and in the blood.
The Revelation describes those who are saved as having washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, who is Jesus. The crimson stain of our sins is bleached whiter than snow by Jesus' red, red blood. Baptism initiates us into God's Kingdom and Holy Communion nourishes and sustains us. There is life in Jesus' blood. You want Jesus' blood inside you, believe me. To use the modern slang, when we drink Jesus' blood, his grace, his love goes viral within us. His blood makes us at one with him, and that is a foretaste of Paradise. But just as Christ's blood is a blessing for those who receive it in faith, there is also a dire warning for those who dare to take it unworthily.
I will illustrate it this way. The seal of the confessional is sacred. Anything confessed to me in a private confession I must keep confidential, no matter the consequences. There is a lot more that could be said about that but let that suffice for now. The question is often raised, “What if someone put poison in the chalice, Pastor? If the Communion wine was poisoned, would you not tell anyone?” My answer is, “No, I would not tell anyone -- but I would find a way to “accidentally” spill that chalice!” For me to allow people to poison themselves from a tainted chalice would be a great evil.
Jesus washed Judas’ feet, and Judas dipped his hand into the dish with Jesus at the Last Supper and then Satan possessed Judas to betray our Lord. One can know Jesus and still be evil. Judas left the Last Supper before Jesus instituted the sacrament, before sharing in Jesus’ blood. Scripture tells us that anyone who receives our Lord's blood unworthily is calling down God's judgment and condemnation on himself. Unbelievers, the unrepentant, those who mock Jesus' blood, drink it at their temporal and eternal peril. It is their own sin that convicts the unbelievers, but as Christians acting in the Apostles' stead, we must prevent them from making Holy Communion a scandal and a laughingstock. Just as I wouldn't let someone drink from a poisoned chalice, we cannot let one who profanes our Lord's blood call down God's curses on himself and scandalize the Church. We are here to give benedictions and blessings, not maledictions and curses.
Jesus gave us the most intimate connection to his person possible, a body fluid of all things, his very blood. You can't get more personal and more vulnerable with anyone than sharing blood. May God grant that we always honor and respect Christ’s blood. May we always receive the Lord's Supper as he has ordained, as a memorial to his death, a testimony to his life, the life he His presence shares with us. Amen.
Stand
Prayer of the Church
Let us pray.
For the deliverance of our souls, which are precious in God’s sight; and for confidence that Christ Himself prays with us, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
In gratitude for the new testament in Christ’s blood, whose institution is celebrated this day among all peoples, that the world for which He died may know Him and His sacrifice, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For all who commune, that our Lord would receive us at His Holy Supper as He did the elders of Israel, not laying His hand on us, but counting us worthy to receive forgiveness, life and salvation, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For the Holy Church, gathered with saints and angels around the altar and throne of Christ, that we who taste this fellowship on earth may be brought at length to share it forever in eternal life, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend ourselves, our bodies and souls, and all things; redeem us, O Lord, faithful God; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Sit
Offertory Invitation
The Psalmist wrote, "Ascribe to the Lord the honor due his Name; bring offerings and come into this courts." Therefore, we now make our offerings to God.
Thereis a musical interlude while the offerings are collected.
Stand
Offertory LSB 192
C Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Amen.
Offertory Prayer
Heavenly Father, your Son offered Himself to you on the altar of the Cross. Receive and bless these gifts which we bring to your altar here in praise of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT
Preface LSB 194
P The Lord be with you.
C And with thy spirit.
P Lift up your hearts.
C We lift them up unto the Lord.
P Let us give thanks unto the Lord, our God.
C It is meet and right so to do.
Proper Preface
P It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who accomplished the salvation of mankind by the tree of the cross that, where death arose, there life also might rise again and that the serpent who overcame by the tree of the garden might likewise by the tree of the cross be overcome. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying:
Sanctus LSB 195
C Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth;
heav’n and earth are full of Thy glory.
