As we prepare to keep company with Jesus in Gethsemane, on Calvary and at the empty tomb in the coming days, I want to share with you a prayer (written by Rev John van der Laar) that we will pray together at the start of our Good Friday service:
The darkness may try to hide it, God, but this is truly Good Friday; a day of endless miracle, of incredible wonder. That you would welcome the beam to your shoulders, and beckon the nails to your flesh, to crucify darkness in your own fragmented body. That you would hold the gaze of hatred, look boldly in the face of evil and speak the soft words of forgiveness. That you would embrace in your paralysed arms your hardened companion in death, and all who would seek comfort in you. Promising a world made new, and an eternity brought into the present moment. Yes, absolutely a day of wonders and miracles and we are in awe before its beauty. Amen.
This weekend, may you and those you love know the blessing and healing power of the God who gave Himself for us.