0325_05
March 25, 2005 – Good Friday
Revised Common Lectionary Readings
Isaiah 52:13–53:12
Psalm 22
Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1–19:42
Good Friday
*Call to Worship
There is our God,
with arms spread wide in vulnerability,
embracing the whole of our life
in its every deathly reality.
There is the Christ, our God.
Gathered in those outstretched arms
is all that we are in our humanness –
all our failures and guilty secrets,
all our shame and responsibility
for the wounding to death of the innocent
in ourselves and in others.
There is the Christ, our God.
We stand in silent awe
before the power of costly life.
*Prayer of Invocation
On this day, we hardly dare to call you closer,
O Christ.
In our trembling humanity,
we fear that we may have killed you.
It is faith alone that brings our prayer
for your presence among us.
It is trust in your grace, grace which we
have rarely deserved, that emboldens us
to pray that you will come, Christ Jesus,
come to us. Be known among us as we
gather today. Amen.
*Prayer of Confession
O God, we can never simply stand
and watch the events of Good Friday
as though they are a story
belonging to someone else
in years gone by.
We know with grief
that we are there in your story.
We are present,
bringing with us all that was there long ago.
We, too, betray you
when things become hard or costly.
Silent reflection.
For our every betrayal, forgive us, Jesus Christ.
Forgive us and restore our life this day.
We, too, turn our faces away
from those suffering injustices.
Silent reflection.
For our every participation in injustice,
forgive us, Jesus Christ.
Forgive us and restore our life this day.
We, too, absolve ourselves from responsibility
for the well-being of others.
Silent reflection.
For our every denial of responsibility,
forgive us, Jesus Christ.
Forgive us and restore our life this day.
We, too, are part of the violence and abuse
suffered by the innocent.
Silent reflection.
For our every silence in the face of violence
to others, forgive us, Jesus Christ.
Forgive us and restore our life this day.
Death is dealt in the name of our nations,
O God,
death in war, death through need and starvation,
and death through tyrants of oppression.
Silent reflection.
For all death that is done in our name,
forgive us, Jesus Christ.
Forgive us and restore our life this day.
For we bow in grief before your goodness
and pray that you will not do unto us that
which we did to you. Amen.
*Words of Assurance
Even as he approaches his death,
the Christ cries out into the world
that we are forgiven.
Let us pause in silence
to honor this amazing gift.
A silence is kept.
We are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
*Prayer of Thanksgiving
Our hearts are almost too full to pray, O God,
overcome by the overwhelming grace
that flows from Jesus Christ.
We can hardly believe that this could be so,
that we are not condemned
as the one who comes in grace,
hangs painfully before us
surrounded by our death.
All we can do is to whisper our gratitude,
and hold still in awe at the majesty of this day.
Receive our thanks, O God, we pray.
Amen.
*Stewardship Thought
The story of the death of Jesus is, in one sense, not a story of someone choosing death. It is a story of someone choosing to live. Of course, to live with that level of faithfulness to life is often to bring yourself into a deep and dangerous encounter with all the deathliness that lies in human life. It was so as those around Jesus made deathly decisions about their own journey. They chose to betray, to be violent, to deny their relationship with Jesus, to attack and torture, to avoid responsibility, to mock vulnerability, to steal, and finally to kill an innocent person. The truth of Good Friday is that the abundant life of God inevitably comes into encounter with everything that is of death. It stands its ground with arms wide open in vulnerability, choosing to be open to death rather than to give up true life.
*Offertory Sentence
Our offering will be received
as we reflect on all that we owe to God
and to others this day.
*Offertory Prayer
We can never give as you have given,
but receive all that we bring today
in love for you.
Take our gifts and gather them
into your hopes for the world. Amen.
*Prayer of Intercession
O God, the Christ who has given everything
for us and for all people,
what more can we ask of you today?
There is nothing that we lack
when we remember your gift of life.
Silent reflection.
In humble faith we simply ask
that your will gather again into your body,
made frail by its incarnate journey here,
all that is vulnerable in us,
and all that struggles of human existence.
Hold all our deaths
within your death, O Christ.
Carry into your anguished body
all who feel rejected by life
and by those around them,
that they may be held close to your weeping
and know that someone weeps with them.
Hold all our deaths
within your death, O Christ.
As your wounded side bleeds in distress,
open the eyes of those
who are attacked and destroyed
by the injustices and violence of our life,
that they may see the God
who knows all that they suffer.
Hold all our deaths
within your death, O Christ,
as we wait in fragile hope
for the day of risen life. Amen.
*Commissioning
Go silently from here,
for there are no words that will speak of this moment in the life of God.
*Benediction
Go blessed by the company of God,
who dies rather than leaves us alone.
Go blessed by the faithfulness of Christ,
who chooses life in the face of death,
and go as those who stay with truth,
even as we wait for Easter Day. Amen.