Good Friday Message- Bishop Kevin Nichols
Like our young Artists we enter the story of Christ’s Passion and death. We bring the tapestry of our own lives… Our joys and our burdens? What have these last few months or this past year been like for you? What images come to mind as you paint the cross you have carried?
Fresh in the Disciples minds was that moment when Jesus knelt at their feet and said… love one another as I have loved you. In the anguish – the unimaginable anguish of what was about to unfold – Jesus still speaks of love. A sacrificial love…
At his hour of deepest need he cries out to God. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In the suffering of THIS current moment, where injustice and cruelty abound, the brokenness of our own lives is laid bare. We have come to the tomb.
On Good Friday – we are brought to our knees… The death of our beloved Jesus is more than we can bear… We cry out…
We cry out for the Church throughout the world… that the witness of the littlest ones among us will embolden us to persevere in becoming the Beloved Community – a just and inclusive society that begins with the belovedness of all… What is your prayer?
We cry out for all nations and peoples of the earth, and for the earth itself. For those entrusted with leadership. For communities around the globe ravaged by COVID and overwhelmed by poverty, economic injustice and oppression… May we seek justice and peace in the world. What is your prayer?
We cry out for all who suffer and are afflicted in body, mind or spirit…
For the most vulnerable among us… In a special way for our loved ones who struggle this day. That God will comfort them, and stir up in us the will and patience to care for those most in need. What is your prayer?
Lord, free us from the dark night of death. Let the light of resurrection dawn within our hearts to bring us to the radiance of eternal life. Amen
Dear people of God: Our Heavenly Father sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved; that all who believe in him might be delivered from the power of sin and death, and become heirs with him of everlasting life.
Rt. Rev. Kevin Nichols