Mar 9, 2008 - The Nails
Lenten Reading—Lazarus/The Nails
Leader: Today we lay before the cross the nails
which pierced the hands and feet of God’s Son.
The nails meant for construction became our instruments of destruction.
They remind us that we sent to death the Resurrection and the Life.
Congregation: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.
You call us from death to life.
Yet we fail to believe, and to answer your call.
Absorbed by self, we again place you on the cross,
refusing to take up our own and follow you.
Have mercy on us.
Leader: The nail-scars on Christ’s hands and feet remind us
of a Suffering Servant who not only wept,
but also suffered, with and for us.
.
Congregation: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.
We cannot grasp a Love that suffers with and for us.
We do not love like that; we turn from the suffering of others.
Absorbed by self, we again place you on the cross,
refusing to take up our own and follow you.
Have mercy on us.
Leader: God took the cross that we constructed and, redeeming it, redeems us.
Through the One we crucified,
God conquered the power of sin and death.
In Christ’s resurrection we too can rise to new life.
Congregation: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.
We shrink from the life to which you call us.
We cling to our graveclothes
instead of believing and seeing your glory.
Absorbed by self, we again place you on the cross,
refusing to take up our own and follow you.
Have mercy on us.
Leader: Let us pray together...
Congregation: Almighty God, whose glory it is always to have mercy:
Free us from the self-absorption of sin.
Forgive the ways we continue to place Jesus on the cross.
Form in us his very character--
his humility,
his service,
his forgiveness,
his sacrificial love--
Through Your mighty resurrection power! Amen.
Copyright 2008 Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene.
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