Solemn Reproaches

On this Good Friday, I would encourage you to read Psalm 78, which recounts God's deeds of love for God's people throughout history.  This Psalm is the basis of the text I would like to share with you for your reflection in the darkness of this night.

I had never heard the Solemn Reproaches of the Cross until I started participating in our Ecumenical Crosswalk Good Friday Service with the Methodist and Presbyterian churches in our community upon arriving at Broadneck 3 years ago.  Today, in our noonday service, I led them for the first time, and was absolutely undone in a way I did not expect by reading these words that have been read over the centuries by Christians to conclude Good Friday worship.  Each is crafted as a response to the amazing deeds of God as told in Psalm 78, with the concluding line that despite all God has done, "you have prepared a cross for your Savior."

Take time to read these tonight.  And may God's peace be with you as we keep vigil, waiting for the light of Sunday morning and the new life God is working to bring forth beyond all our brokenness.

O my people, O my church, what have I done to you, or in what have I offended you? Answer me. I led you out from the land of Egypt to make you free, but you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

What more could I have done for you that I have not done? I planted you, my chosen and fairest vineyard; but when I was thirsty, you gave me vinegar to drink and pierced my side with a spear.

God, have mercy upon us.

I went before you in a pillar of cloud, and you have led me to the judgment seat of Pilate. I gave you a royal scepter, and the keys of the kingdom, but you have given me a crown of thorns.

God, have mercy upon us.

My peace I gave, which the world cannot give, and washed your feet as a sign of my love, but you draw the sword to strike in my name. I offered you my body and blood, but you scatter and deny and abandon me.

God, have mercy upon us.

I sent the Spirit of truth to guide you, and you close your hearts to Him. I pray that all may be one in the Father and me, but you continue to quarrel and divide, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I grafted you into the tree to my chosen Israel, and you turned on them with persecution and mass murder. I made you joint heirs with them of my covenants, but you made them scapegoats for your own guilt, and you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.

I came to you as the least of your brothers and sisters; I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. And you have prepared a cross for your Savior.

God, have mercy upon us.