Holy Saturday

Prayer in Preparation  God of passionate and vulnerable love, whose body, broken on the cross, rebukes us still:  Save us, hold us, and forgive us, so that you, both victim and victor, might lead us from death to life; through Christ our Savior.  Amen.

Call to Worship (Isaiah 53:4)

Surely he has borne our griefs

            and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken

            smitten by God, and afflicted.

Unison Prayer

Almighty God, look with mercy on your family for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed and to be given over to the hands of sinners and to suffer death on the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

Prayer of Confession

God the Merciful, we come to you having missed your way.  We confess our abiding concern for our own interests and our thoughtlessness of others.  We confess our self defeating anxieties and fears.  Where we have clung to old errors and distrusted your truth, where we have put our faith in power and security, grant us a portion of your love for humanity and for the world you have made.  Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, grant us the strength to begin again.  This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.