St. Nicolai Notes

Prayer for March 25-31, 2018 

Sermon Text: Mark 14:1-15:47

That we may glimpse the depth of pain to which we have contributed

You who were wounded for our transgressions and rejected as a threat to settled religion and imperial power, we worship You. As we worship You, our worship is tinged with sadness and with a sense of complicity in all that You suffered.

We hope that we would pour out our love like the woman who anointed You with her expensive perfume. We hope that we would stand and watch with the women who stayed alert to all that was happening as they prepared to minister to You in death. We hope that we would have the boldness to receive and care for your body. We hope that in the moment of death we would recognize your true identity.

But, since most of those closest to You did not act in faithful, loving or discerning ways, we admit that we would probably join in the parade of actors who brought You misery.

We would likely find ourselves among those who betrayed You, slept as You prayed, came to arrest You by mob action, denied knowing You, bore false witness against You, accused You of blasphemy, falsely condemned You, mocked You, struck You, spit upon You, and put You to death.

Christ Jesus, we know that we would not be telling your story if it had ended there. But, for a moment, let us recognize the depth of our failure as your disciples, the depth of the pain to which we have contributed, and the lack of faith that we have shown. 

In your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen. 

NOTE: For our worship, we sang the Palm Sunday songs, but did Passion week readings. The sermon incorporated both themes, but the prayer did not.