Lenten Worship 2022 - The Crucial Hours -Prayer at the Close of Day – March 30, 2022

The Lord Almighty grant us a quiet night and peace at the last.

Amen.

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

to sing praise to your name, O Most High,

to herald your love in the morning,

your truth at the close of day.

Opening Hymn 651 In Hopelessness and Near Despair

1     In hopelessness and near despair,
    I cry to you, my Savior!
My guilt is more than I can bear,
    I have not earned your favor.
You know me as I really am:
how much is truth, how much is sham;
    why should you heed my pleading?

2     I see my heart’s condition now,
    my heart’s diverse affections.
Why do I love the things you loathe?
    I’m torn in two directions:
now prodigal, now Pharisee,
O God, be merciful to me;
    who else but you can help me.

3     I tremble as I feel your hand,
    expecting retribution,
yet hear no curse or reprimand,
    but grace and absolution.
With you there is forgiveness, Lord;
you speak the sweet, consoling word,
    and I am sure you love me!

4     Forgiven, free of guilt and shame,
    grant me some time to render
a gift to glorify your name,
    love to reflect your splendor.
This world must know what I have learned,
that you bestow what none has earned:
    the joy of full forgiveness!

Confession

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

the maker of heaven and earth.

Let us confess our sins in the presence of God and of one another.

Silence for personal reflection

Almighty God, our heavenly Father,

we have sinned against you

in our thoughts,

in our words,

in our deeds,

and in all that we have not done.

Forgive us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Deliver and restore us,

that we may rest in peace.

By the mercy of God we are redeemed by Jesus Christ,
and in him we are forgiven.
Let us rest in his peace until the rising of the sun,
when we shall serve him in newness of life.

Amen.

Psalm 91

The shelter of the love of God

is my refuge and my light:

I trust in him to guide my days

and protect me through the night

Because I come to him in love

and trust him in all things

He answers when I call his name:

he shelters me with his wings.

My faith is in the Lord alone,

his Word my help and shield.

When thousand stumble by my side,

his faithfulness is revealed.

Because I come to him in love

and trust him in all things

He answers when I call his name:

he shelters me with his wings.

Ever safe within his love I'll be

secure through all my days,

The wonder of his mighty love

always fills my heart with praise.

Because I come to him in love

and trust him in all things

He answers when I call his name:

he shelters me with his wings.

Passion History

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who is misleading the people. Look, I have examined him in your presence. I have found in this man no basis for the charges you are bringing against him. Herod did not either, for he sent him back to us. See, he has done nothing worthy of death. So I will have him flogged and release him.”

At the time of the Festival the governor had a custom to release to the crowd any one prisoner they wanted. At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas, who had been thrown in prison for a rebellion in the city and for murder. The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you? Which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas—or Jesus, who is called Christ?” For Pilate in fact knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because of envy.

While he was sitting on the judgment seat, Pilate’s wife sent him a message. “Have nothing to do with that righteous man,” she said, “since I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.” But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death. The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”

They all shouted together with one voice: “Take him away! Release Barabbas to us!”

Pilate said to them, “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews? What should I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”

They all said to him, “Crucify him!”

But the governor said, “Why? What has he done wrong?”

But they kept shouting even louder: “Crucify him!”

Pilate addressed them again, because he wanted to release Jesus. But they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found no grounds for sentencing him to death. So I will whip him and release him.” But they kept pressuring him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified. And their voices were overwhelming.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohortof soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, and mocked him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spit on him, took the staff, and hit him repeatedly on his head. They also kept hitting him in the face.

Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

When the chief priests and guards saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He went back inside the palace again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?”

But Jesus gave him no answer.

So Pilate asked him, “Are you not talking to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you or to crucify you?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me at all if it had not been given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

From then on Pilate tried to release Jesus. But the Jews shouted, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar!”

When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, or Gabbatha in Aramaic. It was about the sixth houron the Preparation Day for the Passover. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king!”

They shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”

“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.

When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that instead it was turning into a riot, he decided that what they demanded would be done. He took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood. It is your responsibility.”

And all the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

Since he wanted to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them.

So then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

After they had mocked him, the soldiers took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. Jesus was carrying his own cross.

As they were going out of the city, a certain man, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), was passing by on his way in from the country. They placed the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd of the people was following him, including women who were mourning and wailing for him.

Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Be sure of this: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never gave birth, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?”

Into your hands I commend my spirit.

Into your hands I commend my spirit.

You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

Into your hands I commend my spirit.

Glory to the Father and to the T Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Into your hands I commend my spirit.

Sermon - Satan Has Asked to Sift All of You Luke 22:31.32 Pastor Grant

Offering

Hymn: 425 Go to Dark Gethsemane

1     Go to dark Gethsemane,
    all who feel the tempter’s pow’r;
your Redeemer’s conflict see,
    watch with him one bitter hour.
Turn not from his griefs away;
learn from Jesus Christ to pray.

2     Follow to the judgment hall,
    view the Lord of life arraigned.
Oh, the wormwood and the gall,
    oh, the pangs his soul sustained!
Shun not suff’ring, pain, or loss;
learn from him to bear the cross.

3     Calv’ry’s mournful mountain climb;
    there, adoring at his feet,
mark that miracle of time,
    God’s own sacrifice complete.
“It is finished!” hear him cry;
learn from Jesus Christ to die.

4     Early hasten to the tomb
    where they laid his breathless clay;
all is solitude and gloom.
    Who has taken him away?
Christ is ris’n! He meets our eyes.
Savior, teach us so to rise.

Prayer

Hear my prayer, O Lord;

listen to my cry.

Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me in the shadow of your wings.

In righteousness I shall see you;

when I awake, your presence will give me joy.

P: Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the silent hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this fleeting world may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Lord’s Prayer (sing)

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins,

as we forgive those

who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen.

Hymn 404 Jesus, Grant That Balm and Healing

1     Jesus, grant that balm and healing
    in your holy wounds I find,
ev’ry hour that I am feeling
    pains of body and of mind.
Should some evil thought within
tempt my treach’rous heart to sin,
    show the peril, and from sinning
    keep me ere its first beginning.

2     Should some lust or sharp temptation
    fascinate my sinful mind,
let me think about your passion,
    and new courage I shall find.
Or should Satan press me hard,
let me then be on my guard,
    saying, “Christ for me was wounded,”
    that the tempter flee confounded.

3     If the world my heart entices
    with the broad and easy road,
with seductive, sinful vices,
    let me weigh the awful load
you were willing to endure.
Help me flee all thoughts impure,
    mastering each wild temptation,
    calm in prayer and meditation.

4     Ev’ry wound that pains or grieves me
    by your wounds, Lord, is made whole;
when I’m weak, your cross revives me,
    granting new life to my soul.
Yes, your comfort renders sweet
ev’ry bitter cup I meet;
    for your all-atoning passion
    has procured my soul’s salvation.

5     O my God, my rock and tower,
    grant that in your death I trust,
knowing death has lost its power
    since you crushed it in the dust.
Savior, let your agony
ever help and comfort me;
    when I die be my protection,
    light and life and resurrection.

Song of Simeon

Guide us waking, O Lord,

and guard us sleeping

that awake we may watch with Christ

and asleep we may rest in peace.

In peace, Lord, in peace you let your servant now depart according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for ev’ry people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

Guide us waking, O Lord,

and guard us sleeping

that awake we may watch with Christ

and asleep we may rest in peace, in peace, in peace.

Let us praise the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Blessing

The almighty and merciful Lord—the Father, the T Son, and the Holy Spirit—bless us and keep us.

Amen.

Acknowledgments

Prayer at the Close of Day from Christian Worship

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