God of Resurrection Prayer

God of Resurrection,
we come on this most holy of mornings,
thankful and awed by your power to save us.
Thank you for the gift of your son Jesus Christ
whose resurrection brings us life.
You know us, Lord, in our humanness.
You lived and breathed and walked among us,
you know us inside and out, every word and action;
our secret thoughts are known only to you.
You know the areas in our lives that are dead;
you are familiar with our tombs.
There are relationships that once brought us life, that are now broken.
We have dreams that have faded and finally died,
hopes that are shrivelled and lie abandoned.
We sit in these tombs.
Can these bones live?

You know our world,
the harmony that has given way to hatred,
the co-operation that has changed to conflict.
The wars that go on and on, with atrocity after atrocity.
We sit in these tombs.
Can these bones live?

Thank you Lord that you are an impossibility specialist;
you can bring new life where there is lifelessness,
you can resurrect hope where we feel only despair,
you can fill us with energy when we are at our lowest ebb.

Bring Easter to those we know who are filled with grief.
We think especially of_________________.
Bring Easter to those who face a health crisis.
We think especially of_________________.
Bring Easter to all who are locked in prisons,
prisons with walls and bars and prisons of addiction.
Bring Easter to Syria,
which has been chained by the forces of death
these many years.
And bring Easter to each of us;
we want to meet you in the garden of our hearts,
to recognize you, and to fall on our knees.
We pray these things in the name of Christ
whose life and love death could not destroy,
whose resurrection is our hope, now and forever.
Amen.