Maundy Thursday
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Arizona April 9, 2020
Welcome to Grace! Our mission at Grace is to teach the inspired and inerrant Word of God, to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the crucified and risen Savior of the world, and to nurture believers for lives of Christian service. Check out the GRACE WEBSITE at GraceLutheranSAZ.org
Worship Notes Thank you for joining us for worship today! Although we may not be physically together for this service, we trust God’s promises to bless our time together in worship. The worship service is printed in its entirety in this worship folder for you to follow along and participate as you are able. If you would like to make an offering in thanks to God and in support of the ministry of Grace, you may do so online at GraceLutheranSAZ.org/Give. Offerings can also be mailed to the Grace Central Office at 830 N. 1st Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719. Many banks also offer bill pay services (where they will mail a check directly to Grace).
The Savior Demonstrates His Love on Maundy Thursday The Passover Feast was at hand, and the hour appointed by God had come. Jesus knew what lay ahead. He was preparing “to leave this world and go to the Father.” He was preparing to be our Passover Lamb, through whose blood we escape eternal death. Jesus used the occasion to demonstrate his complete, unwavering love for his followers, a love he bore to the very end. The timing was crucial, but only Jesus knew how much so. The Passover dinner was underway. It would be Jesus’ last one, and he would institute his Supper…. The devil had worked on Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus. Still, Jesus was in control. The Father placed everything into his hands. He had come from God and was returning to God. Heaven’s plan was coming together, and it was up to the Son to see it through. So Jesus, to show his deep love for his disciples, rose from the dinner and served them…. When Jesus rose during the meal to do the servant’s job, he called special attention to his ministry as servant. This was God’s servant, his chosen one, at work (Isaiah 42:1). This was God who took on himself the form of a servant and humbled himself even to death (Philippians 2:6-8). When God does the work of a slave for man, that’s love! Even so, Jesus was but foreshadowing his ultimate act of service, the cross. Taken from The People’s Bible: John written by Gary Baumler © 1997 Northwestern Publishing House
Prayer Before Worship Lord, we come before you with penitent hearts, for we sin daily and deserve your punishment. Yet, Lord, you encourage us to come to you and remember what you have accomplished for us on the cross. Comfort our guilt-ridden hearts with the assurance of forgiveness. Give us strength to remain faithful in the midst of life’s challenges. With faith in you, we pray. Amen. 1
ORDER OF WORSHIP If you are following along using this worship folder, you are encouraged to speak the parts in bold and join in the singing of the hymns.
PRESERVICE MUSIC
Speak, O Lord
Speak, O Lord, as we come to you To receive the food of your Holy Word. Take your truth, plant it deep in us; Shape and fashion us in your likeness That the light of Christ might be seen today In our acts of love and our deeds of faith. Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us All your purposes for your glory.
These words are printed for your meditation and reflection.
Teach us, Lord, full obedience, Holy reverence, true humility. Test our thoughts and our attitudes In the radiance of your purity. Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes To see your majestic love and authority. Words of power that can never fail, Let their truth prevail over unbelief. Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds; Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us. Truths unchanged from the dawn of time, That will echo down through eternity. And by grace we’ll stand on your promises, And by faith we’ll walk as you walk with us. Speak, O Lord, as your Church is built And you fill the earth with your glory.
WELCOME
INVOCATION In the name of the Father and of the Son ( ) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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MAUNDY THURSDAY CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Isaiah 43:6-7
Our God created each of us to live in perfect fellowship with him. He says, “Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, everyone I created for my glory, everyone I formed, yes, everyone I have made.”
1 John 3:4, 8
But we are born into this world as ones who break our fellowship with God by our sinfulness. We have made ourselves enemies of God by our rebellious thoughts, words, and actions. God tells us, “Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness… The one who continues to sin is of the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning.”
1 John 3:8 1 John 1:9
In order for us to live at peace with God once again, Jesus needed to come into our world and restore what was broken. God’s Word announces, “This is why the Son of God appeared: to destroy the works of the Devil.” “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In Jesus we once again have perfect fellowship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Confident that Jesus has accomplished all he set out to do, we now humbly confess our sins to God and ask for his forgiveness. Almighty God, merciful Father, I confess to you that I have not loved you with all my heart. In what I have done and left undone, I have pursued my ways instead of your ways. I have not loved my brothers and sisters as myself. For this I deserve your punishment both now and in eternity. I am truly sorry for my sins, and I plead for your mercy. Cleanse me from my sins. Release me from my guilt. Grant me your Holy Spirit to amend my sinful life. The almighty God has been merciful to us and has sent his Son to die for all. For the sake of Jesus, God forgives our sins and calls us from darkness to his marvelous light. Therefore, as a called servant of Jesus our Lord and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
PRAYER We pray. Lord God, you have forgiven us and reconciled us to yourself. Give us also the power to forgive and love each other. Help us to rely on your promises, that we may be united in our desire to serve you and one another. May the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, in our words, and in our actions. Amen.
