Prayer for Good Friday 2022

Oh, Good and gracious Lord,

In whom the final fulfillment of all hope is held secure,

We confess this evening that a death killed death

That the already born can be Reborn

That sin can be consumed by Love

We’ve seen how debt can be erased by Grace

That the One who was nailed can nail it, kill it, and resurrect all of it

Better than our wildest dreams because

His new Kingdom right now

Is defeating all of evil’s venom.

You are the sovereign of my sorrow.

You apprehend a wider sweep with wiser eyes than mine.

Our lives bear fingerprints of grace.

It is hard to trace quick evidence of your presence in our pain,

Yet you remain at work, lurking in the wings,

sifting our splinterings for bright embers that might be

breathed into more eternal dreams

Unmask our false hopes,

That our One true hope might shine out

unclouded and undimmed.

Let us be tutored this evening in the things we will hear

Let us pay attention to the things we will feel

Let us hear your holy whisper

Teach us to hope, O Lord,

Always and only, in you.

Amen

*A prayer adapted from Ann Voskamp and Every Moment Holy, by McKelvey