Worship for Holy Week 2022
Wednesday: Welcome & Introduction
Friends,
Welcome to this time of scripture reading, music and prayer,
for Holy Week –
the most solemn and significant week of the Christian year.
Today is Wednesday of Holy Week.
We will hear a reading from the Old Testament,
followed by music, (God be in my head)
then the Gospel reading set for today.
After a time of quiet, short prayers,
from the Church of Scotland’s Book of Common Worship.
Let us pray:
Almighty and ever-living God, in tender love for all our human race you sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take our flesh and suffer death upon a cross. Grant that we may follow the example of his great humility, and share in the glory of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Wednesday: Gospel Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a
50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens– wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
50:5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.
50:6 I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
50:7 The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
50:8 he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.
50:9a It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?
Worship for Holy Week 2022
Wednesday: Gospel Reading: John 13:21-32
13:21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
13:22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.
13:23 One of his disciples–the one whom Jesus loved–was reclining next to him;
13:24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
13:25 So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
13:26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.
13:27 After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.”
13:28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.
13:29 Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor.
13:30 So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
13:31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.
13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
Worship for Holy Week 2022
Wednesday: Prayers
Almighty God,
Your name is glorified
even in the anguish of your Son’s death.
Grant us the courage
to receive your anointed servant
who embodies a wisdom and love
that is foolishness to the world.
empower us in witness
so that all the world may recognize
in the scandal of the cross the mystery of reconciliation. Amen.
Prayers for inner peace
Set free, O Lord,
the souls of your servants from all restlessness and anxiety.
Give us your peace and power,
and so keep us that,
in all perplexity and distress,
we may abide in you,
upheld by your strength
and stayed on the rock of your faithfulness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
For home and family
Lord, you have been our home in every generation.
Defend our homes against all evil;
surround them with your presence,
and make them sanctuaries of your peace and joy.
Bless those dear to us, wherever they may be,
and grant that they and we
may dwell together in the shelter of your love,
until we come at last into the Father’s house in heaven,
the family of God complete;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.