Holy Saturday 2017 : Let us light our candles and be at prayer!

Good Evening Dear Family!

Wow! It is Holy Saturday and Easter Vigil Time! I don't know about you but I'm bushed! Lent and Holy Week for some of us is a very tiring and emotional time. Our prayer bones are tender and our energy is on the wane. Sometimes your ministerial friends lay and ordained  may or may not admit it though. So tonight let's be kind to one another and enjoy a time of prayer, lessons, and a virtual candlelight prayer vigil. Don't forget to take time for self-care and Sabbath rest. 

Let us pray!

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious Light,
pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.





Let us light our candles and be at prayer. God we come to you feeling empty after yet another Good Friday and Holy Saturday. We pray that we may accept this emptiness as a means to reconnect with you and our family members. We pray and give thanks for these times where our heart homes need to lay fallow and rest so that we may welcome the renewal of our spirits that only can come from you.
We pray for peace in this world and that we may be ambassadors of CALM (Compassion, Acceptance, Love, and Mercy) We pray that we may have love energy in our hearts to love all of our family members throughout the world and even if they just might be the ones who seek to do us harm.  Let us spend time tonight praying in the garden and outside the tomb once again and when it is time to rest we may awaken renewed to Love God, Our Family Members, Ourselves, and that we may rise to love and serve the least of these. Risen Lord may we feel your presence in the breaking of the bread and in our prayers. 

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Song of Pilgrimage Priusquam errarem

Ecclesiasticus 51:13-16,20b-22


Before I ventured forth,
even while I was very young, *
I sought wisdom openly in my prayer.
In the forecourts of the temple I asked for her, *
and I will seek her to the end.
From first blossom to early fruit, *
she has been the delight of my heart.
My foot has kept firmly to the true path, *
diligently from my youth have I pursued her.
I inclined my ear a little and received her; *
I found for myself much wisdom and became adept in her.
To the one who gives me wisdom will I give glory, *
for I have resolved to live according to her way.
From the beginning I gained courage from her, *
therefore I will not be forsaken.
In my inmost being I have been stirred to seek her, *
therefore have I gained a good possession.
As my reward the Almighty has given me the gift of language,*
and with it will I offer praise to God.

Job 14:1-14

Job said, "A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.

Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgment with you?

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.

Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,

look away from them, and desist,
that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.

"For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.

Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,

yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.

But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?

As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,

so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.

Oh that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come."

Lamentations 3:1-9, 19-24

I am one who has seen affliction
under the rod of God's wrath;

he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;

against me alone he turns his hand,
again and again, all day long.

He has made my flesh and my skin waste away,
and broken my bones;

he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;

he has made me sit in darkness
like the dead of long ago.

He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has put heavy chains on me;

though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;

he has blocked my ways with hewn stones,
he has made my paths crooked.

The thought of my affliction and my homelessness
is wormwood and gall!

My soul continually thinks of it
and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."

Psalm 31:1-4, 15-16

In te, Domine, speravi

1 In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;

let me never be put to shame; *

deliver me in your righteousness.

2 Incline your ear to me; *

make haste to deliver me.

3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe,

for you are my crag and my stronghold; *

for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me.

4 Take me out of the net that they have secretly set for me, *

for you are my tower of strength.

15 My times are in your hand; *

rescue me from the hand of my enemies,

and from those who persecute me.

16 Make your face to shine upon your servant, *

and in your loving-kindness save me."

1 Peter 4:1-8

Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God. You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme. But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.

The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.

The Song of Mary Magnificat

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *

for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed: *

you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,

and holy is your name.

You have mercy on those who fear you *

from generation to generation.

You have shown strength with your arm *

and scattered the proud in their conceit,

Casting down the mighty from their thrones *

and lifting up the lowly.

You have filled the hungry with good things *

and sent the rich away empty.

You have come to the help of your servant Israel, *

for you have remembered your promise of mercy,

The promise made to our forebears, *

to Abraham and his children for ever.

