Each day during Holy Week I will post a short prayer, with a few Bible verses for reflection, which will help you to fix your eyes on Jesus during this most poignant of weeks in the Christian church.
1. Read the Easter story.
Don’t wait until Easter Sunday to get acquainted with the Good News of Jesus. Each of the four gospels tells the story a little differently. Here’s where you can find the Easter story in the gospels: Matthew 26–28, Mark 14–16, Luke 22–24, John 18–20.
2. Listen to worship music.
Pull out all your CDs of Easter music. Have them handy to pop into your player or find a playlist on Spotify.
3. Find a quiet place to reflect.
Set aside a special place for your daily devotional times.
4. Attend your church’s services during this season (you are welcome to join us at Emmanuel, Billericay). Many attend on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday but miss out on the sorrow and sadness of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday – often by choice. Can I encourage all of you to attend either Maundy Thursday or Good Friday services. This will make the celebrations of Easter Sunday all the more special.
5. Pray the following prayers each day of Holy Week.
The most recent post will be found at the top of the page.
Holy Week EASTER SUNDAY
Lord God,
You loved this world so much that you gave your one and
only son that we might be called your children too.
Lord, help us to live in the gladness and grace of Easter Sunday every day.
Let us have hearts of thankfulness for your sacrifice.
Let us have eyes that look upon your grace
and rejoice in our salvation.
Help us to walk in that mighty grace
and tell your good news to the world.
All for your glory do we pray, Lord,
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
Matthew 28
Revelation 5:11–14
Psalm 118:1–2
Psalm 118:14–24
Holy Week HOLY SATURDAY
Lord God,
On the Sabbath, Jesus rested.
He was in the grave.
He had finished his work.
To most people’s eyes it looked as if it were all over.
He was dead and buried.
But only as a seed dies when it is planted in the earth.
Not to decay, but to spring to new life.
Teach us to take refuge in you when we are afraid.
Teach us that death is not our end.
Teach us to hope always in you and in the resurrection,
the making of all things new.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
Matthew 17:1–6
Lamentations 3:1–9
Lamentations 3:19–24
Holy Week GOOD FRIDAY
Lord God,
Jesus cried out to you on the cross,
“Why have you forsaken me?”
You seemed so far from his cry and from his distress.
Those who stood at the foot of the cross wondered where
you were as they saw Jesus mocked and shamed and killed.
Where were you then?
Lord God, we, too, ask where you are when there is trouble
and suffering and death and we cry out to you for help.
Be near to us and save us
so that we may praise you for your deliverance.
Lord God, we wait on Friday for the resurrection of Sunday.
Sometimes our lives seem a succession of Fridays
and we cannot see what is “Good”.
Teach us to call your name as Jesus did.
Make us to trust in you like little children.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
John 18–19
Isaiah 52:13–15
Isaiah 53
Hebrews 10:16–25
Psalm 22
Holy Week MAUNDY THURSDAY
Lord God,
You sent your son into the world
and before his hour had come he washed his disciples’ feet.
You had given all things into his hands.
He had come from you and was going to you,
and what did he do?
He knelt down on the floor and washed his friends’ feet.
He was their teacher and their Lord,
yet he washed their feet.
Lord God, help us learn from his example.
Help us to do as he has done for us.
The world will know we are his disciples if we love one another.
Strengthen our hands and our wills for love and for service.
Keep before our eyes the image of your son,
who, being God, became a servant for our sake.
All glory be to him who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
John 13:1–17
John 13:34–35
Holy Week WEDNESDAY
Lord God,
We tremble to think that it was one of Jesus’
own friends who betrayed him.
One who sat by him, who broke bread with him.
Give us strength, we pray, to walk faithfully with Jesus,
even when the road we walk is rocky,
even when the message of the cross seems like foolishness,
and even when we feel betrayed.
You, Lord, are always faithful.
We stumble.
We become lost.
But you are steady and sure.
Give us the grace to endure our troubles,
and reveal to us the glory of your kingdom.
Through your son, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
Matthew 26:27-56
1 Corinthians 1:18
Holy Week TUESDAY
Lord God,
The message of the cross is difficult to take.
How can death give way to life?
How can weakness be strength?
Yet your word says that Jesus, being God,
took on human flesh and suffered the worst kind of death.
How can this be?
This message is indeed difficult to take.
But your foolishness is wiser than our wisdom.
Your weakness is greater than our strength.
Help us to know that none of us can boast before you.
It is only in Christ Jesus that we can boast.
In his name, we ask you to help our unbelief,
that we may love you, and walk in the way Jesus taught us.
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
Matthew 26:36–46
Hebrews 5:7–9
Holy Week MONDAY
Lord God,
Six days before his death, your son sat with Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead, and ate dinner with his friends.
Once again, your gospel tells us, Martha served and Mary
knelt at Jesus’ feet to anoint them with costly perfume.
The disciple who was about to betray him said that it was a waste.
He didn’t really care about the poor – he just wanted to fill his own pockets
And make Mary feel ashamed.
Lord God, often we cannot discern what is best:
When to pour out costly perfume for your sake,
even if the world thinks it a waste.
When to be busy serving, or when to rest at your son’s feet and learn.
Give us ears to hear you and eyes to see.
For the sake of your son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
Matthew 21:10–17
John 12:1–8
Holy Week PALM SUNDAY
Lord God,
I give you thanks, for you are good, and your mercy is endless.
Here I stand, at the start of this holy week,
This week in which your church remembers Jesus’ passion and death,
and I am distracted by many things.
Turn my eyes now to the one who comes in your name,
the one who opens the gates of righteousness,
the one who answers when we call.
I bless you, Lord, for shining your light upon me,
and for sending your son to us, in human frailty,
to walk the road we walk.
Open my eyes that I may see him coming,
may praise him with a pure heart,
may walk in the way of his suffering,
and share also in his resurrection.Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
BIBLE VERSES FOR REFLECTION
Matthew 21:1–11
Psalm 118:1–2
Psalm 118:19–29
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