[Jesus said,]”My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Theme for Daily Prayer: For deliverance against temptation and evil; for the addicted and despairing, the tortured and oppressed; for those struggling with sin.
Prayer for our Government: Eternal Lord, ruler of all, graciously regard those who have been set in positions of authority among us that, guided by Your Spirit, they may be high in purpose, wise in counsel, firm in good resolution, and unwavering in duty, that under them we may be governed quietly and peaceably; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves, O my people….And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people, and I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live
These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.
John 20:31
Hymns to listen to:
Prayers
Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.
Almighty God, You brought us up out of the Egypt of hell and into the Zion of Christ’s Church through the Red Sea of the baptismal font. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, that as we continue to wend our way through the wilderness of this sinful world, we would long for the pure spiritual milk of Your Word and receive the sustenance we need, until we are brought to the Promised Land of the life of the world to come. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Gracious God, Your Son appeared to His disciples in His resurrected flesh to ordain them and to send them out into the world, that repentance and the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name. Continue to raise up for us faithful men to serve in the Office of the Holy Ministry, and sustain those whom You have sent with courage and endurance. Bless their service among Your people who, with St. Thomas, confess Jesus as their Lord and God. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Loving God, You sent Your Son to proclaim liberty to the captive, and You delivered the apostles from imprisonment according to Your will. Remember those who are imprisoned or held captive, whether justly or unjustly. Deliver them according to Your wisdom and mercy, and grant that they might hear Your Word and rejoice with penitent hearts that they are set free from sin, death and the devil. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Merciful God, remember those who have wandered from the household of faith. Faithful to Your promises, work all things in their lives to remind them of their need for Your unending grace and steadfast love, that they might return to the faith and rejoice in Your Son who has died and is risen for them. As You sustained the exiles in Babylon, so sustain Your scattered Church until all may gather together again at Your table. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Almighty God, You appoint rulers and officials for the sake of order and peace. Bless those whom You have placed in authority over us at the federal, state and local levels. Give to them the desire to serve with integrity and honor, and to work for the benefit of all. Protect them, give them health, and direct them wisely in their response to the ongoing pandemic. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Gracious God, look with mercy upon all who suffer in this vale of tears; those isolated, ill or endangered from the coronavirus; and those we remember now [especially _____________]. Provide them with loving and compassionate care, and comfort them with the reminder that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world, and that, believing that Jesus is the Christ, they have life in His name. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy; through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Ninevah Hears God’s Word, Repents and Lives: Jonah 3
Fear Not! The Lord Has Taken Away Your Judgment-Zepheniah 3
The Son of Man Stands with His People in the Fiery Trial-Daniel 3
Sermon (based on John Chrysostom’s Easter Homily)
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This is the night when You brought our Fathers our of bondage in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry ground.
This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from bondage to sin and are restored to life and immortality.
This is the night when Christ, the Life, arose from the dead. The seal of the grave is broken and the morning of the new creation breaks forth out of night.
This is the night when all wickedness is put to flight and sin is washed away.
How holy is this night when innocence is restored to the fallen and joy is given to those downcast.
How blessed is this night when man is reconciled to God in Christ.
Did anyone deliberately seek this video out to hear the Good News of Easter? Let them enjoy the beautiful life giving Words of God.
Is anyone weary from sitting through all of the Holy Week devotions poorly livestreamed on Facebook? Receive your wages. Those who toil from the first hour their due reward, and those who come afterward, join with gratitude in the Easter celebration!
Is anyone fearful of the plague that stalks the earth? Let him take heart in Christ who has risen as the first fruits of death in the promise that we also will rise from death with Him.
Is anyone still unafraid of death? Let His confidence be in Christ, and let Him serve His neighbor with the Love of our Risen Lord and Savior.
Let no one grieve at his poverty, or the threat of loss, for the riches of the Kingdom of God are revealed to us in Christ. Let no one despair that he has fallen into sin again and again, for forgiveness itself has risen from the grave. Let no one be afraid of death, for the death of our Lord is the perfect Love that drives out fear and sets us free.
He destroyed death by dying.
He destroyed hell by descending to it in victory.
Hell is mocked, it is destroyed, its sting is gone. It took a man and discovered God. It thought it had earth and it found heaven. Satan bit off more than he knew, and was destroyed.
Christ is risen and death is defeated!
Christ is risen and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is risen and life is freed!
Christ is risen and all tombs will be empty, for Christ having risen from the dead is the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be power and glory forever and ever. Amen!
