Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,
Sing the ending of the fray,
O’er the cross, the victor’s trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant lay:
Tell how Christ, the world’s Redeemer,
As a victim won the day.

Therefore when the appointed fullness
Of the holy time was come,
He was sent who maketh all things
Forth from God’s eternal home:
Thus he came to earth, incarnate,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

To the Trinity be glory,
To the Father and the Son,
With the co-eternal Spirit,
Ever Three and ever One,
One in love and one in splendour,
While unending ages run. Amen.

Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

And blessed be his kingdom, now and forever. Amen

 

From Easter to Pentecost:

Allelulia. Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia

 

In Lent and other penitential occasions:

Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins;

His mercy endures for ever.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Let us pray:

Almighty God, to whom all hearts be open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden: 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 Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

This prayer is omitted during Lent and Advent:

Glory to God in the highest, and peace to God’s people on earth.  Lord God, heavenly King, almighty God and Father, we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory.  Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world: have mercy on us; you are seated at the right hand of the Father: receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.  Amen.

 Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. 

Amen.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

 This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Psalm 51:1-13

Miserere mei, Deus

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; *
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.

2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions, *
and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you only have I sinned *
and done what is evil in your sight.

5 And so you are justified when you speak *
and upright in your judgment.

6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
a sinner from my mother’s womb.

7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.

8 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.

9 Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
that the body you have broken may rejoice.

10 Hide your face from my sins *
and blot out all my iniquities.

11 Create in me a clean heart, O God, *
and renew a right spirit within me.

12 Cast me not away from your presence *
and take not your holy Spirit from me.

13 Give me the joy of your saving help again *
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.

or

Psalm 119:9-16

In quo corrigit?

9 How shall a young man cleanse his way? *
By keeping to your words.

10 With my whole heart I seek you; *
let me not stray from your commandments.

11 I treasure your promise in my heart, *
that I may not sin against you.

12 Blessed are you, O Lord; *
instruct me in your statutes.

13 With my lips will I recite *
all the judgments of your mouth.

14 I have taken greater delight in the way of your decrees *
than in all manner of riches.

15 I will meditate on your commandments *
and give attention to your ways.

16 My delight is in your statutes; *
I will not forget your word.

Hebrews 5:5-10

Thanks be to God

All stand for the Acclamation and Gospel reading.

Glory to you, O Christ, you who are the Word of God!

If a man serves me, says the Lord, he must follow me;

Wherever I am, my servant will be there too.

Glory to you, O Christ, you who are the Word of God!

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to:

John 12:20-33

After the Gospel reading

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

In our gospel reading for today, we gain a glimpse of Jesus reacting with two of his disciples. Philip and Andrew came to tell him that some Greeks had arrived, asking to see him.  As he so often did, Jesus answered indirectly.  He didn’t say, “Send them away” or “Fine – let them come in.” Instead, he took the moment to teach – to lay out a reality that his followers needed to understand.  It was as if Jesus were saying, “Oh, they want to see me, do they?  So then, I will let them see what I am all about. I will let them know what God is doing.”

His reply to Phillip and Andrew indicated his readiness for what he well knew would be his final days, and the climatic encounter between the ways of the world and the way of God.  He said that it was time for him to reveal what all humankind would see about him, and his role in the divine drama. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

This must have both elated and excited his disciples, and also the Greeks, if they heard him, because they surely thought that by being “glorified”, Jesus meant he would make all things well.  Having recently experienced Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, perhaps they thought he would work even greater wonders, and bring an end to their difficulties in life.  Or, maybe, they were thinking about one of the traditional expectations of how the Messiah would restore Israel – by a glorious military victory.  Maybe they thought he meant it was time for him to prevail over all of the kingdoms of this world, whose leaders would cower before his conquering feet.

Any such euphoria, however, would have been short-lived.  It was a different kind of wonder that would be revealed, a different kind of conquest that Jesus had in mind – the conquest of the cross.  Jesus immediately began to lay out the hard truth of what lay ahead.  In a similar way, as we worship, just one week away from Palm Sunday, our gospel reading lets us see what lies ahead for us in making the Holy Week journey.

Jesus used a parable to explain how not only Greeks, but everyone would see him. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”  A seed, by itself, is only a small piece of matter.  If eaten, it provides a little bit of nourishment.  If left in the blazing sun, it can dry up and lose its value. If sealed in a jar, it can remain viable for centuries.  But even then, it is only potentially powerful.  But if it is buried, and dies beyond its present condition, it can release allthat is contained within – the very nature and substance of a whole stalk of ripened wheat!

