“Beyond the Cross”
A Prayer by Rev. Stephanie Price
God of New Life,
We gather beyond the cross.
Knee deep in a collage of traditions; chocolate bunnies, honey hams, hidden eggs, and morning worship services.
We are the wanderers in this post-resurrection world; simultaneously seeking deeper meaning and present justification, a future hope and a space of apathetic contentment.
Through piles of questions and impatient gestures, we collectively ask; Who are we to be in this place?
For like you, O Risen One, we confront suffering and pray for the cup to be taken, crying out for permission to walk away from a call to be anything more. Like you, our eyes well up with tears and words do not visit us at our defense.
But, unlike you, we have forgotten to listen beyond the words of our own prayers. And in that we remain buried beneath the empty walls of the tombs of our own making.
Forgive when they are worthy, Risk when it is safe, Change when we are ready…in the daily behaviors of our lives are choreographed the denial of the Living Christ and in our shadows, Judas lives, in our ears, the cock crows…
Still, out of the tomb you call us to explore the open air and fertile possibilities beyond the death of our own crosses.
O Creator of this world,
Persevere in our souls though our actions might deny you; that the paths we walk might be sacred ones and the choices we make might be holy ones.
Rise up in us, and grant us a greater vision. Proclaim in our hearts the message of your kingdom.
Let justice and humility stir within us that our feet might wander beyond the desolate grounds of death.
Let courage burst forth in us that we might no longer sit facing the certainty of stone but awake to a world you deemed worthy to save, joining in a new chorus whose song springs forth from the blessedness of resurrection.
And let not our hearts be troubled though the cup of suffering remains present in the journey for in all our tears, in all our joys, in all our lives may we be freed by the cross that has been carried for us that we might venture ahead…
into Life beyond the cross.
Amen.
