Good Friday: What's Good About It?

 Good Friday, March 29, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

“Where the Tower Still Stands”

Good Friday, and what’s good about it?

A day when justice, or what little there was of it, failed … and with bogus allegations, and political machinations between the religious authorities of the city and the ruling political party overseen by Pilate, the Roman Governor, Jesus was tried and convicted, and sentenced to death.

Good Friday, and what’s good about it?

Judas had betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, roughly $600 … Peter had denied knowing him, and when the nails were driven into the hands and feet of Jesus, the men disappeared as quickly as they could, and who could blame them?

But it was the women who remained … was it safer for them? I suppose so; they remained, and it was the women who returned to the tomb early Sunday morning to finish the proper burial rights.

Good Friday, and what’s good about it?

The two thieves, likely insurgent rebels fighting against the Roman occupiers, hung on either side of Jesus - one was broken and belligerent, the other, mindful and respectful … and there’s Jesus in the middle, between these two dynamics, these two realities, anger and hope … 

Good Friday, and what’s good about it?

Jesus there in the middle … receiving into his very own soul and body the anger and brokenness of the world … and the hopes and dreams, too - the worst of it, the best of it … both needing Jesus - to redirect the anger and shore up the hope. Jesus takes it all upon his shoulders, to give the world a second chance, a third and fourth chance, as many chances as is needed to bring the light into focus, to find ourselves and the goodness within our souls.

Good Friday, and what’s good about it?

A time to look at the cross and ponder the suffering of our world, a suffering that God takes up within God’s own being and heart and soul … and with all of that hurt and sorrow, all of that sin and shame, God dies … there is nothing God shuns about the human journey, from birth to death, and everything in between, to fulfill the promise, that God is at work in ALL THINGS, for good. 

Good Friday, and what’s good about it?

To consider Jesus and what he says and does … his kindness to all in need, his challenge to the rich and the powerful … his tireless work, and when he was tired and needed some rest, he went to the hills, the wilderness, there to find rest, peace, refreshment … there, in the hills, the wilderness, to find God, his Father, our Father, your Father … the Father of us all … the Mother of us all … the Mother who gives us birth, the Mother who feeds our soul, the Mother who weeps with us, and laughs with us.

Our Mother, Our Father, our God … Our Savior.

Good Friday, and what’s good about it?

What’s good is you … and your quest for meaning, for purpose, for life. God is present in all things in your life - ALL THINGS - at work, clearing the way, opening doors, closing others, pointing there and speaking tenderly to your soul.

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want!

To God all things, and in all things, God!

 Prayers of Church & Community, March 24

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy God, Eternal Light … 

Companion of the Way …

Help us, in this moment, 

to cleanse our minds,

to center ourselves in your love.

With the peoples of ancient Jerusalem, O God, we wave our palms of victory, and lay our cloaks upon the road … we lift our hearts in grateful praise, and pray for a better day … we welcome you, O Christ, to our cities and towns, to our homes and our hearts.

In humility and sorrow, dear God, we pray for the church around the world … 

In humility and sorrow, we pray for the nations of the world … 

In humility and sorrow, we pray for the citizens of Moscow … 

In humility and sorrow, we pray for the lands besieged by war, famine, and disease.

In humility and great joy, we give thanks, for the glory of our baptism … 

In faith, hope, and love, we stand with Jesus in the Jordan, dear God, and John the Baptist is beside us … 

with little Noah John and his family, O God… and all their friends, gathered here in this sacred place, we lift our hearts in grateful praise, for the great work of Christ.

Reach deep into our minds, we pray, with the healing light of Christ … that we might leave here today with a fresh sense of who we are in Christ, and what must be done for the sake of Christ … 

Remind us, dear God - we are not alone in the huge tasks of love … we put our hands to the plow along with millions of women and men of good conscience and fortitude … 

we are not alone, O God - the saints who’ve gone before us lend us their strength, their love, their prayers, and wisdom … 

we are not alone, dear God - your Holy Spirit is our companion, Christ himself our strength and vision.

All of this, in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen. 

3.17.24 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Prayers of Church & Community, March 17, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy God, Eternal Light … creator of the heavens and the earth … your poetry is written

across the evening sky, and inscribed upon our heart … you speak to us quietly and without fanfare … you speak in the tenderness of a child’s smile, their exuberance, and the pleading of their eyes, that we give them a future. You are the unsettling presence that stirs our conscience, you are the soothing mercy that heals the troubled soul. 

Holy God, Eternal Light … we pray for our needs, and those of our loved ones … we give thanks for the good we have done, and we express sorrow for the good we didn’t do … 

We pray, O God, for wisdom … to discern the difference between what is real and what is fantasy … to know falsehood and how it destroys, to know the truth and how it saves … to read the news with careful eyes, to hear the the stories of the day with thoughtful ears … to weigh carefully the claims made, to pray without ceasing, for the counsel of your Holy Spirit.

We give thanks for the likes of King David … his goodness and his achievements … and his honesty when he failed … when he failed those whom he loved, when he failed his nation, when he failed you, O God. 

