BINDING SOUL AND SOURCE
Daily Prayers of the Church Street family
Good Friday, April 10, 2020
Pastor Jan
Today we pause to remember your sacrificial love, O Savior of the World, even though the message of the cross is difficult to take. We struggle with your teaching that strength is found in weakness, for we are weak ourselves; and we have long envisioned a mighty Savior who would create a world without strife, without injustice, without pain, without fearful illness. But we remember you said faith the size of a mustard seed is sufficient, so we turn to you this day, O Suffering One, with our fragmented faith, for you alone have the words of life eternal.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
O Wounded One, on that darkest day, the sky turned black and purple. We wonder how an innocent and righteous one had so few defenders – for only three or four brave ones huddled close at the foot of the dreaded cross. Some say the torrents that drenched the earth that day were really the tears of angels. May our own tears mingle with theirs, O Lord, for deep down we wonder if we ourselves would have had the courage to remain faithful, or would we also have run away? Could we have witnessed such agony?
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
In spite of our tentative ways and our sporadic commitment, your apostle reminds us to pray without ceasing. And so we humbly place the praises and longings of our own hearts, and also these sincere petitions from our church family, at your feet:
- Gratitude: brother in VA, ill with cancer, tested negative for COVID-19
- Gratitude for a sister who sits daily with her grieving brother
- Thankful that close relatives in NYC remain safe and healthy
- Appreciation for all who are donating blood to benefit virus victims
- Strength for brave, yet weary healthcare workers who serve so nobly
- Prayers for a friend in Birmingham whose father died suddenly, and the bereaved family cannot gather to hold a service
- The unemployed and the under-employed, for financial relief
- Four worried members who cannot visit loved ones in assisted living
- A family grieving the imminent death of their longtime canine friend
- Peace and healing of a family member with cancer, facing surgery soon
- A sister awaiting radiation treatment for stage 1 lung cancer
- All who are depressed and lonely during this time of confinement
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
O Sacred Head Now Wounded, we bow to you this day, as it was you alone who brought hope out of devastation, triumph out of sorrow, life out of death, and who also taught us to pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
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Good Friday Passion & Chorales, Today at Noon
Join Church Street on YouTube at noon for the story of Christ’s Passion. Presented by Terri Ward and Edie Johnson.
