holy week, monday

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:
By your cross O Lord, you show the extravagance of your love for us.  Love than knows no limits…no boundaries.  Love that pours down upon us from every wound of your beloved Son.  More love than we could ever ask for or imagine.  When we are tempted to doubt the depths of your heart for us, let our eyes immediately look to Jesus crucified—and may all doubt be taken away.  In His name.  Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 22

Scripture for the Day: Mark 14:1-11

Reading for Reflection:

The heart of Christianity is a cross, the sign of a love unto death, and beyond into resurrection.  I am beginning to understand that there is no way of following Jesus except by undergoing what he underwent.  Unless I die, I can never bear fruit.

     No one in this world can escape suffering, but not all suffering is the cross.  Suffering cannot be avoided, but one can escape the cross.  The cross must be a choice, a free decision, or it is not the sign of Jesus’ love.  The cross is an invitation; each person must say yes.  No one becomes a disciple without saying yes to Jesus taking us, blessing us, breaking us open, and passing us around. (Gathering the Fragments by Edward J. Farrell)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Lift Up Thy Bleeding Hand

When wounded sore, the stricken heart
Lies bleeding and unbound,
One only hand, a pierced hand,
Can salve the sinner's wound.

When sorrow swells the laden breast,
And tears of anguish flow,
One only heart, a broken heart,
Can feel the sinner's woe.

Chorus:
Lift up Thy bleeding hand, O Lord,
Unseal that cleansing tide;
We have no shelter from our sin
But in Thy wounded side.

When penitential grief has wept
O'er some foul dark spot,
One only stream, a stream of blood,
Can wash away the blot.

'Tis Jesus' blood that washes white,
His hand that brings relief,
His heart that's touched with all our joys,
And feels for all our grief.
Chorus

Closing Prayer:

Our God and Father,

     We thank You that You have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death, and brought us into the kingdom of Your Son: Grant we pray that, by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joy.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen. (adapted from Venite by Robert Benson)