Call to Worship

Leader: Here is the man!
Right Side: Jesus, accused of being a criminal.
Left Side: Jesus, who threatens the religious establishment.

Leader: Here is your King!
Right Side: The ruler of a Kingdom that is not from this world.
Left Side: The ruler who threatens the power of empire.

Leader: Here is the man!
Right Side: Who witnesses to the truth.
Left Side: Who gives no answer.

Leader: Here is your King!
Right Side: Jesus, son of Mary.
Left Side: Jesus, son of God.
ALL: Jesus, the One we have gathered to worship.

Written by Rev. Joanna Harader, from her blog Spacious Faith, https://spaciousfaith.com/2022/03/30/call-to-worship-john-1828-1916/.

A Good Friday Prayer

O Holy God,
the hosannas have died away,
the palm branches have turned brittle.
Now, today, there is only this –
each of us,
all of us,
sitting in the darkness,
the hymns of lament in the air,
the mumblings of our own feeble confession,
on this Friday
which we tremble to call Good.

What is good about Good Friday?
What is good about the innocent one nailed to a cross?
What is good about the darkness of war that persists today?
What is good about our devastation of the planet?
… about people living in poverty?
… about the fog of addiction, depression, disease, and despair?
What is good about the crushing weight of hunger, racism, scapegoating, apathy?

No, there is nothing good and desirable in these things.
Yet you, O God, are Good.

When suffering reigns, yours is the first heart to break.
When despair lurks about, we remember that you were there first,
peering into the abyss and crying out, incredibly:
“Father, forgive them.”

When we feel forsaken, we remember that in your last moments,
you cared for your mother and your beloved disciple,
binding them to one another as a new family.

When we feel overcome by guilt, we remember that you spoke grace to a thief:
“Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Your love for us is just that boundless,
and ever-present,
and Good.
Thank you.
What else can we say here, in the dimness,
in the darkness,
but thank you.

Amen.

Written by MaryAnn McKibben Dana, pastor of Idylwood Presbyterian Church in Falls Church, VA. Posted on LiturgyLink, http://www.liturgylink.net/2012/04/04/good-friday-prayer-the-hosannas-have-died-away/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-prayer-for-good-friday.html.

Prayer of Confession

God of love, we remember today all that our blessed Lord endured for us.
Let us remember how Jesus was betrayed,
and given up into the hands of wicked men …

Lord Jesus, we remember today that it was one of
Your own familiar friends who betrayed You,
and we know that there is nothing that so breaks the heart
as the disloyalty of one whom we call friend.
Grant that we may not betray You.

Save us:
From the cowardice that would disown You when it is hard to be true to You;
From the disloyalty that betrays You in the hour
when You need someone to stand by You;
From the fickleness that blows hot and cold in its devotion;
From the fair-weather friendship that,
when things are difficult or dangerous,
makes us ashamed to show whose we are and whom we serve.

Let us remember how Jesus suffered death upon the Cross …
Lord Jesus, help us to remember the lengths
to which Your love was ready to go;
That having loved Your own, You loved them to the very end;
The love than which none can be greater,
The love that lays down its life for its friends;
That it was while people were yet enemies that You died for them.

Let us remember how Jesus now lives and reigns …
Help us to remember,
That the crucified Lord is the Risen Lord;
That the cross has become the Crown.

So grant unto us,
to trust in His love and to live in His presence;
that we may share in His glory.
This we ask for Your love’s sake. Amen.

Written by William Barclay and posted on Will Humes’ WJH website. http://willhumes.net/category/liturgy/. Re-posted on the re:Worship blog at https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2014/03/pastoral-prayer-death-of-jesus.html.

Benediction

May the God whose love persists through the horror of violence, the stillness of the tomb, and the grief of our brokenness reign in our hearts as we sit and keep watch over Jesus Christ, our King whose rule is love. Amen.

Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, October 2023.