PSPC Worship Service

Leader: Tonight we gather to remember what was accomplished on the cross.

PEOPLE: The light shines in the darkness but the darkness did not understand it.

LEADER: Tonight we remember the circumstances that led Jesus to the cross.

PEOPLE: The light shines in the darkness but the darkness did not understand it.

Leader: Tonight we remember the love that kept Jesus on the cross.

PEOPLE: The light shines in the darkness but the darkness did not understand it.

Leader: Tonight we remember the redemption given through the cross.

PEOPLE: The light shines in the darkness but the darkness did not understand it.

Leader: Almighty God, look with mercy upon your children for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to redeem. Just as you graced the disciples in the upper room with your cleansing touch, grant, O Lord, your cleansing in our lives.

ONE: Like sheep we have all gone astray, turning from right paths that lead to justice and peace to pursue selfish abitions and chase after the desires of our hearts. Still, the Lamb of God does not abandon us, but searches for us; Christ bears the weight of our sin and carries us to the heart of God.

ONE: Trusting in God's grace, let us confess our sin.

ONE: O Jesus, we have rejected you and the One who sent you-- abandoning the way you tread, denying the truth you reach, despising the life you offer. So now we climb to the Place of the Skull and confess:

ALL: We have prepared a cross for our Savior.

ONE: We have turned a blind eye toward suffering-- dismissing another's hurt and pain, crossing the street to avoid seeing need, ignoring the plight of the displaced and desperate. So now we fix our eyes upon your wretched and wounded body and confess.

ALL: We have prepared a cross for our Savior.

ONE: We have kept silent when love demanded a response-- withholding kind words from one who craves compassion, excusing comments that diminish and disparage, shrinking in fear rather than speaking the truth in love. So now we cry out in response to Christ's heartbreaking lament and confess:

ALL: We have prepared a cross for our Savior.

ONE: We have done too little to confront the evils of this world-- denying the prejudice we carry and its power to harm, feigning powerlessness in the face of injustice, refusing to challenge systems that value some lives more than others. So now we stand ashamed before one unjustly condemned and confess:

ALL: We have prepared a cross for our Savior.

ONE: We have condoned violence in our nation and our world-- watching weapon stockpiles grow as the vulnerable suffer, hearing news of violence with the silence of disinterested souls, standing by as your precious children fall wounded and torn. So now we behold your pierced and bleeding body and confess:

ALL: We have prepared a cross for our Savior.

ONE: We have abandoned ou and turned against one another-- denying our claim on our lives, even in everyday choices, sowing division within the body of Christ rather than claiming others as kin, betraying you by rejecting your shalom. So now we join your followers at the foot of your cross and confess:

ALL: We have prepared a cross for our Savior.

ONE O Jesus, our suffering Lord, We have rejected ou and the One who sent you-- setting a crown of thorns upon your head, mocking your humility with derision, condemning ou to the death of a criminal. Forgive us. Redeem us. Renew us, we pray. We are distraught as we confess:

ALL: We have prepared a cross for our Savior.

ONE: Even at this-- the darkest hour-- when all seems lost, we give thanks that God is near tous. The rejected One does not reject us, but carries our sin, and heals our brokenness. Believe the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!

ALL: Thanks be to God.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God‰