Here’s a
pastoral prayer for Good Friday from Pastor Sandy at the First United Methodist
Church of Seattle.
Good Friday Prayer
Dear God,
The words
of his disciple ring in our ears:
I do not know this man
The words
of the crowd echo in our ears:
We have no emperor but Caesar
Crucify him, Crucify him.
And we long
to think that if we had been there
we wouldn’t have denied him
we wouldn’t have run
we wouldn’t have shouted out against him
we wouldn’t have abandoned him to the
soldiers and spears.
Yet in our
moments of honesty
when we see our heart of hearts
we know that the crowd is us.
We know
that their words are ours.
We feel it
is true,
because we run away from the crucifixions
around us.
We shout
aloud
in the din of vengeance and estrangement and
hatred
that makes our world.
And the
sound of the hammering of nails
we replace
with the music of our own private
headphones,
adding our own soundtrack to drown the cries
of those who are crucified.
So God, on
this day
this one day
we ask that you let those sounds through
so that the banging of the hammer
draws blood
in our soul
so we are touched just for this moment
at least
just for this one Good Friday moment
with the
pain.
We name the
pain, as the hammer falls on the nail:
War
Hunger
Violence
Homelessness
Hatred
Rape
Coercion
Sexual
slavery
Pollution
Racism
Hate crimes
Homophobia
Prejudice
Exploitation
Abuse
We have
averted our eyes
and let the hammer fall on the innocent.
O God,
in our shame
transform this sadness
transform our hearts
transform us toward your new world
where there is the sound of spring again.
Bring forth
your new creation now
we ask.
Not so that
our guilt may be washed away,
but so that the pain of each victim
of each heartbreak
of each loss
May know
your new day of joy.
In the
spirit of him who was crucified
whom we call the Christ
who lives and reigns with you.
Make it so,
Easter God.
Make it so.
~ written
by Pastor Sandy, and posted on the First
Church blog. http://blog.firstchurchseattle.org/good-friday-prayer/