Service of Holy Baptism
On this holiest of nights, the whole Church of our Lord Jesus Christ recalls His death and burial, rejoicing with great joy in the Gospel of His glorious and mighty resurrection from the dead. The apostle Paul says:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, according to Your strict judgment You condemned the unbelieving world through the flood, yet according to Your great mercy You preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all. You drowned hard-hearted Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea, yet led Your people Israel through the water on dry ground, foreshadowing this washing of Your Holy Baptism. Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin.
We pray that You would behold us all according to Your boundless mercy and bless us with true faith by the Holy Spirit, that through this saving flood all sin in us, which has been inherited from Adam and which we ourselves have committed since, would be drowned and die. Grant that we be kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving Your name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that, with all believers in Your promise, we would be declared worthy of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Do you renounce the devil? Yes, I renounce him.
Do you renounce all his works? Yes, I renounce them.
Do you renounce all his ways? Yes, I renounce them.
Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?
Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son?
Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
The almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with His grace to life + everlasting. Amen.
Litany of the Resurrection
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, have mercy.
O Lord, have mercy.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, hear us.
Paschal Lamb, who was offered for us and has taken away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Who was crucified for our transgressions and raised for our justification, have mercy on us.
Who foretold Your passion saying, “The Son of Man must be crucified and on the third day rise again,” have mercy on us.
Who destroyed death by dying, and by rising to life again brought life and immortality to light, have mercy on us.
Whose resurrection was first announced by an angel to the women, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to Mary Magdalene and was worshiped by her, have mercy on us.
Who revealed Yourself to the two disciples on the Emmaus road and made Yourself known to them in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to the disciples, bestowing on them Your peace and Your Spirit, have mercy on us.
Who showed Your wounded hands and side to the apostle Thomas that he too might believe, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to seven disciples on the Sea of Tiberias, bringing a miraculous catch of fish, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to Peter and to the Twelve, to over 500 disciples, to James and to all the apostles, and to Paul on the Damascus road, have mercy on us.
Who commissioned Your Church to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them, have mercy on us.
By Your glorious resurrection from the dead, good Lord, deliver us.
By Your victory over sin and death, good Lord, deliver us.
By the majesty of Your risen body, good Lord, deliver us.
We poor sinners implore You to hear us, Lord Jesus.
That we may daily die and rise with You in our Baptism and walk in the freedom of Your forgiveness, grant us, good Lord.
That we may set our minds on things above and not on earthly things, serving others as we have been served by You, grant us, good Lord.
That we may dwell with You forever in the new creation as citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, together with all the saints, grant us, good Lord.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us Your peace.
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, have mercy.
O Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Easter Acclamation
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
We love to have a scapegoat. A kicker misses a last second field goal, and all everyone remembers is that moment, and forgets all the shortfalls and mistakes that led up to it. Humanity gets to the end of the second world war and we can pin everything on Hitler, as a demonic terror, and forget about all of the individual human decisions and actions that led the world to that dark place.
Even today, depending on where you turn for your news, you see people placing the blame for this pandemic and all of its death-toll and economic destruction on Trump, or on China, or this or that state governor or those kids out partying. We ignore that so much of our trouble stems from the systems of economy that we actively participating in, demanding low-prices always and that someone else do the work. We enjoy the benefits of globalism even while it threatens our lives and our local economies.
Even that, though, is just an earthly example of the point I’m trying to make. We lay the blame somewhere else. This woman you gave me gave me some fruit and I ate. The serpent tempted me and I ate.
Scripture does not let us go. It does not let us get away that easy. When the seed of sin is planted, and it grows, and bears fruit, its fruit is bitter and black with the taste of death. When death comes, it carries its accusation with it: “I am the wages of your sin. I am what you deserve. You were taken from the dust. And to dust I will return you.”
We look for someone to pin everything on so that we can escape. It doesn’t work. Death will get its man.
We can’t pin our sins on anyone else. But someone else willingly had them nailed into Him. A scapegoat will not work, so we are given the Lamb of God.
Listen to the sounds of the hammer driving the nails through flesh, shattering bone, and finally sinking into the wood. Each stroke of that hammer is our sin, having its wages paid out. Every time you worshipped yourself instead of your God. Every lie you told to keep people from seeing your failures. Every sexual act that defiled your marriage bed. Every time you yelled at your parents. Every time you wished for different children than those God had given you. Every time you saw someone in need and kept right on going. All your hatred. All your pride. All your greed. All your gossip and back-biting. All your selfishness. All your doubting of God. All your hatred and neglect of His Holy Word and your disregard of His Sacrament. Every single last one.
