Welcome to Sojourn’s Online Worship for Sunday, april 5th!

Even though we can’t be physically present with one another, we can nevertheless come together around the same gospel rhythms that form us and fuel us as Christ’s body. We’ve laid those gospel rhythms out for you below, so we’d encourage you to work your way through each section in order. Some important things to note:

1. Several fellow Sojourners have recorded themselves leading parts of the liturgy, and you’re encouraged to read along when it’s your turn. Whenever the text is underlined, read out loud and proud!

2. We’ve embedded videos for each of the songs in our liturgy into this page. Just click, wait until those pesky ads let you click again, go full screen if you so desire, and sing along! Most of the songs have the lyrics built in; the rest have a closed captioning option.

3. If you’d prefer to have a copy of the liturgy, you can click here. And if you want to listen to the songs and not watch, we have this Spotify playlist. And if you want to play along at home on a piano or guitar or banjo or mandolin, we’ve got chord charts next to each song.

4. We’ve also got some excellent kids’ resources!

call to worship:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

But emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on the cross.

Therefore God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth; and under the earth,

And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [adapted from Philippians 2:5-11]

prayer of invocation:

God of all, you gave your only Son to take the form of a servant and to be obedient even to death on a cross. Give us the same mind of Christ Jesus so that, sharing in his humility, we may come to be with him in his glory. We pray this in the name of Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. One God, now and forever. Amen.

scripture reading: mark 15:16-47

16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

40 There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

42 And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

benediction: hebrews 4:14-16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.