Prayers for Thursday April 12, 2001

Maundy Thursday

Invocation or Call to Worship

On this night of betrayal and lost hope, we remember all who join You in meals with friends who can't be trusted. We remember those who have been betrayed by their own governments or their own parents. We remember them the way You do, with fortitude and with sure and certain hope of the inevitably of justice, despite betrayal. Bring us to that fortitude tonight, the fortitude of the true table, where justice and peace join hands. Amen

Prayer of Confession

If we have betrayed someone, O God, forgive us.
If we have betrayed ourselves, O God, forgive us.
If we have betrayed You, O God, forgive us.
Restore unto us the joy of Your salvation.
Give us new behavior to mark our days. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication

Let what we bring to this table be something that really matters to us. Let the table be full of the things that matter—and there let us share these precious things with each other. In these moments of sharing may we see Your presence Dear Jesus among us. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

As the cock crows and the dawn of realization comes, bring to us a new understanding of who You are. Let us see not a sentimental Jesus but a tried Jesus, one no longer unacquainted with grief. Let us see God among us as a man of sorrows. No longer a child but an adult, one whose innocence is in jeopardy. And then when we know You more, let us side with You against the powers and principalities that would put you in a pastel cage and turn you into someone overly nice and overly innocent. Let us link our trouble to yours and suffer with You when the time is right. Let us follow you all the way through tomorrow and the cross so that we may be a people lifted up with You as well. Amen.