Officiant: In the name of God, the holy undivided relational Trinity.
All: Amen
Officiant: God of love we gather here with gratitude, in an attitude of worship.
God of creation breathe on us and renew us as we meet in your presence this day,
God of all life speak through your word to sustain us on our Lenten journey,
God of all grace help us to put aside all that distracts us.
Things that clutter and consume,
All: We lay them down.
Officiant: Attitudes that separate and divide,
All: We lay them down.
Officiant: Thoughts that confuse and disrupt,
All: We lay them down.
Officiant: Jesus said: “If any of you would come after me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34
All: Let us worship and follow where God’s Spirit leads
Officiant: O God, open our lips
All: Let our mouths proclaim your praise, let our thoughts be acceptable and let our actions be pleasing to you. Help us surrender now to your peaceful presence.
Canticle The Keeper of Israel.Psalm 121: A Song of Ascents.
I will lift up my eyes to the hills of Jerusalem
from where shall my help come?
My help comes from Creator God
who made heaven and earth.
God will not allow your foot to slip;
God who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, God who keeps Israel
will neither slumber briefly nor sleep soundly.
God is your keeper;
God is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
God will protect you from all evil;
God will keep your life.
God will guard you’re going out and your coming in,
everything that you do from this time forth and forever. Amen.
Penitence
Officiant: Our God is full of compassion and mercy: today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your heart. Let us confess our sins to God.
Silence may be kept.
All: God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you by
opposing your will in our lives.
We have denied your goodness in each other,
in ourselves, and in the world you have created.
We repent of the evil that enslaves us,
the evil we have done,
and the evil done on our behalf.
Forgive, restore, and strengthen us
through our Saviour Jesus Christ,
that we may abide in your love
and serve only your will. Amen.
Absolution
Officiant: Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins.
Through the grace of Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness,
and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.
Amen.
Appointed Psalm
Optional doxology at the end
All: Praise to God, the holy undivided relational Trinity. As God was in the
beginning, God is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The first lectionary lesson is written in…
After the Reading, the Reader says: Hear what the Spirit is saying to us, God’s people.
All: O God help us be doers of your word. Thanks be to God.
Canticle A Song of Wisdom Wisdom 10:15-19, 20b-21
Wisdom freed from a nation of oppressors
a holy people and a blameless race.
She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,
withstood dread rulers with wonders and signs.
To the saints she gave the reward of their labours,
and led them by a marvellous way;
She was their shelter by day
and a blaze of stars by night.
She brought them across the Red Sea,
she led them through mighty waters;
But their enemies she swallowed in the waves
and spewed them out from the depths of the abyss.
And then, Lord, the righteous sang hymns to your Name,
and praised with one voice your protecting hand;
For Wisdom opened the mouths of the mute,
and gave speech to the tongues of a new-born people.
The second lectionary lesson is written in…
After the Reading, the Reader says: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God’s people.
All: O God help us be doers of your word. Thanks be to God.
Canticle A Song of Ezekiel Ezekiel 36:24-28
I will take you from among all nations;
and gather you from all lands to bring you home.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you;
and purify you from false gods and uncleanness.
A new heart I will give you
and a new spirit put within you.
I will take the stone heart from your chest
and give you a heart of flesh.
I will help you walk in my laws
and cherish my commandments and do them.
You shall be my people,
and I will be your God.
Non-Orthodox Christian Creed (Fresh Expressions UK Website)
We believe in a God of Justice
Compassion
Mercy
Hope
And first, a God of Love
Love personified
Incarnated.
The Lord’s Prayer (from the New Zealand Prayer book)
Eternal Spirit
Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all.
Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echoes through
the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples
of the earth!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your common wealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever.
Amen.
Open Prayer topics:
Church
Country/ World
Leaders
Education systems
Economy and employment
Environment
Relationships and family
Children and elderly
The sick and the suffering
Carers and health care workers
The return of all who feel far from God
Officiant: A prayer for our community
‘O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us.
May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings.
Help us become a community that vulnerably shares
each other’s burdens and the weight of glory.
Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world’…
(spoken and unspoken).
‘Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking,
we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God,
Amen.’
(From Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations @ https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2020/)
Collect for saints martyrs etc.
Collect for today
All: We Thank God because today:
‘Victory is ours
Goodness is stronger than evil;
Love is stronger than hate;
Light is stronger than darkness;
Life is stronger than death;
Victory is ours through God who loves us’.
(Desmond Tutu: ‘Victory is ours’ in ‘An African Prayer Book’).
Officiant: Let us go into this day knowing our lives have been touched
by the powerfully-good triune God
We are cleansed by the mercy of God
We are surrounded by the love of Christ
We are filled with the power of the Spirit
We are held within the holy undivided relational Trinity.
All: Amen.