Opening Prayer from Psalm 64:1-6
Hear my voice, O God, in my
complaint;
Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret counsel of
evildoers,
From the tumult of those who do iniquity,
Who have sharpened their tongue
like a sword.
They aimed bitter speech as their arrow,
To shoot from concealment at the
blameless;
Suddenly they shoot at them, and do not fear.
They hold fast to themselves an
evil purpose;
They talk of laying snares secretly;
They say, “Who can see them?”
They devise injustices, saying,
“We are ready with a well-conceived plot”;
For the inward thought and the heart of a person are deep.
NASB (amended)
Mark 14:53-59
They led Jesus away to the high
priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered
together. Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the
high priest; and he was sitting with the officers and warming himself at the
fire.
Now the chief priests and the whole
Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and
they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against Him,
but their testimony was not consistent. Some stood up and began to give false
testimony against Him, saying, “We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this temple
made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”
Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. NASB
The injustices of this world are
too many; the suffering is too great for us to handle. When we recall human
history, when we look around us now, when we finally listen to the cries of the
oppressed, we can only whimper in despair. But the God we serve knows injustice
firsthand; the God we worship has himself endured it.
Jesu, regard the plaintive cry,
The groaning of Thy prisoners here;
Thy blood to every soul apply,
The heart of every mourner cheer,
The tokens of Thy passion show,
And meet us in Thy ways below.
Th’ atonement Thou for all hast
made
O that we all might now receive!
Assure us now the debt is paid,
And Thou hast died that all may live,
Thy death for all, for us reveal,
And let Thy blood my pardon seal.
—
Charles and John Wesley, Hymns on the Lord’s Supper #79
Watch
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for a short video: “On Loss and Lament?” posted today.
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