Holy (Maundy) Thursday ~ 2026

Today's Service Leader and Speaker - Rev. Brett Cornelius, Pastor, Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Today's liturgy is the Divine Service, Setting One, LSB pages 151ff.

683 Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

Text: Paul Gerhardt, 1607–76; tr. John B. Wesley, 1703–91, alt.
Tune: Norman Cocker, 1889–1953
Text: Public domain
Tune: © Oxford University Press. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110001518

Stand

The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism.

Invocation

P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

Exhortation LSB 151

P If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

C But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Kneel/Stand

Silence for reflection on God’s Word and for self-examination.

Confession of Sins LSB 151

P Let us then confess our sins to God our Father.

C Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.

Absolution LSB 151

P Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

Stand

Introit Psalm 67:1–3, 6b–7; antiphon: Galatians 6:14b; Liturgical Text

But far be it from me to boast
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In him is salvation, life, and resurrection from the dead;
by him we are redeemed and set at liberty.
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
But far be it from me to boast
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In him is salvation, life, and resurrection from the dead;
by him we are redeemed and set at liberty.

Salutation and Collect of the Day

P The Lord be with you.

C And also with you.

P Let us pray.

O Lord, in this wondrous Sacrament You have left us a remembrance of Your passion. Grant that we may so receive the sacred mystery of Your body and blood that the fruits of Your redemption may continually be manifest in us; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

Sit

Old Testament Reading Exodus 12:1–14

¹The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ²“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. ³Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, ⁶and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

⁷“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. ¹⁰And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. ¹¹In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. ¹²For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. ¹³The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”

A This is the Word of the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

Epistle 1 Corinthians 11:23–32

²³For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. ³¹But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. ³²But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

A This is the Word of the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

Stand

Alleluia and Verse (Lent) LSB 157

Holy Gospel John 13:1–15

P The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the thirteenth chapter.

C Glory to You, O Lord.

¹Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C Praise to You, O Christ.

Sit

617 O Lord, We Praise Thee

Text: tr. The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, alt.; (st. 1): German, 14th cent.; (sts. 2–3): Martin Luther, 1483–1546
Tune: Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn, 1524, Wittenberg, ed. Johann Walter
Text: © 1941 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110001518
Tune: Public domain

Sermon - Rev. Brett Cornelius, Pastor

Stand

Nicene Creed

C I believe in one God,

the Father Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth

and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the only-begotten Son of God,

begotten of His Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light,

very God of very God,

begotten, not made,

being of one substance with the Father,

by whom all things were made;

who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried.

And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures

and ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of the Father.

And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead,

whose kingdom will have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord and giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified,

who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church,

I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,

and I look for the resurrection of the dead

and the life T of the world to come. Amen.

Sit

Prayer of the Church

Offering

Stand

Offertory LSB 159

Preface LSB 160

P The Lord be with you.

C And also with you.

P Lift up your hearts.

C We lift them to the Lord.

P Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

C It is right to give Him thanks and praise.

Proper Preface

P It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who accomplished the salvation of mankind by the tree of the cross that, where death arose, there life also might rise again and that the serpent who overcame by the tree of the garden might likewise by the tree of the cross be overcome. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying:

Sanctus LSB 161

Lord’s Prayer LSB 162

P Lord, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:

C 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.

For Thine is the kingdom

and the power and the glory

forever and ever. Amen.

The Words of Our Lord

P Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My T body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My T blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Pax Domini LSB 163

P The peace of the Lord be with you always.

C Amen.

Agnus Dei LSB 163

Sit

621 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Text: Liturgy of St. James, 5th cent.; tr. Gerard Moultrie, 1829–85, alt.
Tune: French, 17th cent.
Text and tune: Public domain

634 The Death of Jesus Christ, Our Lord

5 We dare not ask how this can be,
But simply hold the mystery
And trust this word where life begins:
“Given and shed for all your sins.”

6 They who this word do not believe
This food unworthily receive,
Salvation here will never find—
May we this warning keep in mind!

7 But blest is each believing guest
Who in these promises finds rest;
For Jesus shall in love remain
With all who here His grace obtain.

8 Help us sincerely to believe
That we may worthily receive
Your Supper and in You find rest.
Amen! They who believe are blest.

Text (sts. 1–4, 6–8): Haquin Spegel, 1645–1714; (sts. 1–4, 6–8): tr. Olof Olsson, 1841–1900, alt.; (st. 5): composite
Tune: Sammlung alter und neuer . . . Melodien, 1742
Text and tune: Public domain

Stand

Nunc Dimittis LSB 165

Post-Communion Collect

A Let us pray.

We give thanks to You, almighty God, that You have refreshed us through this salutary gift, and we implore You that of Your mercy You would strengthen us through the same in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

The Stripping of the Altar- Chanted by the HC Choir

Reading Psalm 22

¹My God, my God, why have you for- | saken me?*
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my | groaning?
²O my God, I cry by day, but you do not | answer,*
and by night, but I | find no rest.

¹²Many bulls en- | compass me;*
strong bulls of Bashan sur- | round me;
¹³they open wide their | mouths at me,*
like a ravening and roaring | lion.

¹⁴I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are | out of joint;*
my heart is like wax;
it is melted with- | in my breast;
¹⁵my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks | to my jaws;*
you lay me in the | dust of death.

²²I will tell of your name to my | brothers;*
in the midst of the congregation I will | praise you:
²³You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glo- | rify him,*
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of | Israel!
²⁴For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his | face from him,*
but has heard, when he | cried to him.

²⁵From you comes my praise in the great congre- | gation;*
my vows I will perform before those who | fear him.
²⁶The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall | praise the Lord!*
May your hearts live for- | ever!

²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn | to the Lord,*
and all the families of the nations
shall worship be- | fore you.
²⁸For kingship belongs | to the Lord,*
and he rules over the | nations.

²⁹All the prosperous of the earth eat and | worship;*
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep him- | self alive.
³⁰Posterity shall | serve him;*
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming gener- | ation;
³¹they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people | yet unborn,*
that he has | done it.

Acknowledgments

Divine Service, Setting One from Lutheran Service Book

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.