Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday and Easter Day 2020

Over the next three Sundays, there will be services on Radio (8.10 Radio 4 and 11.45 BBC1) for us to enjoy, but you may also like to keep our regular service time on Sunday morning when we can pray for each other and the needs of our families, friends and neighbours, as well as the church throughout the world.
Fr Carl will be praying for all of us at 9.45 at home

Two special Sundays lead up to Holy Week and Easter.
You may like to read some of the bible passages set for each day.

29th March, Passiontide begins:

The Old Testament reading is Ezekiel 37:1-14. ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ (v.3)
Psalm 130 begins ‘Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord’
The New Testament Epistle is Romans 8:6-11.
‘the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.’ (v.6)
The Gospel is the story of the death and raising of Lazarus, John 11:1-45.
‘Jesus said to her (Martha), ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ (v.25)

5th April, Palm Sunday:

Matthew 21:1-11 tells of Jesus entry into Jerusalem:
‘Ride on, ride on in majesty,
in lowly pomp ride on to die’
‘All glory, laud, and honour
To thee, Redeemer, King’
We would normally read the Passion according to St. Matthew
in dramatised speech from Chapter 26 v.14 – end of Chapter 27.
Psalm 31:9-16 begins
‘Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow’

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Service for Good Friday - 1

O Lord, open our lips
and our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Give us the joy of your saving help
and sustain us with your life-giving Spirit.

We have come together on this most holy day
to offer our praise and thanksgiving
for the life-giving death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
May we hear and receive in our hearts
the message of the Scriptures.
Firstly we seek the forgiveness of our sins
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit
we may come close to Jesus in his suffering and death.

Lord God, we have sinned against you;
we have done evil in your sight.
We are sorry and repent.
Have mercy on us according to your love.
Wash away our wrongdoing and cleanse us from our sin.
Renew a right spirit within us
and restore us to the joy of your salvation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

+ May the Father of all mercies cleanse you from your sins,
and restore you in his image to the praise and glory of his name,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for Good Friday    

Hymn 540: ‘There is a green hill far away’                          

Reading: Isaiah 53: 1-9

Silence for reflection

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Service for Good Friday - 3

7 All who see me laugh me to scorn;
they curl their lips and wag their heads, saying,
8 'He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him;
let him deliver him, if he delights in him.'
9 But it is you that took me out of the womb
and laid me safe upon my mother's breast.
10 On you was I cast ever since I was born;
you are my God even from my mother's womb.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near at hand
and there is none to help.
14 I am poured out like water;
all my bones are out of joint;
my heart has become like wax
melting in the depths of my body.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd;
my tongue cleaves to my gums;
you have laid me in the dust of death.
16 For the hounds are all about me,
the pack of evildoers close in on me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 I can count all my bones;
they stand staring and looking upon me.
18 They divide my garments among them;
they cast lots for my clothing.
19 Be not far from me, O Lord;
you are my strength; hasten to help me.

Silence for reflection

Hymn 427b (v.1 only)

Reading: John 19: 25-30

Prayers and blessing from ‘The Book of a Thousand Prayers’, Ed. Angela Ashwin by:
Janet Morley; Joseph the Visionary; from Celebrating Common Prayer;
Simon, Bishop of Iran

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10th April, Good Friday: See special sheet below

12th April, Easter Day:

‘Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia, our triumphant holy day; Alleluia’
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-14
‘Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever.’ (v.1)
‘The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.’ (v. 14)
Two Gospel passages:
Matthew: 28:1-10 and John 20:1-18

Fr. Carl’s letter in March/April magazine is well worth reading again.

A prayer for this time:
Keep us, good Lord,
under the shadow of your mercy
in this time of uncertainty and distress.
Sustain and support the anxious and fearful,
and lift up all who are brought low;
that we may rejoice in your comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

There are many prayers and other resources on the C. of E website:

https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-liturgy-and-prayer-resources

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Service for Good Friday - 2

Christ our victim,
Whose beauty was disfigured
And whose body torn upon the cross,
open wide your arms
to embrace our tortured world,
that we may not turn away our eyes,
but abandon ourselves to your mercy.

Hymn 498: ‘Soul of my Saviour’

Fashion in me Lord, eyes within my eyes,
     so that, with new eyes,
     I may contemplate your divine sacrifice.
Create in me a pure heart,
     so that, through the power of your Spirit,
     I may inhale your salvation

Reading John 19: 15-24

Silence for reflection

(Psalm 22)
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,
and are so far from my salvation,
from the words of my distress?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;
and by night also, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are the Holy One,
enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
4 Our forebears trusted in you;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 They cried out to you and were delivered;
they put their trust in you and were not confounded.
6 But as for me, I am a worm and no man,
scorned by all and despised by the people.

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Service for Good Friday - 4

HYMN In this bitter Passion,
                 Good Shepherd, think of me
            With thy most sweet compassion,
                 Unworthy though I be:
            Beneath thy Cross abiding
                 For ever would I rest,
            In thy dear love confiding,
                 And with thy presence blest.

Almighty God,
     as we stand at the foot of the cross of your Son,
     help us to see and know your love for us,
     so that in humility, love and joy
     we may place at his feet
     all that we have and all that we are,
     through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Intercessions

O Christ, your cross speaks both to us and to our world.
     In your dying for us you accepted the pain and hurt
     Of the whole of creation.
     The arms of your cross stretch out across the
     Broken world in reconciliation.
     You have made peace with us.
     Help us to make peace with you by sharing in your
     Reconciling work.

Hymn 610: ‘When I survey’

Blessing:

May the cross of our Lord
     protect those who belong to Jesus,
     and strengthen your hearts in faith to Christ,
     in hardship and in ease,
     in life and in death,
     now and for ever.

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