Good Friday #PrayersforEaster

This prayer for Easter Saturday is part of a series of Easter prayers for Holy Week. Read the prayer for Maundy Thursday.

Crucified God,
Hope of Creation rejected,
We fall silent on this day of darkness and grief
as we are made fools by the wisdom of a suffering God
and exposed for being less than we promised.

This is a day we can only sit and remember
who we have left alone to face the wrath of empire
that suffering has reigned among us too long
that we have been content to let death speak last

And now we watch as it overwhelms the promise of all-things-healed
and we bury our hopes in the cold earth with you.

It is finished
the parable is ended
your entry into the self-giving and suffering that love entails
is complete

But it also must be finished –
the violence we do to each other
our love of wielding death
capturing our enemies between powers of injustice
their days are numbered
for on Sunday, they lose their power forever

Behind solid rock, empire disintegrates
and those of us who enjoy its privilege and power
enjoy it while we may
a different world awakens