Monday in Holy Week
Reading John 12:1-8
Mary Anoints Jesus
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Laz′arus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Laz′arus was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it. Jesus said, “Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
PRAYER
Dig deep into our hearts and souls, Lord God
Dig deep beneath the polished veneer we display
And discover hearts that yearn to love and to serve,
hearts that are overflowing with love so extravagant,
that they overcome every obstacle in their path
to convince the loveless
to soften the hardened
and to fill every home with the presence of your love.
For those without love we pray:
for the brutalized and the abused,
women and children alike.
For those duped into a false sense of security
by the temptation of a better life in a new land
and for those who long to be listened to and not ignored again.
Lord God
The extravagance of love,
you declare is a strength and not a weakness.
Grant to us in these coming days
the courage to display that same love
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen
Hymn O love that wilt not let me go
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee:
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee:
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms red
life that shall endless be.
George Matheson (1842-1906)
BENEDICTION
And now may the blessing of almighty God
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Be with you and remain with you
And all those whom you love
Today and for evermore
Amen
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