Devotions of the Holy Rood II: The Wood of the Altar

All: We praise Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, and we bless Thee; for by Thy Cross and Resurrection Thou hast redeemed the World. Amen.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

First Lesson: Genesis 22:6, 9-14

And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the tool and the two of them went together…And they came to the place of which God told him, and Abraham built the altar there, and he arranged the wood and he tied Isaac his son, and he put him on the altar, on top of the wood. And Abraham sent out his hand and took the tool to slaughter his son.

And the Angel of the LORD called to him from Heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham.” And he answered, “Behold me.” And he said “Do not send out your hand against the boy, and do not do anything at all to him, because now I know that you fear God, so you did not hold back your son, your only one, from Me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold a ram behind him, caught in the thicket by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD sees, of which it is said to this day, “In the mountain the LORD sees.” Reader: The word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

Psalm: Psalm 73:1-3, 15-23 Refrain

Leader: Lord, I surrender my will to you.

All: Crucify my will and give me Christ.

Truly God is good to Israel,

To the pure of heart

And I, my feet almost turned,

My steps almost poured out.

Because I envied the proud,

I saw the peace of the sinners.

If I said “I will speak this way,”

Behold, the generation of your sons would I have robbed.

And I thought to know this,

It was toil in my eyes.

When I came to the hallow of God,

I understood their ending.

Surely you placed them in slickness,

Felled them to ruins.

How they become a waste in an instant,

They end, they are finished by terrors

Like a dream is by waking, my Lord!

When you wake, you will despise their shadow.

When my mind was embittered

And my heart was pierced through,

Then I was stupid, and I did not know:

I was a like a beast to you.

But I am always with you:

You hold my right hand.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Second Lesson: Mark 15:16-20 And the soldiers led him into the courtyard, that is the Praetorium, and they called together the whole cohort, and they clothed him in purple, and they set around him a woven crown of thorns, and began to greet him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they hit him on the head with a reed-staff and spat on him, and kneeling down, they prostrated themselves toward him. And when they had mocked him, they took the purple off him and put his own clothes on him and took him out to crucify him.

Reader: The word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

Reflection

Leader: Just as Christ is both priest and sacrifice, He is represented by Abraham’s “Only son, whom thou lovest,” bearing the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain, and the young goat with his head wreathed in thorns and offered on the wood of the altar. The Cross of Christ comes in many forms and may not be easy to discern. But it always accompanies surrender and the faith that “God would raise him from the dead,” as Hebrews says.

Silence.

Collect

Leader: Let us pray. God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who tested our fathers and refined them in the fire, grant us grace and strength to walk in faith and fear, withstanding all kinds of trials, until we are gathered back to you, through your Son, our strength, Jesus Christ.

All: Amen.

All: Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by 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. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, Forever and ever. Amen.

Tell how, when at length the fullness of th'appointed time was come, He, the Word, was born of woman, left for us His Father's home, blazed the path of true obedience, shone as light amidst the gloom.

(Venantius Fortunatus)