Passion Sunday Morning Worship at St John’s

Hymn – All glory, Laud and Honour

1 All glory, laud, and honour
to you, Redeemer, King,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.
You are the King of Israel
and David’s royal Son,
now in the Lord’s name coming,
the King and Blessed One.

2 The company of angels
is praising you on high;
and we with all creation
in chorus make reply.
The people of the Hebrews
with palms before you went;
our praise and prayer and anthems
before you we present.

3 To you before your passion
they sang their hymns of praise;
to you, now high exalted,
our melody we raise.
As you received their praises,
accept the prayers we bring,
for you delight in goodness,
O good and gracious King! (by Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans, – 760 to 821)

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you

All: And also with you

Loving Lord,

Fill us with your life-giving,

joy-givingr peace-giving presence,

That we may praise you now with our lips,

and all the day long with our lives

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Cast your burden upon the Lord

All: And he will sustain you

Create in us clean hearts, O God

All: And renew a right spirit within us

Cast us not away from your Presence

All: And take not your Holy Spirit from us

Give us the joy of your saving help

All: And sustain us with your life-giving Spirit

Blessed be the Lord day by day

All: The God of our salvation, who bears our burdens.

We have a moment of quiet, to call to mind the things we

Have thought, said and done which we know grieve the God

who loves us

Come, let us return to the Lord and say:

All: Almighty God

Long-suffering and of great goodness

I confess to you.

I confess with my whole heart

My neglect and forgetfulness of your commandments

My wrong doing, thinking and speaking:

The hurts I have done to others,

And the good I have left undone.

O God, forgive me, for I have sinned against you;

And raise me to newness of life;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May the God of love and power

Forgive us and free us from our sins,

Heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,

And raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

We praise God for his love and forgiveness with:-

Hymn – Dear Lord and Father of Mankind

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise.
In simple trust like theirs who heard
beside the Syrian sea

the gracious calling of the Lord,
let us, like them, without a word
rise up and follow thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee,
O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!
Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.
Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm! ( by John Greeleaf Whittier – 1807 to 1892)

Our First Reading is from – Hebrews Chap: 5

5 In the same way, Christ did not take upon himself the honor of being a high priest. Instead, God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”

6 He also said in another place, “You will be a priest forever, in the priestly order of Melchizedek.”

7 In his life on earth Jesus made his prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, who could save him from death. Because he was humble and devoted, God heard him.

8 But even though he was God’s Son, he learned through his sufferings to be obedient.

9 When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him,

10 and God declared him to be high priest, in the priestly order of Melchizedek.

This is the word of the Christ

All: Praise to you oh Christ

Our Second Reading is From – John Chap: 12

20 Some Greeks were among those who had gone to Jerusalem to worship during the festival.

21 They went to Philip (he was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

22 Philip went and told Andrew, and the two of them went and told Jesus.

23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has now come for the Son of Man to receive great glory.

24 I am telling you the truth: a grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains.

25 Those who love their own life will lose it; those who hate their own life in this world will keep it for life eternal.

26 Whoever wants to serve me must follow me, so that my servant will be with me where I am. And my Father will honor anyone who serves me.

27 “Now my heart is troubled – and what shall I say? Shall I say, “Father, do not let this hour come upon me’? But that is why I came – so that I might go through this hour of suffering.

28 Father, bring glory to your name!” Then a voice spoke from heaven, “I have brought glory to it, and I will do so again.”

29 The crowd standing there heard the voice, and some of them said it was thunder, while others said, “An angel spoke to him!”

30 But Jesus said to them, “It was not for my sake that this voice spoke, but for yours.

31 Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown.

32 When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.

33 (In saying this he indicated the kind of death he was going to suffer.)

This is the word of the Christ

All: Praise to you oh Christ

Sermon notes for Passion Sunday

Today is Passion Sunday – meaning “Suffering”

Jesus spoke about his passion and suffering.

Jesus was a priest of the order of Malchizadek, King and priest of Salem (now Jerusalem) in the time of Abraham.

He spoke of peace and forgiveness.

We too can receive this forgiveness but we need fervent prayer from the heart.

Jesus did not want to suffer but He knew He had to endure as a grain of wheat has to die before it will grow again.

Jesus was to be lifted up to die. But He rose to life on the third day.

We too need to pray fervently and then we will hear that whisper of help and guidance. So we too can spread the word of God’s love for us to others.

Amen

Hymn – Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine!

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.

Perfect communion, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. [Refrain]

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.

Perfect submission, all is at rest.
I in my Saviour am happy and blessed,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love. [Refrain]

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long. ( by Fanny J Crosby – 1820 to 1915 )

Let us declare our faith in God.

All: We believe in God the Father,

From whom every family

In heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son

Who lives in our hearts through faith,

And fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit

Who strengthens us

With power from on high.

We believe in one God,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Prayers and Intercessions

During the intercession this response is used:

Lord, m your mercy

All: Hear our prayer.

Prayers for King Charles

Through this tritium of prayer we ask God’s continuing blessing on our new King Charles

Prayer

O God, to whom every human power is subject,
grant to your servant our sovereign Charles
success in the exercise of his high office,
so that, always revering you and striving to please you,
he may constantly secure and preserve
for the people entrusted to his care
the freedom that comes from civil peace.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

All: Amen

Prayer for the Royal

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness,

we humbly beseech thee to bless

Queen Camilla, William Prince of Wales, the Princess of Wales, and all the

Royal Family:

Endue them with thy Holy Spirit; enrich them with thy heavenly

grace; prosper them with all happiness;

and bring them to thine everlasting

kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

We pray for God to fill us with his Spirit.

Generous God,

we thank you for the power of your Holy Spirit.

We ask that we may be strengthened to serve you better.

Lord, come to bless us