May the leaders of our world know the boundaries of power … may they be saved from the delusions of status … may the great nations of the world learn the art of restraint, compromise, and doubt - self-doubt, O LORD, an important gift on the road to hope, for nations, and for each of us.

We pray for our YouTube Family - for John and Rose, Marla, Mark, Charles, Anne and Stan - all of them, and more … for their faithfulness, we are grateful, and we pray, O LORD, for their welfare, in mind, body, heart, and soul. 

For our Muslim sisters and brothers, and the Season of Ramadan … 

We pray this day for people of faith throughout our nation … a welter of voices, some claiming special revelation, others just going with the flow … more churchianity than christianity, more form than faith … help us, we pray, to move deeply into the mysteries of our faith, to draw large the circles of concern and purpose, to be more than what we are, to grow and not shrink, to enlarge our cache of wisdom, add to it, enlarge it, give it life, that we might give to the generations to come greatness of courage, breadth of compassion, deeps of serious thinking, and the ethics of justice and peace.

In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen. 

3.10.24 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Prayers of Church & Community, March 10, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church

Holy God, eternal light, savior of our souls …

We are grateful for this moment, dear God - to be here in this place of vast memories, and unhindered hope … a place connected to the deepest currents of time and faith … a place to find ourselves … ground ourselves in the eternal truths of Christ … find strength to work and to life and to love … to sing the great hymns of faith, to read and ponder the Scriptures, to see ourselves in the light of Christ, and in the light of Christ, to see your enteral glory, O God - all that is good and right and beautiful.

Holy God, you are the rising cloud of the day and the pillar of fire at night … you are water from the rock, and manna in the morning … you are the sustenance of our lives, you are the law of the soul, you are the light ahead, and the way forward.

How many times, O God, have you parted the sea, to take us by the hand, and lead us to the Promised Land … how many times, O LORD, have you saved us, protected us, seen us through the wilderness, to make a way for us through a barren land?

How many times, O God, have your forgiven our faults and failings … how many times have you given us a fresh start, a new day, to begin all over again the tasks of living.

Holy God, eternal light, we give thanks … 

We pray for Israel and Palestine - the children of Abraham … we pray that peace will be found, justice achieved … forgive our warring ways, O God … the dogs of war devour the human soul … ancient hatreds resist healing … the merchants of death prosper … let the road to a better day be ours, O God … the green pastures and the still waters of truth.

We pray for loved ones, family and friends …

We pray for our nation, our President and Vice-President, members of Congress and the judiciary. We pray for state and local governments … we pray for our colleges and universities … local school systems and school boards … teachers and librarians … we pray for the preservation of our Democracy.

Let the bells of freedom ring loud and clear … let half-truth clouds be swept away … let the foolish notions of selfish religion be transformed to serve the welfare of all. Reveal, we pray, to one and to all, the greater truths of Christ.

In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen. 

3.3.24 Prayers of Church & Community, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Prayers of Church & Community, March 3, 2024

Westminster Presbyterian Church

O God, your hand is upon us … your angels surround us … your love leads us on … 

We are yours from before the foundation of the earth … it was your breath that gave us life, it’s your hand that leads throughout our days … and in the end, O God, you take us by the hand, and walk with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, a valley we all must travel, to the Land beyond … to the city of eternal light, where there are no more tears, and no more pain.

O God our Creator … Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Mother, Daughter and Eternal Love … teach us how to pray … touch our hearts with your goodness, that we might turn to you throughout the day, and well into the night … and in the morning of the next day, to greet thee … for all the days of our lives.

Teach us, we pray, how to pray … to open our hearts to your glory, and follow in the footsteps of Christ … to care deeply and profoundly for the world in which we live … to be more than consumers of your kindness … to never take for granted the blessings of your kindly favor … to embody in our words and being the very presence of Christ.

Holy God, we pray for loved ones and friends … 

We pray for those in grief … 

We pray for the homeless of our land, 

refugees around the world, millions in distress …

We pray for scientists and engineers … for software developers … those creating the powerful tools of AI … 

We pray for the women and men who get up every morning and shoulder the burdens of the day … make lunches for the kids … off to work they go: sit by a desk, grip a hammer, lift a shovel, go to meetings, drive a truck, and come home tired … … pay the bills … worry about their health … read less than they want to, dream of vacations in faraway places, try to count their blessings, and love as best they can. O Lord, bless them one and all.

We pray for our nation and its leaders … the President and Vice President, members of Congress and the judiciary … preserve our Democracy, O LORD … we have failed in many ways, but the dream is worthy of our lives: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Remind us, O God, that we have a role to play … we are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth … by your Holy Spirit, you equip us to be the disciples of Christ in our time and place. 

Remind us, dear God, how important this is … what we must do to protect the children, care for the earth, lift up the fallen, help those in need, speak out against the lies and superstitions of the day, and speak up for the truth that sets us all free - that love, and love alone, is the way ahead. 

In the name of our LORD Jesus Christ who taught us to pray, saying:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.