"Stumbling in the Dark"
Our Prayer of Confesion as We Journey to New Life
O God, we sing and praise you, happy of heart and strong of spirit, when we are among others who praise you. But in times of stress, we seek scapegoats to be targets for our anger. We betray those we love and who have loved us and we turn against you, too busy to seek you, too selfish to obey you. Your compassion is without bounds, O God, for you forgive us again and again. You restore us to a right spirit and bring us together to worship you again. God of steadfast love, teach us how to be steadfast; through Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Our scripture today is from John, chapter 11 verses 1-15 from the Common English Bible.
1 A certain man, Lazarus, was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ( 2 This was the Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was ill.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, "Lord, the one whom you love is ill." 4 When he heard this, Jesus said, "This illness isn't fatal. It's for the glory of God so that God's Son can be glorified through it." 5 Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6 When he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was. After two days, 7 he said to his disciples, "Let's return to Judea again." 8 The disciples replied, "Rabbi, the Jewish opposition wants to stone you, but you want to go back?" 9 Jesus answered, "Aren't there twelve hours in the day? Whoever walks in the day doesn't stumble because they see the light of the world. 10 But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn't in them." 11 He continued, "Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going in order to wake him up." 12 The disciples said, "Lord, if he's sleeping, he will get well." 13 They thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was in a deep sleep, but Jesus had spoken about Lazarus' death. 14 Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died. 15 For your sakes, I'm glad I wasn't there so that you can believe. Let's go to him."