A Good Friday Call to Prayer:
The story of Christ’s death
that we tell today
invites our gathering, worshiping
and praying.
This story of Christ’s death also
invites our silence.
There must be silence somewhere
in this day because now
we are asked to remember and
connect our lives to
something that defies our full
comprehension or explanation.
Here we witness a love that
words will never contain.
The One whom we meet here
dwells
above, below, within and beyond
anything we might say.
We must make room for
silence.
The silence of Good Friday is a
heart-broken silence.
For here we witness the
needless suffering of a good person;
here we encounter the unjust
death of an innocent one.
Here we are asked to stay awake
to such suffering
as it exists in this world
today, and to the many ways
Christ is still crucified.
We will make room here for
a heart-broken silence.
The silence of Good Friday is a
humble silence.
For here we witness disciples
who flee and hide,
friends who cower and remain
silent in their fear.
We hear leaders who ask cynical
questions like: “What is truth?”
And here we must remember that
we are not so different;
we, too, hurt one another with our
action and our inaction.
We will make room here for
a humble silence.
The silence of Good Friday is a
reverent silence.
For here we witness just how
far love is willing to go,
and it goes much farther than
anyone could’ve imagined.
Love surrenders all claims to
power or privilege.
Love shows mercy in the face of
ignorance and violence.
Love lays down life, so that
life might flourish.
We will make room here for
a reverent silence.
Kyrie eleison.