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is He, blessed is He, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
P Blessed are You, Lord of heaven and earth, for You have had mercy on those whom You created and sent Your only-begotten Son into our flesh to bear our sin and be our Savior. With repentant joy we receive the salvation accomplished for us by the all-availing sacrifice of His body and His blood on the cross.
Gathered in the name and the remembrance of Jesus, we beg You, O Lord, to forgive, renew, and strengthen us with Your Word and Spirit. Grant us faithfully to eat His body and drink His blood as He bids us do in His own testament. Gather us together, we pray, from the ends of the earth to celebrate with all the faithful the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which has no end. Graciously receive our prayers; deliver and preserve us. To You alone, O Father, be all glory, honor, and worship, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
The Words of Our Lord
P On the night, in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same also, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
Proclamation of Christ
P As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
C Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
P O Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, in giving us Your body and blood to eat and to drink, You lead us to remember and confess Your holy cross and passion, Your blessed death, Your rest in the tomb, Your resurrection from the dead, Your ascension into heaven, and Your coming for the final judgment. So remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:
Lord’s Prayer
C Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Agnus Dei LSB 198
C O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant us Thy peace. Amen.
Sit
Distribution
The body of Christ, given for you.
Amen.
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
Amen.
The Dismissal LSB 199
P The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life everlasting. Depart T in peace.
C Amen.
Stand
Post-Communion Prayer
A Let us pray.
P: Almighty God, you gave your Son both as a sacrifice for sin and a model of the godly life. Enable us to receive him always with thanksgiving and to conform our lives to his; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
C Amen.
STRIPPING OF THE ALTAR
The communion vessels are reverently removed from the altar, the altar is stripped, and the chancel is cleared in preparation for the solemn services of Good Friday.
My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why
are you so far from saving me, from the words of
my groaning?
O
my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and
by night, but I find no rest.
Yet
you are holy,
enthroned
on the praises of Israel.
In
you our fathers trusted;
they
trusted, and you delivered them.
To
you they cried and were rescued;
in
you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But
I am a worm and not a man,
scorned
by mankind and despised by the people.
All
who see me mock me;
they
make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He
trusts
in the Lord;
let him deliver him;
let
him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet
you are he who took me from the womb;
you
made me trust you at my mother’s
breasts.
On
you was I cast from my birth,
and
from my mother’s
womb you have been my God.
Be
not far from me,
for
trouble is near,
and
there is none to help.
Many
bulls encompass me;
strong
bulls of Bashan surround me;
they
open wide their mouths at me,
like
a ravening and roaring lion.
I
am poured out like water,
and
all my bones are out of joint;
my
heart is like wax;
it
is melted within my breast;
my
strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and
my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you
lay me in the dust of death.
For
dogs encompass me;
a
company of evildoers encircles me;
they
have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—
they
stare and gloat over me;
they
divide my garments among them,
and
for my clothing they cast lots.
But
you, O Lord,
do not be far off!
O
you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver
my soul from the sword,
my
precious life from the power of the dog!
Save
me from the mouth of the lion!
You
have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
I
will tell of your name to my brothers;
in
the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You
who fear the Lord,
praise him!
All
you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and
stand in awe of him, all you offspring of
Israel!
For
he has not despised or abhorred
the
affliction of the afflicted,
and
he has not hidden his face from him,
but
has heard, when he cried to him.
From
you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my
vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The
afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those
who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May
your hearts live forever!
All
the ends of the earth shall remember
and
turn to the Lord,
and
all the families of the nations
shall
worship before you.
For
kingship belongs to the Lord,
and
he rules over the nations.
All
the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before
him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even
the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity
shall
serve him;
it
shall be told of the Lord to the coming
generation;
they
shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a
people yet
unborn,
that
he has done it.
All leave the church in silence.
Acknowledgments
Holy Thursday from Lutheran Service Book
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2024 Concordia Publishing House.