Passion Sunday

Ecce Homo by Antonio Ciseri

In some traditions, the Sunday of Holy Week is called Passion Sunday, and the Sunday service features a reading of the whole passion history from one of the gospels. The following prayers may be used as the Prayer of the Day, or as a prayer before or after the reading of the Passion Sunday Gospel.

A (with the Gospel: Matthew 26:1—27:66)

Merciful Father, your only Son fulfilled the Scriptures, bore our sins, and was forsaken so that you would not forsake us because of our sins. Turn your ear to us, come quickly to our rescue, and be our rock and our fortress; through Jesus Christ our Lord.*

B (with the Gospel: Mark 14:1—15:47)

Lord Almighty, you hear the needy and do not despise your captive people. Your only Son prepared all things so that he could offer himself as a sacrifice for sin by his passion and death. Keep us mindful of your great love that we may live as your free people; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C (with the Gospel: Luke 22:1—23:56)

Merciful Father, your only Son endured betrayal, mockery, injustice, suffering and death to deliver us and save us. In your unfailing love hear our cries for mercy and fill us with your love, that we become strong in heart and hope in you in good times and bad; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

*The long termination may be used with these prayers if desired: “through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”

Source: Now and Forever (see below), © 2019 Paul C. Stratman

Now and Forever: Contemporary Collects

Prayers of the Early Church and Prayers of the Middle Ages

We have just completed uploading the prayers of two books, Prayers of the Early Church and Prayers of the Middle Ages, both edited by J. Manning Potts. Both are in the public domain.

At Christian Classics Ethereal Library, the books can be viewed online, or can be downloadable in different ebook formats such as plain text or THML/XML.

In Prayers of the Early Church, Potts lists no sources, but only mentions,
“The prayers have been collected from many old books of prayers and devotional materials.” Bright’s Ancient Collects seems to have been one of his sources.

In Prayers of the Middle Ages: Light from a Thousand Years, Potts does list sources:

“Some of the books which have been most valuable are Prayers of the Ages, compiled by Caroline S. Whitmarsh; Of the Imitation of Christ; Great Souls at Prayer, arranged by Mrs. Mary W. Tileston; The Cloud of Witness, by Hon. Mrs. Gell; Prayers, from the collection of the late Baron Bunsen; A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages, compiled by Selina Fitzherbert Fox; Prayers We Love to Pray, arranged by Edward Leigh Pell; Morning Readings, compiled by Frank M. Rich; Prayers of the Saints, by Cecil Headlam; Prayers Ancient and Modern, compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston; Ancient Collects, by Rev. William Bright; Prayers, Massachusetts Council of the Church Service League; Theologia Germanica; The Cloud of Unknowing; His Words of Admonition and Praises of God, by St. Francis of Assisi; Common Prayers for Family Use, by Westcott.”

In A Collection of Prayers, these two books are given their own ‘categories,’ and can be viewed at the links below:

For Consolation

O most sweet and loving Lord,
you know my weaknesses,
and the needs I endure.
You know how many evils and sins I am involved in;
how often I am weighed down, tempted, and disturbed by them.
I ask for your consolation and support.
I speak to you, for you know all things,
to you all my inward thoughts are open,
and you alone can perfectly comfort and help me.
You know what things I stand in most need of.
Behold, I stand before you poor and naked,
calling for grace, and imploring mercy.
Refresh your hungry supplicant,
kindle my coldness with the fire of your love,
enlighten my blindness with the brightness of your presence.
Do not let me go away from you hungry and dry,
but deal mercifully with me,
as you always deal wonderfully with your saints. 

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

 

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For You, O Lord

Lord, what is my confidence which I have in this life?
Is it not you, O Lord, my God,
whose mercies are without number?
Where has it ever been well with me without you,
or where could it be ill with me when you were present?
I would rather be a pilgrim on earth,
than possess heaven without you.
Where you are, there is heaven;
and where you are not, there is death and hell.
There is no one who can help me in my needs,
but only you, my God;
you are my hope, you my confidence.
Although you allow temptations and adversities,
yet you order all these to my advantage.
In my trials you should be loved and praised no less
than if you filled me full of heavenly comfort. 

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

 

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My Salvation and My Redemption

In confidence of your goodness and great mercy, O Lord,
I draw near to you,
as a sick person to the healer,
as one hungry and thirsty to the fountain of life,
a creature to the creator,
a desolate soul to my own tender comforter.
Behold, in you is everything I can or should desire.
You are my salvation and my redemption,
my hope and my strength.
Bring joy, therefore, to the soul of your servant;
for to you, O Lord,
have I lifted my soul. 

