Holy Saturday, Morning Prayer
GREETING
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
By your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Let all the earth grow still.
Creation’s Lord lies silent in the tomb.
DOXOLOGY
PSALM 119:33-50
The women who had come with him from
Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and
how his body was laid. Then they returned,
and prepared spices and ointments.
God, teach me your ways
and I will follow them closely.
Help me understand your will,
that I may cherish your law.
Guide me along your path,
a way of delight.
Open my heart to your laws
and not to riches.
Turn my eyes from the lure of evil,
let me live your truth.
Keep your promise
to one who reveres you.
Spare me the shame I fear.
How good your commands!
See, I want what is right,
let your justice give me life.
Teach me with your love, O Lord;
save me as you promised.
I defy those who taunt me,
for I trust your word.
Let me speak the whole truth,
for I await your justice.
I keep your word,
now and always.
I go about openly
pursuing your law.
I would speak your word to kings,
and not be ashamed.
For I love your ways
and delight in following them.
I revere your commands
and attend to them.
Remember what you promised me,
I wait in hope.
In sorrow, this is my comfort:
your life-giving word.
JEREMIAH 14:17-21
Let the same mind be in you that was
in Christ Jesus.
Day and night
my tears never stop,
for my people are struck,
my daughter crushed
by a savage blow.
I see the dead slain in the fields
and people starving on city streets.
Priest and prophet wander about,
not knowing where to turn.
Lord, have you nothing
but contempt for Zion?
Have you completely rejected Judah?
Why have you inflicted wounds
that do not heal?
We long for peace,
we long for healing,
but there in only terror.
We have sinned against you
and we know it, God;
we share our people’s guilt.
For the sake of your name,
do not abandon us.
For the honor of your throne,
remember your covenant,
do not break your oath.
READING: Hosea 5:15b-6:3
In their distress they will beg my favor: “Come,
let us return to the Lord; for it is God who has
torn, and God will heal us; God has struck
down, and God will binds us up. After two days
the Lord will revive us and will raise us up on
the third day, that we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
his appearing is as sure as the dawn; our God
will come to us like the showers, like the spring
rains that water the earth.”
CANTICLE OF ZECHARIAH
Christ humbled himself and became obedient
to the point of death – even death on a cross.
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
who shepherds the people and sets them free.
God raises from David’s house
a child with power to save.
Through the holy prophets
God promised in ages past
to save us from enemy hands,
from the grip of all who hate us.
The Lord favored our ancestors
recalling the sacred covenant,
the pledge to our ancestor Abraham,
to free us from our enemies,
so we might worship without fear
and be holy and just all our days.
And you, child, will be called
Prophet of the Most High,
for you will come to prepare
a pathway for the Lord
by teaching the people salvation
through forgiveness of their sin.
Out of God’s deepest mercy
a dawn will come from on high,
light for those shadowed by death,
a guide for our feet on the way to peace.
INTERCESSIONS
O God, Jesus offered you the praise of his
obedience. In waiting silence, stir our hearts
to offer you our sacrifice of praise.
~ Teach us to wait in hope, O God.
When we are fearful of the future:
When all seems clouded by uncertainty:
When we cannot see the way to you:
When words of prayer do not rise from our hearts:
When the powers of evil seem to overcome the good:
THE LORD’S PRAYER
PRAYER
Saving God, all creation waits with groaning
and longing for the salvation promised to our
ancestors and revealed in the resurrection
of your Son Jesus. Teach us how to wait for the
bursting forth of your saving power when all
will be reconciled to you in Christ Jesus. We wait
in hope, O God. We wait in the company of all
the angels and saints of heaven. Through their
intercession may we have the power to say: Holy,
Holy, Holy is our God. Amen.
BLESSING
Blessed be our God who saves. Amen.
Blessed be our God who raises up. Amen.
Blessed be our God who lives. Amen.
Holy Saturday, Evening Prayer
GREETING
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
By your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Let all the earth grow still.
Creation’s Lord lies silent in the tomb.
DOXOLOGY
PSALM 136:1-26
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Our God is good, give thanks!
God’s love is for ever!
