10th April 2020

Our Good Friday offering has been selected by Ali Newell with a Prayer from "An Earthful of Glory" by John Philip Newell

Good Friday is a day when we remember the power of the flow of Love in Jesus which continued through his dying, through the flow of tears and blood.

Jesus, while hanging from the cross, thought of others, saying ‘Here is your mother’ to his disciple John, and ‘Here is your son’ to his mother. He connected them to each other in love in the midst of their loss.

From the cross, Jesus was aware of others with a forgiving heart ‘Today you will be with me in paradise’ he said to the thief hanging beside him.

And to the soldiers from the cross, he said, ‘Father forgive them they do not know what they are doing’

As he died, the flow of Love continued as he gave himself up in love and to Love.

‘Father into your hands I commend my spirit’ And having said this, he breathed his last.

Prayer

Deserted and abandoned,

rejected by crowds,

and condemned by the state,

forsaken and alone on the cross,

it was into your hands, O God,

that your servant commended his spirit.

In the midst of his weakness

he turned to your strength,

the Life within all life.

Blessed are you, O God,

for you give life

and receive it again to yourself.

As angels hovered like midwives at his birth,

so now the outstretched arms of heaven’s company

waited to receive him through death’s contractions.

You are the Alpha and the Omega

The beginning and the end

Silence

Remembering Christ’s crucifixion,

we cannot but think of the nations and people suffering today.

And standing with all who are forsaken,

in weakness we commend them and ourselves to you, O God,

May we know now and in the time of our own trials

the greatest strength

the choosing to commend ourselves into your love.

All that is ours and all that we are part of

we commend into your hands,

Our life, all life, each life,

Our world,

For from you it came and to you it returns.

( Prayer from An Earthful of Glory by John Philip Newell )