Today during our Good Friday service, Parish Associate Rev. Dr. John Ames (how's that for an official title!) said something I've been thinking about all afternoon: "We cannot explain the cross - all we can do is point toward it."

Maybe that's what I've been feeling today. When it comes to Good Friday, all theology fails me. It simply is ... God's love which triumphs over everything else, including death. That's more than enough to contemplate on this Friday. A day which I began in prayer, and keep finding myself praying as go about the routines of the day. I invite you to join me:

Prayers of Intercession ...

God, in your great mercy you have sent your Son to save the world from death. In remembrance of his suffering, let us pray:

• for the earth and all that God has created,


• for the church in every land and for our own congregation, its leaders and members,


• for the peoples of the world, for governments and leaders, for peace and justice,


• for the sick and the dying, for those who mourn, for those in distress,


• for our friends and family that they may have your guidance, that they may have health and hear your words of encouragement,


• for ourselves, that we may lead faithful lives, giving thanks for our baptism into Jesus' death and our rising with Jesus into new life.

In the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.

[Prayer from: Season of Ash and Fire, by Blair Gilmer Meeks (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), p. 127.

Photo: taken by Sara Holben - May 2009. Outside the Ethiopian Orthodox Chapel, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.