Saturday, March 23, 2013


A PRAYER FOR MAUNDY THURSDAY

Isaiah 53


Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.


That can't be our savior
Can it?

Look at you
You don't look very brave or dangerous
Certainly not strong enough to take on
our enemies... our burdens... our needs

We need to look for somebody else
Someone stronger
Leaner
Tougher
Someone who can take on our oppressors and liberate us from their tyranny


That can't be our savior
Can it?

Listen to you
We don't hear anything?
Only silence... Nothing
No words of protest or anger
No shouts at his persecutors


We need someone who will speak up
Declare the time for revolution
Sound the cry of freedom
Utter judgment upon those who condemn us

That can't be our savior
Can it?

You are just giving up
Acting like a lamb being led to the slaughter
No objection
No complaint
No plea of innocence

We need someone who will speak in his defense
in our defense
Someone who will resist the hangman's noose
Who will not die in complicity with his executioners
Someone who will be defiant before the last nail is hammered in the cross

 That can't be our savior
Can it?

Yes, Lord Jesus
It is you who are our savior
You who are obedient
Even to the last
Obedient to what God has called you to do

Yes, Lord Jesus
It you who are our savior
You who through your faith
Shout even in your silence
God's love for humankind

Yes, Lord Jesus
It is you who are our savior
You are the conquerer
over the power of death
and the grip of the grave

Hallelujah
We are saved
Hallelujah
We will rise again
Hallelujah
We will live with you forever

Amen

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