Lent

O Lord our God, unseal our lips that we may sing you praises - give us words that we may speak of your love - unstop our ears that we may hear what the Spirit is saying to us - and take our wills and make them yours that we may know what is best for us and have the power to do it.
We praise you that into our distraught world there has come One who has taught us how to live and how to die and how to live eternally. When we seek and admire pomp and power, He comes riding humbly on a donkey to proclaim His kind of rule. In our fickleness we cry out our Hosannas with the multitude on Sunday, then join in crying for His crucifixion on Friday - but He still dies for us - and we who were His enemies can now be His friends through His death. We deny Him as He only turns and looks at us. We betray Him and He still calls us friend. We follow Him afar off and sleep while He agonizes - and at last when we are in danger because of our discipleship we forsake Him and flee, not knowing we are fleeing the only hope we have of salvation and eternal victory. Still we crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to open shame - and still He dies that we might be forgiven, He dies to make us good.
O Lord, may we not miss the message of this season. Help us to take time to ponder it - and to stand at His Cross on Good Friday to discover that our richest gain is but loss when we look upon Him there, and to pour contempt on all our pride.
Show us what a difference this Cross makes, accepted by us and incarnated in us: what a difference it makes in our differences bringing us together - what difference it makes in strife bringing peace - in our families bringing love - and tomorrow, and forever bringing hope, bringing eternal life. Teach us, O Lord, that bane and blessing, pain and pleasure, by the cross are sanctified; peace is there that knows no measure, joys that through all time abide.
And may we tarry there until we are changed and are willing to help change the world by taking up our own Cross and following Him.
All that we ask is in His name. Amen