Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Readings
First Scripture Reading
Ezekiel 37: 21-28
Gospel Reading
John 11: 45-56

Opening Prayer

God of History, it is so comforting to hear Your promise that You will re-establish Your covenant of peace. You will heal all divisions within and among us. You call us back from the exile of our hearts, the exile from each other – and exile from You. You will dwell among us and gather us together in the arms of Your love. In strange and wonderful ways, we will pass over to You. But we know it will be confusing and painful. Like Caiaphas and the others, we have hearts confused with a mix of faith and fear, protection, and pettiness, love and darkness. Our confusion destroys what we do not understand. Jesus will die so that we can pass over. Why death for life, Holy God? We don’t understand! Why is Your saving presence among us so challenging, even as it is comforting. We want to pass over to You in Jesus – but we are afraid of the surrender and death! In the sanctuary of our hearts, give us faith to know that You, the Holy One, are with us. In the confusion of our destructive hearts, be the God of life, even as we taste death.

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