Our God of gods, give thanks!
God’s love is for ever!
Our Lord of lords, give thanks!
God’s love is for ever!
Alone the maker of worlds!
God’s love is for ever!
Architect for the skies!
God’s love is for ever!
Spread land on the sea!
God’s love is for ever!
Set the great lights above!
God’s love is for ever!
The sun to rule the day!
God’s love is for ever!
The moon and stars, the night!
God’s love is for ever!
Struck down Egypt’s firstborn!
God’s love is for ever!
Guided Israel’s escape!
God’s love is for ever!
Held out a mighty arm!
God’s love is for ever!
Split in two the Red Sea!
God’s love is for ever!
Led Israel across!
God’s love is for ever!
Drowned Pharaoh and his troops!
God’s love is for ever!
Led the desert trek!
God’s love is for ever!
Struck down mighty tribes!
God’s love is for ever!
Killed powerful kings!
God’s love is for ever!
Sihon, the Amorite king!
God’s love is for ever!
And Og, Bashan’s king!
God’s love is for ever!
Gave Israel a land!
God’s love is for ever!
For Israel to keep!
God’s love is for ever!
Remembered our distress!
God’s love is for ever!
Kept us from defeat!
God’s love is for ever!
God feeds all living things!
God’s love is for ever!
God in heaven, be thanked!
God’s love is for ever!
REVELATIONS 4:11; 5:9-10, 12
Worthy are you, O Christ. Worthy is the Lamb
that was slaughtered!
Worthy are you, Lord God,
to receive glory, honor and power,
for you are creator and source of all.
Worthy are you, O Christ,
to take the scroll and break the seals,
for you were slain,
and your blood purchased for God
every tribe, language, people and nation.
You made them royal priests
to serve our God,
and they will rule the earth.
Worthy is the slaughtered Lamb,
worthy of power and wealth,
wisdom and strength,
honor and glory and praise.
READING: Revelation 22:1-5
Then the angel showed me the river of the
water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the
throne of God and of the Lamb through the
middle of the street of the city. On either side of
the river, is the tree of life with its twelve kinds
of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and
the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the
nations. Nothing accursed will be found there
any more. But the throne of God and of the
Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship
him; they will see his face, and his name will
be on their foreheads. And there will be no
more night; they need no light of lamp or sun,
for the Lord God will be their light, and they
will reign forever and ever.
CANTICLE OF MARY
They need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord
God will be their light.
I acclaim the greatness of the Lord,
I delight in God my savior,
who regarded my humble state.
Truly from this day on
all ages will call me blest.
For God, wonderful in power,
has used that strength for me.
Holy the name of the Lord!
Whose mercy embraces the faithful,
one generation to the next.
The mighty arm of God
scatters the proud in their conceit,
pulls tyrants from their thrones,
and raises up the humble.
The Lord fills the starving
and lets the rich go hungry.
God rescues lowly Israel,
recalling the promise of mercy,
the promise made to our ancestors,
to Abraham’s heirs for ever.
INTERCESSIONS
God of light and healing, we come seeking
wholeness. Jesus, the Light of the World, rests
in the tomb. We wait for the coming of the
Rising Sun to show us the way. Hear our prayer
for his coming:
~ May the light of Christ show the way.
For our catechumens preparing for baptism:
For godparents and sponsors who support the
newly baptized on their journey of faith:
For the peoples of the Holy Land who long for peace:
For ethnic groups divided by longstanding
prejudices and hatred:
For the teaching church as it speaks a word of
hope to the people of the world:
For those alienated from the church community:
For the terminally ill, awakening their passage to
new life:
THE LORD’S PRAYER
PRAYER
O God, on this holy night we await the passover
of Jesus. Fulfill your promise to give life to
your people. Fill us with eagerness for the ways
of justice and truth. May the sufferings we
endure and the crosses we embrace be occasions
of growth and transformation. May we put
on the mind of Christ Jesus who loved us into
death. Amen.
BLESSING
Blessed be our God who saves. Amen.
Blessed be our God who raises up. Amen.
Blessed be our God who lives. Amen.