From the Pastor...
Beloved Christ Congregation,
I sincerely hope you will join us this evening for our Good Friday remembrance, starting with a silent soup supper (6:30), followed by our annual Tenebrae Service of Shadows (7 pm). We cannot fully embrace the promise of new life without first facing death. As we remember the grief, betrayal, and desolation Jesus experienced nearly 2000 years ago, we also sit with our own grief and heartbreak for the world as our government drops bombs, deports our neighbors, and defunds programs that bring our communities fullness of life, from healthcare to education to the arts. We can't rush into Easter Sunday without the darkness of Friday and the emptiness of Holy Saturday. Join us in community as we hold these realities and pray once more for God's resurrecting Spirit to break open our hearts and roll away the stone of our human-made tombs.
Whether or not you are able to join us this evening, I invite you to take a moment to sit with the following prayer, written by my colleague, Rev. Darcy Crain-Polly:
God of life, of beginnings and endings, today we pause to remember the power of death. Today we tell the story of what happens when someone angers those in power. Today we tell the story of a betrayal by a friend, trial by empire, execution as a way of silencing the one who names injustice. Today we tell a story that happened long ago in a land far away. Today we tell the story that continues to happen in places close at hand.
As we remember the story help us to see its truth. As we tell of Jesus' trial and execution remind us of those who are found legally guilty for doing and saying the right things. As we tell of the friends who are conspicuously absent at the foot of the cross remind us how easily we slip away when the struggle for justice becomes dangerous or challenging or too uncomfortable. As we look at the cross remind us of the power of empire in any age, and remind us of our duty as people of faith to proclaim a different empire, a different kingdom, a new way of living together. God of endings today we hear the agonized words, "it is finished."
We think of all those things that end before they come to fruition, of hopes crushed beneath reality's heavy foot, of promises left unfulfilled, of possibilities that leave us wondering...
Yet even as we remember the power of endings we remember that day follows night, hope replaces despair and life will conquer death. Help us remember that in the depths of the end we have no way of seeing what new beginning might be, we have only faith in you that it will come. And so we pray in the name of the one who showed us the depth of his passion for your kingdom, who taught us to live in love and justice, in whose life and death we can find the path to new beginnings once again. Amen.
Deep Peace,
Pastor Alexis