Matthew 27:57-66

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, `After three days I will rise again.' Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, `He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first." Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can." So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

A Song of True Motherhood

Julian of Norwich

God chose to be our mother in all things *

and so made the foundation of his work,

most humbly and most pure, in the Virgin’s womb.

God, the perfect wisdom of all, *

arrayed himself in this humble place.

Christ came in our poor flesh *

to share a mother’s care.

Our mothers bear us for pain and for death; *

our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.

Christ carried us within him in love and travail, *

until the full time of his passion.

And when all was completed and he had carried us so for joy, *

still all this could not satisfy the power of his wonderful love.

All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God, *

for the love of Christ works in us;

Christ is the one whom we love.

John 19:38-42

Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

A Song of the Heavenly City

Revelation 21:22-26, 22:1-4

I saw no temple in the city, *

for its temple is the God of surpassing strength and the Lamb.

And the city has no need of sun or moon to light it, *

for the glory of God shines on it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

By its light the nations shall walk, *

and the rulers of the world lay their honor and glory there.

Its gates shall never be shut by day, nor shall there be any night; *

into it they will bring the honor and glory of nations.

I saw the clean river of the water of life, bright as crystal, *

flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

The tree of life spanned the river, giving fruit every month, *

and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of nations.

All curses cease where the throne of God and the Lamb stands,

and all servants give worship there; *

there they will see God’s face, whose Name shall be on their foreheads.

Lord Jesus, as we approach the celebration of Jesus' resurrection may we   pray for peace in the world and the renewal of our spirits. 

Jesus, give us the courage to become instruments of your peace and be "Lights of the World" and "The Salt of the Earth"

Jesus, grant us the wisdom to find out for ourselves the truth behind all the stories we read and see in social media and in the newscasts and not be afraid to go to the tomb as Mary Magdalene did. 

Jesus, we pray for the forgotten people in all the war torn areas of the world that our eyes may be opened and that we may have loving hearts to welcome them.

Jesus, give us we pray the energy to do the tasks no matter how large or how small  you give us in service to you and in your Kingdom.

Jesus, we remember those who are on our hearts this night especially______________________

Jesus, protect all our family members around the world this night and 'Hide them under the shadow of your wings"

Jesus, keep reminding us that we are to be your hands, your feet, your voice, in the world. Give us by your example to never treat anyone as invisible.

Jesus, help us to be living  and  breathing Bibles by our love, compassion, mercy,  words, deeds and remember the words of  St. Francis of Assisi  "Preach the Gospel always, if necessary use words!"

Jesus, we remember all of our vulnerable family members who are lonely, lost, refugees, homeless, hungry, and all the least of these. Help us to remember that by caring and serving them we are serving you.

Jesus, heal all those who are mentally ill, PTSD,  Memory problems, and all those who struggle with daily living. We remember all of our family members who are disabled.

Jesus, help us to know that we are one with you and God and that we may never be afraid to come to you and knock at the door. Help us always to be listening and seeking you in those moments of stillness and calm.

Jesus we pray our gratitude list and offer our thanks to you!

Come Lord Jesus and be among us this night and always. Amen.

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is

hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where

there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where

there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where

there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to

be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is

in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we

are born to eternal life. Amen.

The Song of Simeon Nunc dimittis

Luke 2:29-32

Lord, you now have set your servant free *

to go in peace as you have promised;

For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *

whom you have prepared for all the world to see:

A Light to enlighten the nations, *

and the glory of your people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

For  a deeper meditation here is the blog from last year's blog. This is where our prayers and vigil are from:

Holy Saturday and the reminder that Only God can fill the holes in our heart homes

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Good Night Dear Ones ! Have a blessed rest and be ready to share in Christ's resurrection tomorrow. With Love, Hope, Peace, and Joy. I love you!

With Love and Prayers and an ever expanding heart home for you,

Sara

Resources: Book of Common Prayer

Enriching Our Worship