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HYMN
‘Twas on that Dark, that Doleful Night Christian Worship #136
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During twilight on the 14th day of Nisan, 1500 years before Christ, lambs were slaughtered, doorposts were painted, and God’s people waited to see the full extent of God’s love. God had promised a plague of death on the firstborn sons of unbelievers, but deliverance for all who were covered by the blood of the Passover lamb. The first Passover, however, was just he beginning. God’s people saw the full extent of his love 1500 years later, in the twilight hours of the 14th day of Nisan, when God’s Son showed himself as the Lamb of God sacrificed for us. The firstborn sons of Israel were saved because God’s only begotten Son was sacrificed.
FIRST LESSON The Lord told Moses and Aaron this in the land of Egypt: This month is to be the beginning of your calendar. It is to be the first month of the year for you. Tell the entire Israelite community that on the tenth day of this month, they are to take a lamb or a young goat for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, one lamb per household. But if the household is too small for a whole lamb, then that person and his neighbor next door to him must select one, based on the number of people. Determine what size lamb is needed according to how much each person will eat. Your lamb must be unblemished, a year-old male. You may take it from the sheep or the goats. You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the whole assembly of the Israelite community is to slaughter the lambs at sunset. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat the lamb. That night they shall eat the meat that has been roasted over a fire, along with unleavened bread.
Exodus 12:1-14 They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over a fire—with its head, its legs, and its internal organs. You shall not leave any of it until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning, you shall burn in the fire. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt ready for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For on that night I will pass through the land of Egypt. I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. There will be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike down the land of Egypt. This day shall be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. Throughout your generations you must celebrate it as a permanent regulation.
A READING FROM PSALM 116 I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call upon him as long as I live. The Lord is gracious and righteous; when I was in great need, he saved me. For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.
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SECOND LESSON Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved those who were his own in the world, he loved them to the end. By the time the supper took place, the Devil had already put the idea into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. He got up from the supper and laid aside his outer garment. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but later you will understand.” Peter told him, “You will never, ever, wash my feet!” Jesus
John 15:1-15, 34 replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.” “Lord, not just my feet,” Simon Peter replied, “but also my hands and my head!” Jesus told him, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet, but his body is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.” Indeed, he knew who was going to betray him. That is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” After Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer garment, he reclined at the table again. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me Teacher and Lord. You are right, because I am. Now if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. Yes, I have given you an example so that you also would do just as I have done for you.” “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another.”
The washing should have been done before the meal, but the disciples had been arguing about greatness, so no one was willing to condescend to fill this servant’s role— except for Jesus. Jesus had come to love them to the end. Thirty-one times during the course of the night, Jesus mentioned “love.” Nothing spoke more clearly, though, than his acts of service and sacrifice. Peter, for his part, didn’t want a Messiah who washed people’s feet. However, he hadn’t even begun to see the extent of Jesus’s love! Jesus had not come to merely wash dirt from feet, but sin from hearts! He had come to cleanse by carrying not only a servant’s bowl, but the curse of the cross! There, on Golgotha we see the fullness of his service. There we see the fullness of his sacrifice. There we see the full extent of his love for us. Then we hear his new, his distinctly different command: Just as Christ loved us with service and sacrifice, so he commands us to love one another.
