Prayer for Good Friday - April 22, 2011

This prayer is based on Jesus' encounters with various forms of deceit in the final hours leading up to his death.

Sermon text: John 18:1 - 19:42
Responsive Prayer

Leader:True and Trustworthy God, we rejoice that You sent Jesus
among us as the bearer of your grace and truth.

People:We rejoice that Jesus has invited us to worship You in
spirit and truth and that by your Spirit, Jesus enables our
worship.

Leader:We thank You for Jesus’ teaching that guides us as we live
as your true children.

People:And we praise You that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and
the Life for all people, including us.

Leader:O God, while we celebrate Jesus Christ as Living Truth, we
acknowledge that he encountered lies and deceit in many
forms,

All: and admit that we have been deceitful too often.

Leader:We cringe to think of the response of Judas and Peter to
Jesus,

All: but we admit that we, too, have betrayed Jesus, we too
have denied our own identity as Jesus’ followers when
telling the truth seemed threatening.

Leader:Forgive us for our betrayals.

People:Forgive us for our denials.

Leader:We too have resisted and opposed the truth spoken by
Jesus.

People:We too have spoken cynically and questioned whether
truth was available to us.

Leader:Forgive us for our cynicism.

People:Forgive us for resisting the truth.

Leader:O God, we too have seen the truth clearly then chose to
act against the truth in order to save face, or curry favor,
or protect ourselves.

All: Forgive us for being too fearful to live the truth we know!

Leader:By your Spirit, O God, align our lives fully with your truth –
the Truth we meet in Christ Jesus.

People:Heal and transform us!

All: Enable us to follow Jesus in truth, no matter what the
cost may be. Amen.