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

Prayer for Psalm 14

Most wise God,
look upon our foolish world with mercy.
Preserve your truth among us,
enlighten us with the wisdom of your Word,
and deliver us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Source: Paul C. Stratman, 2018

May be used under a a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book

The Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book was the English hymnal of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, published in 1912. It was published in text only and text and music editions. In its liturgical texts, Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book was very similar to The Common Service Book of the Lutheran Church. Since Common Service Book was published in 1917 and 1918, five or six years later, ELHB displays an older version of the Common Service and other texts. CSB seems to have undergone a revision and expansion of personal prayers, propers, and other rites. In 1941, The Lutheran Hymnal mostly retained the older forms in ELHB rather than use the updated texts in CSB.

The services in Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book included “The Order of Morning Service, or the Communion,” and “The Order of Evening Service, or Vespers.” The text only edition also contained “The Order of Early Service, or Matins.”

The Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book used Scripture texts from the King James Version of the Bible, used the British spelling of Saviour, and capitalized pronouns referring to the Deity, including Who/Whom.

For this electronic edition, different editions were consulted, so the files below may not be exactly the same as any one print edition. These files were made by modifying and correcting the texts that were generated by the pdf files of the original books and putting them into a usable format. Headings and rubrics were put in red, even though they were printed black in the original books.

The updated liturgical material combined elements from Common Service Book, Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book, and other resources. Rubrics are simplified. More updated liturgical material can be seen and downloaded at our Common Service Book page.  

To properly display the docx files, you will need the fonts Old English Text MT and Liturgy. Updated contemporary versions also use the Liturgikon symbol font (embedded in the docx documents).   

Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book, Electronic Resourceselhb

  1. Morning and Evening Prayers [pdf] [docx] 
  2. The Order of Morning Service, or The Communion (text only) [pdf] [docx] [Graphic pdf with music*]
    • Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
  3. The Order of Evening Service, or Vespers (text only) [pdf] [docx] [Graphic pdf with music*]
    • Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
  4. The Order of Early Service, or Matins (text only) [pdf] [docx]
    • Updated version in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
  5. Introits, Collects, Epistles, Graduals and Gospels (From Common Service Book. Material identical to ELHB)  [pdf] [docx]
    • Updated versions of the introits, collects and graduals and lessons (ESV), prepared for the LCMS Lutheran Service Book areavailable at www.sanctus.org.
  6. Invitatories, Antiphons and Responsories (From Common Service Book. Material identical to ELHB) [pdf] [docx]
  7. Collects and Prayers [pdf] [docx]
    • Updated version (from Common Service Book) in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
  8. General Prayers (Litany, Suffrages and General Prayers) [pdf] [docx]
    • Updated version of The Litany in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
    • Updated version of The Suffrages in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
    • Updated version of The Bidding Prayer in contemporary English [pdf] [docx]
Liturgy and Agenda, 1916 was an accompanying book to Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book, and contained The Order of Morning Service and The Order of Evening Service, along with an alternative form for Morning Service with chant tunes for the minister [Available at Google Books]
 
Lutheran Service Book, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal

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* With cooperation of the Lutheran Public Domain Liturgy Project, we present scanned pdfs of the noted liturgies from Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book.
 
Christian Prayer, Banner

For Trust in You

O Lord my God,
do not be far from me.
My God, have regard to help me.
I have many thoughts and great fears afflicting my soul.
How will I pass through unhurt?
How will I break them to pieces?
This is my hope, my one only consolation,
to flee to you in every tribulation,
to trust in you,
to call on you from my inmost heart,
and to wait patiently for your consolation.

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.

For Love of God and His Laws

O most gracious God,
every good and perfect gift comes from you.
Work in us both to will and to act according to your will.
Enlighten our minds that we may know you,
and let us not be unfruitful in that knowledge.
Lord, work in our hearts a true faith,
a purifying hope, and an unfeigned love towards you.
Give us a full trust in you, zeal for you,
reverence of all things that relate to you.
Make us fearful of offending you,
thankful for your mercies,
humble under your corrections,
devout in your service,
and sorrowful for our sins.
Grant that in all things
we may behave ourselves so as befits a creature to his Creator,
a servant to his Lord.
Make us diligent in all our duties,
watchful against all temptations,
pure and temperate and moderate in your most lawful enjoyments,
that they may never become a snare to us.
Help us, O Lord,
to act towards our neighbor
that we may never transgress your royal law
of loving him as ourselves.
Finally, O Lord,
sanctify us throughout,
that our whole spirit, soul and body,
may be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be all honor and glory forever. 

Source: Thomas à Kempis
Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers of the Middle Ages, edited by J. Manning Potts, 1954.