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Call to Worship (based on Psalm 116)

L: I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
P: Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
L: I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
P: I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people,
L: In the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem.
All: Praise the LORD!

Eucharistic Invocation
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before
he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood:
Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in
remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy
mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. Amen.

Responsive Reading
The Love of Christ (John 13, 14, 15, 34;  Eph. 3, and 2Cor. 5; Rom. 8)

Leader: Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus know that his hour had come that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.  And Jesus said;
People: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another."

Leader:  "Those who have my commandments and keep them, love me. And those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and manifest myself to them."

Women: "This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you."

People: "Greater Love has no one that thi, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

Leader:  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

People: Neither height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Leader:  For the love of Christ compels us.

Men: May you be rooted and established in the love of Christ.

Leader: May you be filled with all the fullness of God.

People:  This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

 

Prayer of Confession:
L: God's love for the world has been revealed in Jesus Christ, who loved us to the uttermost. At the Last Supper with his disciples he gave us a new commandment: to love one another. And he said to them: "just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."   (John 13:34,35)

L: Merciful God, we confess that so often our discipleship has been weak . . .

• L When we have failed to serve as Jesus served;
  P: forgive us, o Lord.
                                        (silent prayer)
  
• L: When we have failed to love one another as Jesus loves us;
  P: forgive us, o Lord.
                                         (silent prayer)
  
• L: When we have been happy to proclaim our devotion to Jesus with our lips and then denied him by our actions;
• P: forgive us, o Lord.
                                          (silent prayer)
  
• L: Merciful God, empower us by your Spirit to be steady and true to you in every time of trial; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Assurance and Pardon:
L: Jesus said: "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world "(John 12:47b) and "having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end"( John 13: 1b)  The good news therefore is this: In Jesus Christ, we are loved and we are forgiven.

All: Thanks be to God!

Responsive Reading (based on the gospel lesson)

The Lord Jesus, after he had supped with his disciples and
had washed their feet, said to them, "Do you know what I,
your Lord and Master, have done to you? I have given you
an example, that you should do as I have done."

Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with
you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.

I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have
loved you.

Peace is my last gift to you, my own peace I now leave with
you; peace which the world cannot give, I give to you.
By this shall the world know that you are my disciples: That
you have love for one another.

Holy Thursday Prayer

O God, by the example of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ,
     you taught us the greatness of true humility,
     and call us to watch with him in his passion.
Give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness,
     and to enter into the fellowship of his suffering:
in his name and for his sake.  Amen.

Closing Prayer:
Most merciful God, after the last supper your blessed son, our Savior, was betrayed, whipped, and his face spat upon.  Grant us grace to endure the sufferings of the present time with our Lord's courage, to overcome all that seeks to overwhelm us, confident of the glory that shall yet be revealed; through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Amen.

Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we pray you to set
your passion, cross, and death between your judgment and
our souls, now and in the hour of our death. Give mercy and
grace to the living; pardon and rest to the dead; to your holy
Church peace and concord; and to us sinners everlasting life
and glory; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live
and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Benediction / Sending Forth

Go in peace.
May Jesus Christ,
     who for our sake became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,
keep you and strengthen you this night and forever. Amen.

Benediction:
Christ draw you to himself and grant that you find in his cross a sure ground for faith, a firm support for hope, and the assurance of sins forgiven.
 

Three Complete Holy Thursday Services:
Messianic-Jewish Seder
Communion Service
Tenebrae Service