Congregational Prayer - Palm Sunday, April 1, 2007
Rev. Vincent A. Fasano
Praise be to You, Good and Gracious God! On this Palm Sunday we gather
to worship within the shadow of the Cross, thanking You for loving us,
for coming to us in Jesus to reconcile the world to Yourself.
Cause us now to remember and relive that first Palm Sunday, imagining
our presence back then. As Jesus began the Jerusalem journey, in spite
of gathering crowd, his heart must have been was heavy-laden. As
garments and branches were strewn on the road, as people waved their
arms on high, shouting frivolous hosanna’s, there - on a colt, the foal
of an ass, rode Your son - broken-hearted by the dullness of the crowd.
Yes, O God, they greeted him as King -- they had his title right - but
his identify- wrong! O God, save us from being as blind as that first
Palm Sunday crowd. Even as we confess the narrowness of our vision, our
distortion of sight, we desperately long to know the fullness of Your
Son’s identity.
So, we pray, earnestly: Open our Eyes - to see the real Savior -the One
whose love knew no bounds -the One whose outstretched arms would one day
embrace all the human family -no one exclude.. No one left out..and no
one, no one, un-forgiven; Open our Ears - that we hay hear Your call
,hear Your living word come to dwell within; Open our Mouths - to
proclaim your Son’s true identity -the Servant who suffers alongside us;
Open our Hearts - to uphold, in prayer and action, each in our wide
circle of care whose health is challenged - those ill, those
recuperating, and those who face medical intervention this week.
Let your healing balm bathe their bodies and minds, and, before this
week is gone, cause the balm of our phone calls, visits and prayers to
be the fragrance of our love affirming how precious they are to each of us.
Heavenly Parent, most of all we pray that You will open wide our arms.
Grant us the strength to stretch our arms out the same way as did Jesus
- not to embrace our selves - but to be servants, obediently embracing
the lost, the shattered, today. Give us that power to live as He lived,
to be willing even to suffer -the price we become willing to pay for
doing good in this broken world.
Good and Gracious God, cause your Son to be born again even in us, even
today! As He walked the path of obedience, as He handed himself over to
death, likewise - as individuals and as this compassionate community -
lead us into handing ourselves over in love - for You, for one another,
for all people – and, in that handing over - to re-discover our true
selves in the Person of Jesus.
Praise be to You O God, and to Your Son, our Lord Jesus, Spirit of Your
Spirit, flesh of our flesh, love un-bounding, Amen!