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HYMN
SERMON While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd appeared, and the man called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He came near to Jesus to kiss
VOCAL DUET
Behold the Lamb of God Christian Worship #101
Luke 22:47-48 The Battle Is Personal him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?�
Lamb of God
Your only Son, no sin to hide, but you have sent him from your side To walk upon this guilty sod and to become the Lamb of God. O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God! Oh, wash me in his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Your gift of love they crucified. They laughed and scorned him as he died: The humble King they named a fraud and sacrificed the Lamb of God. O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God! Oh, wash me in his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. 7
I was so lost; I should have died, but you have brought me to your side To be led by your staff and rod and to be called a lamb of God. O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God! Oh, wash me in his precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
PRAYER Eternal Savior, we come to your Word to see and to hear how wide and long and high and deep your love is and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. It was love for sinners that made you go willingly to the cross. Swords could have been drawn to protect you and angels summoned to deliver you; yet you did not allow it, because you were determined to make your life a guilt offering, the guiltless for the guilty. May we depend on nothing other than your willing love for the removal of our guilt and the forgiveness of our sins. It was self-giving love that made you take the role of a servant and stoop to wash your disciples’ feet in the upper room. You set an example by which you would shatter pride and create humble servants out of all who follow you. By your love shatter our pride and make us always more willing to serve than to be served. It was love for your Father in heaven that prompted you to enter the garden and approach his throne in prayer. There you sought grace and mercy in your time of need. There he strengthened you to do the work for which you were destined. Teach us to go to our heavenly Father in every need, as you did. Bless us with the grace and mercy to live out our lives in obedience and faith. It was love for your disciples in every age that caused you to institute Holy Communion. In the mystery and wonder of this sacrament, you give us your own body and blood. We thank you for all the times that you have allowed us to gather together at your table to receive this feast and ask that you graciously grant us that same opportunity again soon. Assure us of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and unite us with the Church above. Hear us, O Lamb of God, who bore all sins for us. Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER We also join to pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.
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The blessing of Aaron has been spoken over God’s people for over 3,500 years. The Lord said, “So I will put my name on [them], and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:27
BLESSING The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and ( ) give you peace. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN
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Come, Follow Me, the Savior Spoke Christian Worship #453
POSTLUDE MUSIC
Go, My Children
Go, my children, with my blessing, never alone. Waking, sleeping, I am with you; you are my own. In my love’s baptismal river I have made you mine forever. Go, my children, with my blessing—you are my own.
These words are printed for your meditation and reflection.
Go, my children, sins forgiven, at peace and pure. Here you learned how much I love you, what I can cure. Here you heard my dear Son’s story; here you touched him, saw his glory. Go, my children, sins forgiven, at peace and pure. Go, my children, fed and nourished, closer to me; Grow in love and love by serving, joyful and free. Here my Spirit’s power filled you; here his tender comfort stilled you. Go, my children, fed and nourished, joyful and free. I the Lord will bless and keep you and give you peace; I the Lord will smile upon you and give you peace; I the Lord will be your Father, Savior, Comforter, and Brother. Go, my children; I will keep you and give you peace.
THOSE ASSISTING IN THIS WORSHIP SERVICE Pastor ...................................................................... Pastor Frank Rose Accompanist ................................................................... Teri Guenther Sound and Recording Tech ............................................... Jeremy Snavely Vocalists ........................Pastor Nathan Kassulke, Beth Kassulke, Teri Guenther Clarinet ......................................................................... Beth Kassulke Copyright Information: Speak, O Lord: Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart T ownend. © 2006 T hankyou Music; admin Capitol CMG Publishing. This arrangement by James Koerts © Alfred Publishing Company. ‘Twas on that Dark, that Doleful Night: Text by Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, abr., alt. Public Domain Tune by John B. Dykes, 1823-76. Public Domain. Behold the Lamb of God: T ext by Matthew Bridges, 1800-94, abr., alt. Public Domain. Tune from Gesangbuch . . . Psalmen unnd KirchenLieder, Dresden, 1593, adapt. Public Domain. Lamb of God: Words and Music by Twila Paris. © 1985 Straightway Music/Mountain Spring Music; admin. Capital CMG Publishing. Come, Follow Me, the Savior Spoke: T ext by Johann Scheffler, 1624-77, abr. and from Geistliche Lieder und Lobgesange, 1695; tr. Charles W. Schaeffer, 1813-96, alt. Public Domain. Tune by Bartholomaus Gesius, c. 1555-1613, adapt. Public Domain. Go, My Children, with My Blessing: T ext by Jaroslav J. Vajda, 1919-2008. © 1983 Concordia Publishing House. Musical setting by Valerie Floeter. © 2017 Augsburg Fortress. Copyrighted material reprinted, streamed, and posted with permission under One License #A-710199 and CCLI License #3095263. All rights reserved. Scripture readings are taken from The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version® (EHV®) © 2018 The Wartburg Project. All rights reserved. www.wartburgproject.org
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Good Friday Friday, April 10 Tenebrae Service (Service of Darkness) 7:00 PM Live-streamed Worship
Easter Sunday Sunday, April 12 8:00 AM Live-streamed Worship
Grace Lutheran Church is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), a group of nearly 400,000 men, women, and children in nearly 1,300 congregations across the United States and Canada united by a common faith in Christ's saving love. We are committed to a common calling—encouraging each other in our faith and sharing God's gift of a Savior with the rest of the world. For more information about our synod and what we believe visit: www.wels.net