Voice: Emily
Today is Wednesday, 22nd of October. As we begin another day, pay attention to His presence and blessings in the little moments in your life.
Let us humbly confess our sins to Almighty God.
Almighty and most merciful Father,
we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices and desires
of our own hearts.
We have offended against your holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done,
and we have done those things which we ought not
to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
Spare all those who confess their faults.
Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises
declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake,
that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life,
to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.
We praise the Lord in the Venite:
1 O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are all the depths of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land.
6 O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
8 If only you would hear his voice today: for he comes to judge the earth.
9 He shall judge the world with righteousness: and the peoples with his truth.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is
now, and shall be forever. Amen.
Mark 15:33-41
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.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
— Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46
These words of Jesus are so haunting that the Gospel writers chose to leave them in His original Aramaic. They pierce through time and language — a cry that refuses to be sanitized or softened.
Some commentators have suggested that Jesus, even on the cross, had His emotions completely under control — that He was not in despair or anguish. They point out how, in His final moments, Jesus showed concern for others:
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,”
and
“Woman, behold your son.”
Indeed, they argue, Jesus was simply quoting Pslam 22:1. He was busy fulfilling Scriptures. He was not crying in agony but preaching one last sermon, expounding Scripture from the cross — as if saying, “My friends, can’t you see? Don’t weep. I am merely fulfilling what was written.”
But such a reading strips the cross of its tragedy. It dehumanizes the moment, reducing the crucifixion to a mere transaction for salvation — as though it were a divine formula rather than a divine agony. Yes, the atonement is central, but it cannot be separated from the suffering of the Son of God.
Down through the centuries, believers who have known abandonment, loss, and silence have heard their own cry echoed in Jesus’ words. “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” — this is not a theological lecture. It is the raw voice of one who feels utterly forsaken, even by God.
And it was in that cry that the bystanders began to see.
The centurion, standing close enough to hear every word and see every convulsion of pain, finally declared: “Surely this man was innocent.”
He saw not a stoic preacher, but a suffering man who bore Himself with divine dignity.
And as the crowds dispersed, they beat their breasts in sorrow — moved by what they had witnessed.
You don’t get those reactions from someone calmly reciting Scripture.
You get them from a dying Savior whose humanity was laid bare — and whose suffering revealed, paradoxically, the deepest truth of divine love.
Good Friday may be many months away, but we can never ponder too often what our Lord has done for us on Calvary. The cross is not just a date on the church calendar — it is the very center of our faith.
Join in this prayer by the Anglican Divine, Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1600)
Be all to all. We bring before You, O God:
the cries of the weary, the pains of the distressed, the tears of the tragedies of life, the anxious hours of the insecure, the restlessness of the refugees, the hunger of the oppressed. Dear God, be near to each. Helper of the helpless, Hope of the homeless, The Strength of those tossed with tempests, The Haven of those who sail: Be all to all. Be within us, to strengthen us; without us, to keep us; above us, to inspire us; beneath us, to uphold us; before us, to direct us; behind us , to propel us; around us, to sustain us.
Be all to all in present need. Amen.
Be blessed by this song, Were you There
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, Tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, Tremble, tremble
Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, Tremble, tremble
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?
Link to today’s Morning Office
About This Daily Devotion
This weekday devotion is drawn from the Morning Office and is part of a project initiated by Revd Canon Terry Wong, with contributions from clergy and members across various parishes. Each entry includes selected readings from the appointed Psalm and another Scripture passage, accompanied by a reflection and prayer. An audio option is also available, often ending with a hymn or song. We encourage you to both read and listen.
Our aim is to help Anglicans engage more deeply with our rich liturgical tradition, while meeting the devotional needs of today’s believers. This project began on Ash Wednesday 2025 and is offered on weekdays only.
For feedback, please write to us at info@mpcc.org.sg
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