Lenten Prayer - Day 39 - Seventh Friday (April 2, 2021)
Gospel Reading: John 18:1-40
Gospel Reading: John 18:1-40
Jesus, we hope in You! We trust You!
We are thankful that in God's wisdom You lived among us and in solidarity with us, experiencing many of the joys and sorrows that characterize daily life. We rejoice that You identified us as "Friends."
But we are sorrowful when we remember that your greatest sorrow was brought about by friends who betrayed You and denied that they knew You. We have lived this experience as betrayer and betrayed, and it shames us to know that we, too, would have failed You in our time of trial, just as many of your closest friends did.
Forgive us for our fickleness. Forgive us for allowing our personal agendas and fear of suffering to cause us to disown You when our faith is tested in severe ways. Forgive us when violence is our reflex response to fear.
Jesus, we grieve that leaders of your faith community conspired with political leadership in order to shame You. We grieve that apathy, cynicism, and deceit characterized the public responses to You. We grieve that your alternative to the death-dealing ways of the world was rejected in favor of continuing service to the powers of violence and death.
Jesus, these memories leave us in a fog of confusion and regret. Help us to endure until your face shines on our lives again.* Amen.
*See Psalm 80:3, 7, 19
Amen
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