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Good Evening, Lord!
Words of Comfort
[God] has
said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Heb. 13:5 ESV)
Prayer of Confession
Heavenly
Father, I am silenced at the grave of Your Son, who knew no sin, yet was made
sin for us. You permitted Him to die, exchanging His innocence for our guilt.
In love he came to us, but He was rejected by hate. He taught us obedience, but
humanity rebelled against Him.
I confess
that a great mystery confronts me at this tomb of sin and death. He was buried
behind the great seal of my sin and my death. By faith I know also that He who
died is the One who unlocked the great secret of Your love. His tomb is my
tomb. He carried with Him to the grave my sin and my death, that He might break
their hold on me.
Trusting
the Lord’s promise that He would rise again on the third day, I come not to
mourn Him but to confess the sin that He would leave buried. Have mercy on me,
O God! Have mercy on us all. Amen.[1]
Catechism Reflections
The Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer
And forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
What does this mean?
We pray in
this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our
prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray,
nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by
grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we
too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.
Questions for Meditation
What does
this reading teach you?
What does
this reading lead you to be thankful for?
What
behavior, thought, or attitude does this reading challenge? What sin does it
lead you to confess?
How might
you pray for God to have a richer impact on your life through this reading?
Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer
“But
deliver us from evil.”
Dear
Father, please rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and
reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, give us a blessed end, and
graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to heaven, where we will live
eternally with You, and with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and
forever. Amen.
Verse of Benediction
Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell
in the house of the LORD forever. (Ps. 23:6 ESV)
[1] Lutheran
Prayer Book, Prayer for Saturday of Holy Week with minor modifications,
Concordia Publishing House, 2005
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