One of the last pieces of our youth Maundy Thursday worship service. Prayer seems like an appropriate thing to do on this Holy Saturday.

After washing the disciples feet, after eating the Last Supper, Jesus finds himself in the Garden of Gethsemane, doing what he often does: praying. He prays for us, his disciples, knowing that the road we will have to travel will, like his road, be a difficult one. That Jesus prays for our protection implies that we will face danger. He knows that we will be called to follow him in death.

As we are called to walk the road which Jesus walked, we are also called to be people who often find ourselves in prayer. Prayer, like the washing of feet and the receiving of communion, is also an act that forces us to die to ourselves. When we pray, we acknowledge that we are not in control. When we pray, we cannot lie, we cannot deceive, we cannot position ourselves for power or status, but we are laid bare as we come to our Maker. In a world where people manipulate one another for selfish interests, prayer is perhaps the only place where we are unable to manipulate someone else. We are utterly powerless in prayer to make ourselves out to be anything other than what we already are. In prayer the masks we wear come off and the real person underneath begins to emerge. In biblical terms, prayer is the death of the old self and the rising of the new creation.