Can you imagine being one of those who tortured Jesus in His final hours? Who hit Him, spat in His blessed face, hurled insults and wagged their heads, pressed the thorns into His temples, drove the nails, lifted the cross, pierced His side? To be one of those, and to see His eyes. His anguish, His pain, His love. That must’ve been the most haunting of all, to look on Him with hate and see the love in His eyes.
Love stretched out His arms and received everything our sin deserved. Stroke by stroke. And then the cross was lifted, the would creaked and He cried out as the weight of the world, the weight of your sin wrenched the ligaments in His shoulders and collapsed His diaphragm. He who knew no sin became sin. He took the weight. And in that moment feel it now. The weight is gone from you. He cried out to His Father. He gave up His Spirit. He breathed His last. He closed His eyes in darkness. He has taken your sin so that you might become the righteousness of God.
The love of Christ shown in its fullness on the cross controls us. One has died. And because He has died, we have all died. And now in Him we live. Go from the cross new men and women. Forgiven. Free. Free from the slavery of living for yourself, free to live for Jesus who for your sake died and was raised. Amen.
This Good Friday, since we cannot meet together, it is fitting to spend time in your personal and family devotions meditating on the way in which God loved the world: that He sent His only Son to die for the sins of all so that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life.
I invite you to look on these images and see the depth of love He has for you. See how great your sin is that these are its wages. See how much He endured for you. See His sorrow and love flow mingled down from His head, His hands and arms, His back, His sacred heart, His legs, His feet. See the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by His death to give you life.
Sutherland, Graham Vivian; Crucifixion; Pallant House Gallery; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/crucifixion-70519
Sutherland, Graham Vivian; The Deposition; The Fitzwilliam Museum; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-deposition-4484
Sutherland, Graham Vivian; The Deposition; Oxford Brookes University; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-deposition-42948
Holbein, The Dead Body of ChristClaude Mellan, Adam and Eve at the Foot of the Cross, French, 1598 – 1688, c. 1647, engraving on laid paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce FundWierix-Christ in the WinepressCranach the Younger-Weimar AltarpieceCranach the Elder-Allegory of Law and Gospel
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
St. Paul writes to the church in Corinth that He delivered to them what He had received from the Lord, “that the Lord Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Testament in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” (1 Cor 11:23-26)
I’m at something of a loss this holy week. I’m not able to deliver to you very much of what I have received from the Lord. We cannot celebrate the Lord’s Supper together as brothers and sisters, as the Body of Christ. How often did we take that for granted before? How often did we inwardly groan when we walked in to church and saw the communion vessels set on the altar? The very thought of an extra fifteen minutes in this place was unbearable. Now what would we give to be able to gather again? We told the Lord that we did not want His gifts more often, because it would make them less special. Now our Lord has taken His gifts away. It is God who establishes the authorities that have limited our ability to gather. It is the Lamb who opens the seal that sends forth the pale rider to kill with pestilence.
How much would we give to be able to join our voices with other people who love Jesus? But now we find ourselves in exile. And like the people of Israel in their captivity in Babylon, the songs just don’t sound right when we are exiled by ourselves. “How shall we sing the Lord’s songs in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4) they wondered. How shall we sing them by ourselves? we wonder.
Our church services are reduced to something you can scroll past, right after the memes about “Repost if you remember when phones had cords?” and right before “post something purple from your picture roll” comes this purple reminder of remember when we used to be able to go to Church.
Tonight is a night that shows us what we are missing. Like the disciples who were all scattered like sheep by the end of this night, we have each been scattered to our own places, hoping to evade death. We are missing gathering together, and we miss the gifts that we are used to receiving. We miss the Body and Blood of our Savior. Jesus says, “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He says to the weary, “Take eat, this is My Body, given for You! Take drink, this is My blood, shed for the forgiveness of Your sins.” He says to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day. Whoever tastes and sees that I am Good, abides in Me and I in him.” Let the words of Jesus increase our hunger for His gifts so that we may receive them in joy when He once again permits us to enter His house.
Hope in God, for we will again praise Him! Our salvation and our God.
