S A I N T A M B R O S E A N G L I C A N H O L Y S A T U R DA Y
reat mystery surrounds Holy Saturday. Our Lord has just done battle on the cross on Good Friday, but what was he doing on Saturday? Medieval G theologians believed that it was not enough for Christ to conquer his enemy in the open field, but to triumph completely, he also had to descend to the heart of the devil’s kingdom, which was hell itself. The Harrowing of Hell, as some refer to it, invites us to see that Christ is Lord of heaven and hell. Holy Saturday invites us to look without blinking at the source of radical evil’s presence and potency and believe that Christ has gone to establish his reign even there as Christus Victor. DEATH BE NOT PROUD Text & Music: Audrey Assad
Death, be not proud, though the whole world fear you: Mighty and dreadful you may seem But death, be not proud, for your pride has failed you You will not kill me
Though you may dwell in plague and poison You’re a slave to fate and desperate men So death, if your sleep be the gates to Heaven Why your confidence?
When you will be no more You will be no more When you will be no more Even death will die Even death will die
Death, be not proud Death, be not proud Death, be not proud Cause even death will die
Officiant: Let us pray: O God of the living, on this day your Son our Savior descended to the place of the dead: Look with kindness on all of us who wait in hope for liberation from the corruption of sin and death, and give us a share in the glory of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
THE APPOINTED PSALM Psalm 88
O LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry! For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength, like one set loose among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, like those whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand. You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape; my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon? Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. O LORD, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless. Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
THE HOLY GOSPEL John 19:38-42
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
THE HOMILY Fr. Casey Bedell THE ANTHEM
Man born of woman has but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He springs up, and is cut down like a flower; he flees like a shadow, and never continues the same.
In the midst of life we are in death: of whom do we seek strength, but you, O Lord, who for our sins are justly displeased?
Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Savior, deliver us not into the pains of eternal death.
You know, O Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not your ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Savior, most worthy Judge eternal, do not let us, in this our final hour, through the pain of death, fall away from you.
Officiant and People together pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. WHAT WONDROUS LOVE IS THIS Text: 1811, American Folk Hymn
What wondrous love is this, To God and to the Lamb, O my soul, O my soul! I will sing, I will sing; What wondrous love is this, O my soul! To God and to the Lamb I will sing. What wondrous love is this To God and to the Lamb that caused the Lord of bliss Who is the great I Am; To bear the dreadful curse While millions join the theme, for my soul, for my soul, I will sing, I will sing; To bear the dreadful curse for my soul. While millions join the theme, I will sing.
When I was sinking down, And when from death Im free, sinking down, sinking down, Ill sing on, Ill sing on; When I was sinking down, sinking down, And when from death Im free, I’ll sing on. When I was sinking down And when from death Im free, beneath Gods righteous frown, Ill sing and joyful be, Christ laid aside His crown And through eternity for my soul, for my soul, Ill sing on, Ill sing on, Christ laid aside His crown for my soul. And through eternity I’ll sing on.
+ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen. (2 Corinthians 13:14)