Jesus Christ, Son of God, Light of the World

Today we remember your great suffering and sacrifice

We ask you to silence the noise around us and inside us

Please open our eyes : to see the depth of our sin and need

Please open our ears : to hear the good news of the Kingdom

Please open our hearts : to receive the wonder of your sacrificial love

Please open our hands : to surrender our lives to your Father’s will

Please open our mouths : to give you the praise you deserve

In your powerful name we pray : Amen

 

Psalm 22:1-2, 9-11

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? : and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer : by night as well, but I find no rest.

Yet you are he who took me out of the womb : and kept me safe upon my mother’s breast.

I have been entrusted to you ever since I was born : you were my God when I was still in my mother’s womb.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near : and there is none to help.

Artist: Belinda Moffit

James 5:16 – Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

I confess to almighty God,

And to you, my brothers and sisters,

That I have sinned through my own fault,

In my thoughts and in my words,

In what I have done,

And in what I have failed to do;

And I ask you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Silence (or time to confess to God or to one another)

Jesus we believe and proclaim that you are faithful and just : to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

Isaiah 53:3-6

He was despised and rejected by men : a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;

And as one from whom men hide their faces : he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows : yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted

But he was pierced for our transgressions : he was crushed for our iniquities;

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace; : and with his wounds we are healed.

Jesus, Lamb of God, Crucified King

Thank you : for humbling yourself to death, even death on a cross

Thank you : for saying no to the temptation to come down from the cross

Because you stayed : sin and death were defeated

Because you stayed : the veil was torn and the way to Life opened

Because you stayed : we know you will stay with us in our own trial and temptation

Though this night is dark : we await the promise of the coming light.

In your faithful name we pray : Amen