Today´s our first Lenten service after Ash Wednesday. We´re following the propers from the local lectionary. That starts off with the first penitential Psalm:
Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger.
Psalm 6
Do not discipline me in your raging fury.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am frail.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking.
I am absolutely terrified,
and you, Lord—how long will this continue?
Relent, Lord, rescue me!
Deliver me because of your faithfulness.
For no one remembers you in the realm of death.
In Sheol who gives you thanks?
I am exhausted as I groan.
All night long I drench my bed in tears;
my tears saturate the cushion beneath me.
My eyes grow dim from suffering;
they grow weak because of all my enemies.
Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;
the Lord has accepted my prayer.
They will be humiliated and absolutely terrified.
All my enemies will turn back and be suddenly humiliated.
The Old Testament lesson is the account of the original fall (Genesis 3) and the gospel lesson is the sermon text, which supplements that of coming Sunday´s (John 13,21-30) excellently:
Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find some way to executeJesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. He went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard how he might betray Jesus, handing him over to them. They were delighted and arranged to give him money. So Judas agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus when no crowd was present.
Luke 22:1-6
The first Word of our dear Lord and God Jesus given for our meditation is His comforting prayer:
Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.
Luke 23:34a
And we pray with Claudia F. Hernaman (1838-1898) and Gilbert E. Doan (1930)
O Lord, throughout these forty days
you prayed and kept the fast;
inspire repentance for our sin,
and free us from our past.You strove with Satan, and you won;
your faithfulness endured;
lend us your nerve, your skill and trust
in God’s eternal word.Though parched and hungry, yet you prayed
and fixed your mind above;
so teach us to deny ourselves
that we may know God’s love.Be with us through this season, Lord,
Lutheran Service Book 418
and all our earthly days,
that when the final Easter dawns,
we join in heaven’s praise.
And here is the German order for this Lenten Service: I Passionsandacht (19.2.2021). We use the hymnal of our sister church (SELK): Evangelisch-Lutherisches Kirchengesangbuch
