This Lent we follow Jesus as he faces evil in the hours before his death. What is evil? Who is doing evil against Jesus during Passion Week? What are ways in which we are complicit in evil? Do we take evil seriously? As we experience evil in our own lives, discover how Jesus stands in the face of evil.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord, you experienced evil by your death on the cross. Death is the great foe we all face. Yet you overcame the power of death by your resurrection. So fill us with this power that even now our lives may be filled with genuine hope. Hold us now and until our life’s end. We cling to you, our crucified and risen Savior, Jesus. Amen.
Meditation: My Song is Love Unknown
Samuel Crossman, a Puritan minister, wrote “My Song is Love Unknown” in 1664, two years after being ejected from the Church of England opposing the Act of Uniformity, which required Anglican ministers to adhere to the Book of Common Prayer. He later rejoined the Church of England, and his poem became an Anglican hymn.
Verse 1
My song is love unknown,
my Saviour’s love to me;
love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I,
that for my sake
my Lord should take
frail flesh and die?
Verse 2
He came from his blest throne
salvation to bestow;
but men made strange, and none
the longed-for Christ would know.
But O, my Friend,
my Friend indeed,
who at my need
his life did spend!
Verse 7
Here might I stay and sing:
no story so divine;
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like Thine!
This is my Friend,
in Whose sweet praise
I all my days
could gladly spend.
Sending
Almighty God, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.