His own death and resurrection would be the vehicle, through which not only his disciples and curious Greeks, but all humankind, could see Jesus – truly see what he was all about.  It was by dying, that the power of God contained in Jesus would be fully released.  By “glorified,” Jesus meant “crucified.”  Jesus was saying that only by his death could true life come.  Just as a grain of wheat, remaining unfruitful in the protective security of a barn, can only release its power by being buried, and dying to what it has been.

Making sure there would be no mistaking the stark reality of what he meant, Jesus added this amplification to the parable: “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal joy and felicity.” So, what was true for Jesus, he said, was also true for his followers.  Those who would truly see him would know, that only by their death to the values of the world, could they gain true life.  The Christian reality is that only in dying to self can the power of God be embraced and released.  Jesus laid out this model, not just for the disciples to see but also to emulate.  He said, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.”

Often, in the course of human experiences – those of past centuries as well as current times – this truth has more than amply proved itself.  When concerned and committed people are prepared to die for their cause, much can be achieved.  It was by the deaths of the courageous faithful that Christianity first grew. This is summed up in a well-known phrase by Tertullian, a Christian writer in the first century: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

Often, people become of real use to God by burying their own goals and desires.  Think about the saints.  Think about your personal heroes. Aren’t they the ones who put aside personal safety and security, for the sake of others?  Haven’t they abandoned selfish gain, and the advancement of personal need, to meet the needs of others? Whenever the world gains spiritual health, it often owes such a condition to those who spend their strength, and give themselves away to God, and to others.

In today’s gospel then, Jesus lets us see an initial view of him as the prototype – the perfect example – of the kind of risk-filled living that love of God requires. The world teaches that we will live longer and prosper more if we watch out for ourselves, if we are careful and avoid risk, if we remain in our homes, safe and secure.  Jesus on the other hand teaches that by so doing, we may live longer or in greater comfort, but we will not live as well.  He helps us see that real living – genuine, meaningful living – involves much more.

Only by spending our lives, he says, can we keep our true lives.  Jesus calls us into a “give-it-away” faith.  He calls us into a realm, not of our ordinary world, but into one that stands in sharp contrast – the world of God.  Jesus calls us beyond the common, selfishgoals of false security.  He calls us to see him – to see his vision – a new view of life, a life of meaning and of glory.

Unlike his fellow Jews, Jesus viewed glory not as the acquisition of power, or the ability to control their own destiny, after centuries of foreign rule, but he looked at glory as the ability to serve others for a greater purpose.  In the encounter of today’s gospel, he taught that only dying to self can bring forth the kind of redeemed life God has in store for us; only by spending life can we retain it. Only in this context can we do what the Greeks hoped to do – see Jesus for what he is for the world.  Only in the context of dying to self and living in God, can we see the essential Jesus. Only in this way can we see him for what he really is – the living image of God.

As we move rapidly now towards Holy Week, we would do well to come, as the Greeks before the Lord – asking to see Jesus – to discover just what he is all about.  As we witness the ultimate example that he provides, we can follow him into a life of truemeaning, and become utterly transformed by what we see.   Amen

Please stand for the Nicene Creed.

Let us together affirm the faith of the Church.

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,

and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

Let us pray for the world and for the Church:

Prayers of intercession are now said and at the end of each prayer the priest says:

Lord in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

or

Lord hear us,

Lord graciously hear us

At the conclusion of the prayers the priest says:

Almighty God, who has promised to hear our prayers.

Grant that what we have asked in faith we may by your grace receive, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 Jesus said: Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

or

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

THE CONFESSION:

God is steadfast in love and infinite in mercy, welcoming sinners and inviting them to the Lord’s table.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith, confident in God’s forgiveness.

Merciful God, our maker and our judge, we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, and in what we have failed to do: we have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves; we repent and are sorry for all our sins, Father forgive us, strengthen us to love and obey you in newness of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

Almighty God, who has promised forgiveness to all who turn to him in faith, pardon you and set you free from all your sins, strengthen you in all goodness and keep you in eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

THE PEACE:

The congregation stands.

We are the Body of Christ.

His Spirit is with us.

 

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.

Please greet each other with a sign of peace.

Glory be to Jesus,
Who, in bitter pains,
Poured for me the life-blood
From his sacred veins.

Grace and life eternal
In that Blood I find;
Blest be his compassion,
Infinitely kind.

Blest though endless ages
Be the precious stream,
Which from endless torment
Doth the world redeem.

Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Hell with terror trembles,
Heaven is filled with joy.

Lift ye then your voices,
Swell the mighty flood;
Louder still and louder
Praise the precious Blood.

THE OFFERTORY

Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have these gifts to share. Accept and use our offerings for your glory and the service of your kingdom.

Blessed be God forever.

 Let us pray

We do not presume to come to your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.  We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table, but you are the same Lord whose nature is always to have mercy. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.  Amen.