holy week, tuesday

Tuesday, April 15

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.

Scripture Reading for the Day: Luke 22:7-34

Reading for Reflection:

     So let us enter into Holy Week as a way to practice the most holy and sacred rhythm of our faith—death, burial and resurrection.  Let us enter into Jesus’ passion by “handing ourselves over” to the events of this week–Mary’s costly act of preparation for Jesus’ burial, Jesus’ final teaching regarding the cost of discipleship, the tenderness of the Last Supper, the pain of betrayal, Jesus handing himself over to his enemies in the garden of Gethsemane, the arduous journey to the cross, the despair of Holy Saturday, the joy of resurrection Sunday.  As we begin this week together, let us ask Jesus what area of our lives at this time needs to be transformed through the rhythm of death, burial and resurrection. Let us ask him to be our teacher on the way… from death to burial to resurrection life. (Holy Week: Practicing the Most Sacred Rhythm of All by Ruth Haley Barton)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

                                       

Closing Prayer: Lord God, you have renewed us with the living bread from heaven;
by it your nourish our faith, increase our hope, and strengthen our love: teach us to hunger for him who is the true and living bread, and enable us to live by every word
that proceeds from out of your mouth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (A Collect for Passion Week, Oremus)