Let us learn from our Lord in this time of exile. We pray that He would wash us and make us clean, our hearts, souls, strengths, and minds, that we might have our share with Him. In this time, and especially in these three days we examine our lives, our homes, our families, our church, our community, and confess where we have not lived in the light of God’s Word, where we have brought death to ourselves and others by our lust, our sloth, our greed, our anger, and our pride. Wash us clean. And restore to us the joy of your salvation, O Lord. And strengthen us, that we may love each other as you have loved us. Pray with your families. Read God’s Word together. Prepare to join in the heavenly feast in His Kingdom.
Already we see His love at work. We pass on of the gifts that we have received from the Lord. People are delivering food to those who need it. Working to make sure that the sick and aged are cared for, that we have food to eat and water to drink. People who still have jobs and income seeking to help those who have seen theirs taken. And, though we may not be washing each other’s feet, we are washing our own hands in love for our neighbor. And in the love we show in earthly things, may it awaken a desire for the greater gifts which lead to life that has no end, life that was won for our Savior who laid down His life for us. Amen.
Livestreaming services is not great. It is what we have for now, but it is not ideal, and I can’t wait for it to be over. The Church is meant to be God’s people gathered together at a particular time and place, having God’s Word spoken into their ears together and joining together songs the grow from the lungs and throats God has given us with which to praise Him.
This weekend, the livestream will mostly consist of what works best at this point, and that will be the spoken sermon, and a few prayers.
The Word of God does not return void, so I continue to preach the Word and cast it on the waters in hopes that some will hear it and find comfort and life by it.
Music, on the other hand is such a part of what we do gathered together, and it is hard to do satisfactorily without the congregation. So instead of trying to do that poorly on the livestream, here are a couple of suggestions of music to listen to for your Holy Week Devotions.
If you would like to add your voice to God’s people singing this weekend, this is a project worthy of your time. Record yourself singing Easter hymns according to their directions, and they will make a video with everyone singing. They did one for Palm Sunday and it was really good!
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life T everlasting. Amen.
ReadingMatthew 22:15–45
Paying Taxes to Caesar
15Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his talk. 16And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection
23The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’ 25Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother. 26So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27After them all, the woman died. 28In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”
29But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 32‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Great Commandment
34But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Whose Son Is the Christ?
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
44“‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’?
45If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
LI cry to You, O Lord;
Cin the morning my prayer comes before You.
LRestore to me the joy of Your salvation,
Cand uphold me with a willing spirit.
LMy mouth is filled with Your praise,
Cand with Your glory all the day.
LEvery day I will bless You
Cand praise Your name forever and ever.
LBy awesome deeds You answer us with righteousness,
CO God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.
LBless the Lord, O my soul;
Cand all that is within me, bless His holy name!
LHe redeems your life from the pit
Cand crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.
LHear my prayer, O Lord;
Clet my cry come to You.
LLet us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, grant us by Your grace so to pass through this holy time of our Lord’s passion that we may obtain the forgiveness of our sins; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
CAmen.
CI thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.
LLet us bless the Lord.
CThanks be to God.
LThe Lord bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
For deliverance against temptation and evil; for the addicted and despairing, the tortured and oppressed; for those struggling with sin.
Prayer for Healthcare Workers: Lord God, be with the doctors and nurses and all others who minister to the needs of those who are ill. Through their wise and compassionate service, grant relief to the suffering and hope to the afflicted so that all may know of Your boundless care; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life T everlasting. Amen.
ReadingMatthew 21:12–17
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
17And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
LShow us Your steadfast love, O Lord,
Cand grant us Your salvation.
LLet Your priests be clothed with righteousness;
Cand let Your saints shout for joy.
LLord, keep this nation under Your care,
Cand guide us in the way of justice and truth.
LLet the nations be glad and sing for joy,
Cfor You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.
LLet the peoples praise You, O God;
Clet all the peoples praise You!
LFor the needy shall not always be forgotten,
Cand the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
LCreate in me a clean heart, O God,
Cand renew a right spirit within me.
LHear my prayer, O Lord;
Clet my cry come to You.
LLet us pray.
Almighty God, grant that in the midst of our failures and weaknesses we may be restored through the passion and intercession of Your only-begotten Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
CAmen.
LGracious Jesus, our Lord and our God, at this hour You bore our sins in Your own body on the tree so that we, being dead to sin, might live unto righteousness. Have mercy upon us now and at the hour of our death, and grant to us, Your servants, with all others who devoutly remember Your blessed passion, a holy and peaceful life in this world and through Your grace eternal glory in the life to come, where, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, You live and reign, one God, now and forever.
CAmen.
LLet us bless the Lord.
CThanks be to God.
LThe Lord bless us, defend us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
