Good Friday and the Lessons this past week have taught us

A Blessed Good Friday Evening to All.

If you are reading this, I would suspect that Good Friday may be coming to a close and entering into Holy Saturday. Where I live we have 3 1/2 more hours or thereabout to contemplate today and the lessons this past week have taught us. Good Friday or as I sometimes call it God Friday always manage to bring back more memories than you can imagine. Sometimes triggers happen. This year the triggers have been few but the memories do come wafting through my mind like incense. The pungent aroma of the Frankincense and Myrrh variety and the smell of rosemary flood my senses as reminders of how our 5 senses come into play on Good Friday. On Good Friday we employ our 5 senses more than ever: We see the cross or pictures of the Jesus the Christ Crucified. We hear the Passion Gospel one more time. We may smell the oil that was used to anoint the altar after the stripping last evening. We may touch the Cross if you are in a parish that venerates one. We may taste  and feel the dry mouth after a day or partial day of fasting.  What were the senses that you encountered today? Good Friday and the events of the past week collided into each other like a runaway freight train at a break neck speed. Opening and reading the scripture lessons for this week we find ourselves transported back in time while we come face to face with the fact that nothing has changed and we haven't learned much about how to be the family of God and Jesus' friends and followers seeking to show love, light and mercy to each other. The only things that have changed are the dates, the clothing, technology, and have weaponry that is both horrifying and so sophisticated it sets our worry and anxieties into a fear mode that makes us hate and tense up like never before. We continually do battle out of fear of our differences and the need for power and control. This isn't what  God and Jesus keeps telling us to do and to be. God and Jesus are telling us to love one another, care for the least of these, see God in everyone including our enemies and those who wish us harm. But year after year, Holy Week after Holy Week, Triduum after Triduum, Good Friday after Good Friday, etc after etc we fail to get it. Remember we are to be a family of love not hate, a family of peace not war, a family united and not estranged, a family who shares and not hoards, a family that is God's wholly and holy family seeking to do as in the words of the prophet Micah  'To do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God"  Let us take time as we engage "The Be Stills" 


Tonight we are going to do the "Be Stills from the bottom up and then down. Ladder Style and ripple style.

Be.( usually at the bottom) 
Be Still.
Be Still and know.
Be Still and know that I am.
Be Still and know that I am God. ( usually at the top)

Be Still and know that I am God.
Be Still and know that I am.
Be Still and know .
Be Still
Be. 


Let us light our candles and be at prayer. Let us come yet again and follow the steps of our Lord Jesus on his Journey to the Cross and tomb. Let us take up our own crosses and follow Him daily and know that we are called to carry love, mercy, light, and justice to our family members throughout this fragile and broken world. We pray that we may have courage to carry our crosses wherever they take us on the journey Jesus and God have set before us. We pray for peace this night and an end to hate, bigotry, and violence. We pray that we may open wide our heart homes even to the place of feeling the ache of our brothers' and sisters' pain as they live in danger, division, and are subject to persecution by their own faith and the faiths of others. We pray that there may be an end to extremism in all forms who hijack faiths that have been founded upon peace, love, and mercy. We pray for all who spent time at Good Friday services, Friday prayers in mosques and Islamic centers, and those who attended  their local synagogue and have entered into a time of Shabbat. We pray for all children of Abraham that they may find peace and harmony together as a united family seeking to love one another. 

Let us be at prayer!

Collect for Good Friday (BCP)

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your

family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be

betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer

death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and

the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

God we thank you for making us.

Make us one!

Give us courage to take up our crosses daily and see you in each other..

God we pray that we may learn to love more fully.

Make us more loving.

Give us the courage to vanquish hate by showing the world how to be loving and merciful.

God we pray for those who haven't accepted all of our family members yet.

Open their eyes Lord  so that they may see you in them.

Help us to see you in us because God it is sometimes not a clear picture.

God we pray for an end to bullying, abuse, and hate!

Make us kinder, loving, listening, and inclusive.

Give us courage to speak up and protect the least of these from violence, degradation, and when they or even us feel invisible.

God we pray for peace among all peoples who haven't heard your message of love.

Give them open hearts and clear ears to hear.

We pray that we may have courage to keep on speaking love, mercy, and justice and the truth to power.

God  we pray for calm hearts, gentle spirits as we meet the days ahead in this new world you have given us.

Give us courage to live into new realities and paths with grace and kindness.

We pray that we may show our support to our family members who choose to live authentically out in the open.

God help those who are transitioning into new lives, the Thin Places, and new life paths.

God may we love and comfort them during these times.

God give us each an expanding heart to love, a voice to speak kindly and gently, and broad shoulders that will make us all equal to the tasks to help the world to become equal and have universal human rights. 

God Hear us as we pray!

God we pray for_________________

God we give thanks for__________________

Accept our prayers this night in the Name of Jesus who set our feet on the pathway of love, kindness, and acceptance. Amen.

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Good Night Dear Ones! I love you! May you all have a blessed and restful night. I give thanks to God for you always. Take time for Self-Care and Sabbath rest in the days ahead. Don't get hyped up with the Easter Hype. 

With love and lots of it!

Sara