God
who promises to be with us in life, in death, in life beyond death,
you
are with us in our times of triumph: singing and dancing and
celebrating,
you
are with us in our time of disaster and devastation:
sharing
our grief, holding us up, carrying us forward.
This
week we join Christians from all over the world in a journey,
we
go from triumphant entry and waving palm branches
to
a special meal in an upper room
to
arrest, trial, conviction, execution.
Disaster
has come.
And
still you are there, even as Jesus the Christ takes his last breath.
This
night as we tell the story we remember the disasters of the world.
Even
as we trust in the promise that life and love may yet win,
we
remember the seemingly overwhelming power of death and fear,
anger
and destruction, to devastate so many lives near and far.
Hear
us, Gracious God, as we lift up those whose life may have more
disaster than triumph this night:
the
people of Gaza, Israel, Palestine –
caught
in a seemingly endless cycle of violence, fear, and conflict;
the
people of Ukraine – dealing with invasion and war;
he
people of Haiti – living in a time of social upheaval;
all
those other places in the world where violence is the norm –
even
though thy don’t make it onto the headlines anymore;
those
in various countries where food is scarce;
those
neighbours closer at hand who worry where the rent will come from,
or
have to choose between food and utilities;
our
2SLGBTQIA+ neighbours near and far who are attacked, despised, cast
out for trying to be true to who You created them to be;
Gracious
God we lift up all those who have be pushed to the margins,
all
those who feel broken by the world
may
all your beloved children feel you meeting them in their time of
disaster.
God
of Love, the story we have just hear reminds us that love can be
hard.
We
hear how Jesus, who commands us to love,
challenged
the powers of his world who found his understanding of the world to
be a threat, knowing that it would likely end in a torturous death on
a cross.
We
are reminded that the powers of empire and control will strike back
against those who are different, those whose vision for life calls
for sacrifice and change.
Hear
us as we pray for those who are unjustly arrested, persecuted, even
killed
simply
for trying to change the world...,
simply
for trying to live into your vision for a world renewed.
Source
of life and love, on this day of disaster, devastation and death,
we
pray for the time when triumph, love, and life have the final
victory.
We
pray for a world that is broken in so many ways,
looking
ahead to the promise of being made whole again.
Give
us all, we pray, the courage to work through the broken-ness,
to
face the devastation head-on,
to
challenge those things that work against Your Kingdom,
so
that we might be agents of change,
helping
to bring wholeness,
carriers
of Your love for the world.
We
pray in the name of Jesus,
our
teacher and guide,
our
rock and redeemer,
whose
passion for the Kingdom knows no bounds.
Amen.
