29A*
A Call to Worship
Good Friday Year A 2011
Psalm 22

Holy God, you are surrounded by the praises
of all your people, and we add our voices.
We celebrate with joy the way our ancestors
placed their trust in you, and you never failed them.

Yet, O Lord, we are surrounded by people all
clamouring to see us as a failure and of no use.
Stay beside us God, to strengthen us in out time
of trial, as you have been in every part of our life.

Help us never ignore suffering people of the world,
or their cries for help, mercy, justice and restoration.
Rejoice all you people whom God has blessed!
God is King! Eventually, all people will come to
know that! We gather to praise our God and King. Amen.

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Prayers of Lament and Trust
Good Friday Year A 2011
Psalm 22

O Lord our God, today you seem to be distant
from us, as if the Holy God of all things and all
creation has stopped listening to us. Are we
suddenly unworthy of God’s loving care and
attention? People mock us for our belief in God,
and our commitments to serving God, and when
life is tough for us, we also become a target of
their smear campaign. O God, this is all too hard
to understand, and it is very difficult to deal with.

We have always celebrated the fact that our
ancestors trusted in God through all of life’s
experiences, and they were never disappointed
in their God. We too, have known and served
God, and trusted in God’s care, yet now we feel
isolated and bereft of spiritual comfort. Life seems
just too difficult for us to manage and our spiritual
reserves seem to have been used up. Come to
us now, O God, in your tender mercy, and nurture
our souls and spirits so that once again, we are
confident of your loving care and Holy Presence.

Compassionate God, despite all these personal
doubts and fears, we know from past experience
that God will fulfil all the promises made to countless
generations, and that our God is utterly to be trusted,
even when God’s voice seems to be silent. We
know too, that our God is always waiting to help us
overcome our doubts; and with a renewed hope
in God’s merciful love for all creation, to believe that
God will continue to respond to the cries of people
in need, and to bless them for their trust in God.

It is our undimmed hope and our enlivened faith that
all the nations and all creation will respond with joy to
God, and will worship and praise God forever. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Good Friday Year A 2011
Psalm 22

O my faithful God, are you listening to me?
I have called and called you, day and night,
day after day – but there seems to be no answer!
Have I been mistaken? Is it that you have
already answered me, but that I have blocked
my ears because I do not like the message
you have given me? Speak clearly to me, O God.



I know that my parents certainly heard you when
they cried to you, and from their stories, their own
parents also communicated well with God. I have
known about God, and God’s loving care all my life,
that is why I am so puzzled. Without the confident
presence of God in my life, I feel as weak as water!



Despite all these lingering doubts, God’s gift of hope
and trust is still alive within me, and whilst trying to
ignore my personal fears and the slurs and smears
people throw at me, I need to step out boldly in faith
and trust to be a witness for God in my community. I
need to keep alive the vows and promises I made in the
past, and to wholeheartedly praise my God for all God’s
goodness and mercy, not only to me, but to countless
people who have been blessed by God in their need.



With joyful anticipation, I celebrate the fulfilment of God’s
rightful place in human life and in creation, when all people
and all things will worship and praise God forever and ever.

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Acknowledgements:
Unless stated otherwise, all Bible readings and extracts used in these weekly Prayers and Meditations are from
‘The New Revised Standard Version’ Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

*The additional weekly numbering is from the Revised COCU Indexing Scheme
COCU = ('Consultation on Church Union'); as it offers an easy sequential numbering
for the Revised Common Lectionary for the Church Calendar.

If any part of these Prayers and/or Meditations is used in shared worship, please provide
the following acknowledgement:
© 2011 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year A. Used with permission.

jstott@netspace.net.au

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: good_fridaya_2011.pdf

© 2011 Joan Stott - " The Timeless Psalms" RCL Psalm Year A