Good Friday

Reflection & Practices

On the Friday before Easter Sunday, the Church commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus. As we contemplate the work that Jesus’ death does on the cross, let us also remember why he died, and at whose hands. 

Jesus was thought to be the respective political, religious, or military savior that various Jewish groups yearned for while occupied by the Roman Empire. Nonetheless, Jesus was rejected and ultimately executed by these powerful establishments of his day — and even deserted by many of his followers and friends. Christ dies at the hands of Empire, aided by the fear, dehumanization, and top-down power structures that it breeds and reinforces. As Jesus gives up his power, thus choosing solidarity with the oppressed, disenfranchised, and vulnerable, we can see more clearly the Kingship of Christ: based on subversive, unconditional love and servanthood. Jesus’ Kingdom is about Life and hospitality for all, particularly the least among us.

And yet, Jesus’ death isn’t lost on us this week. It is easy to yearn for a political, religious, or economic messiah in our time of physical separation, when healthcare workers aren’t fully protected, families across the globe are struggling, black and brown communities are disproportionately impacted, and our most vulnerable fail to receive care (those in prison, those at “high-risk”, those reliant on the systems that have been majorly disrupted). And the list goes on.

In our own time of sorrow, anger, loneliness, and loss, Christ’s death on the cross hits deeply. This Good Friday, may we mourn and lament for the ways our world is broken, failing, corrupt. Let us confess that we (globally, nationally, personally) may be complicit — and look to the ways of God’s Kingdom for guidance. May we continue to pattern our discipleship after Jesus’ example: radical hospitality and unconditional love. Let us be re-membered as the Body of Christ, scattered as we are, as we take up our cross, are broken open, and come Sunday…find new life with Jesus.

Noon | Good Friday Music & Meditation +

This is a space for you on the Friday that is called Good because of Jesus’ deep love for us—a love stretched out for us on a cross.

Through Music, Scripture and Prayer we invite you to ponder and reflect upon the gift of life given to you through the death of Jesus.

This gathering will go live at noon but can be listened to at any point of the day, by yourself or with family on Facebook.

Good Friday Personal Meditation +

Alternatively, spend time with these Scriptures: Isaiah 53 | Psalm 22 | John 19: 16-30.

Pray:

Lord Christ, at times we are like strangers on the earth, taken aback by all the violence, the harsh oppositions. We remember the violence of the cross. And we remember your forgiveness, your command to love not only neighbors, but enemies. We remember that it is the peacemakers that will be blessed. Like a gentle breeze, you breathe upon us the Spirit of peace. Transfigure the deserts of our doubts, and so prepare us to be bearers of reconciliation wherever you place us, until the day when a hope of peace dawns in our world. Amen.

— Brother Roger of the Taizé Community, (adapted for Good Friday)

Meditate on the lyrics of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", by Isaac Watts:

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss,

And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast

Save in the death of Christ, my God.

All the vain things that charm me most,

I sacrifice them to His blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,

Sorrow and love flow mingled down.

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that I, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen. ✝ 

— Phyllis Tickle, The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime, p. 345

A picture of the steps leading from the high priest Caiphus’ house, from the Fall pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Jesus is said to have walked over these steps after his arrest and again on the way to his trial before Pilate.

May this blessing (and the shroud that we usually pass) follow you from the cross, to the tomb, to the resurrected life in your homes this weekend.

Song of the Winding Sheet
For Good Friday

blessed is the One
who laid
himself down,

blessed is the One
emptied for us,

blessed is the One
wearing the shroud.

Holy the waiting,
holy the grieving,
holy the shadows
and gathering night

Holy the darkness,
holy the hours,
holy the hope
turning toward light.

We never
would have wished it
to come to this,
yet we call
these moments holy
as we hold you.

Holy the tending,
holy the winding,
holy the leaving,
as in the living.

Holy the silence,
holy the stillness,
holy the turning
and returning to earth.

Blessed is the One
who came
in the name,

— Jan Richardson p. 143-4, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.

Maundy Thursday

Reflection & Practices

John 13:1
“Having loved his dear companions, Jesus continued to love them right to the end.”  (The Message).

 Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (NRSV)

It is Thursday.

On this day when Jesus would be betrayed and denied, before he would be killed and buried, Jesus takes time to show his love “to the end.” Jesus never stops loving no matter the circumstances. Take time today to enjoy a meal with Jesus and reflect upon his abiding love. What is Jesus’ invitation to you in your challenging circumstances?

Below you see some suggested practices. We invite you to discover your own as well.

Suggested family liturgy +

This at home liturgy is especially wonderful for families!

Otherwise, you may find a shorter practice suits you.

Sit down with a meal & invite Jesus to join you +

LISTEN | Scripture Reading — Read Luke 22:1-23 out loud. As you read it, pick out a word, phrase, or emotion that stands out to you.

REFLECT |

• Food is a common love language. How have you experienced “love” through food recently?

• What is special to you about communion/The Eucharist? What do you miss about sharing together?

• How does it make you feel to know that Jesus fed and shared a meal with all of his disciples, even Judas who would soon betray him? What does that teach us about God?

• Jesus gives thanks for the bread before breaking it. What things do you give thanks for in your life?

Finish with John 13:1-35. Imagine Jesus washing your feet and inviting you to live a life of love as he has loved you.

A prayer for today +

God,

good beyond all that is good,

fair beyond all that is fair,

in you is calmness, peace, and concord.

Heal the dissensions that divide us from one another

and bring us back to a unity of love bearing

some likeness to your divine nature.

Christ knew what it felt to be betrayed by friends.

Help us to forgive our betrayers and love our enemies

Through the embrace of love and the bonds of godly affection,

make us one in Spirit

by your peace which makes all thing peaceful.

We ask this through the grace, mercy and tenderness of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

-- Dionysisus of Alexandria (d. 264) adapted for Maundy Thursday

Watch & pray with Jesus +

Not long after sharing the Eucharist and washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus asks his followers to stay up with him and pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, before he is arrested. We invite you to keep watch and pray this night. Taize & breath prayer can be especially formative.

Sing some hymns +

Join in with the worship band and other musicians you love. Check out Be Thou My Vision on webpage. (Note: Mark 14:26)

Blessings on your day with Jesus.

Jesus in the In-between Days

Music: Our Song in the Night

 “Christ’s humanity is meant to speak to our humanity.”  Marilynne Robinson in When I was a Child I Read Books.

Hebrews:  2:14-18  Since, therefore, the children share flesh
and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and
free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. (read all of text by clicking link.)

In past years, as we moved past Palm Sunday with our palm waving, hosanna-singing, and invitation to journey with Jesus to the cross, I’ve wondered how to focus on the days between Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem and the end of the week when Jesus will take his last supper with the disciples, be arrested, tried, crucified --- and then come back to life.

What do we do with Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and even Friday? ( And, what about that mysterious Saturday?!) How do we actually journey with Jesus to be ready to experience the gravitas of the cross so we can then rejoice with boisterous praise: CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!?

If you turn to the gospel writers, they inform us of Jesus’ priority in these in-between days. Three of the gospel writings (Matthew, Mark & Luke, called the synoptic gospels because they are similar) provide a glimpse of Jesus in the temple court speaking some of his strongest, countercultural words to the establishment of the religious order of the day as Jesus invites people to the heart of God’s message: Love God and one another.

Each of these gospels warns us (probably on Tuesday) there is a plot to kill Jesus (Matt 26:1-5; Mark 14:1-2; Luke 22:1-6). Jesus makes people uncomfortable while comforting the afflicted. Can you imagine the tension and buzz between people in Jerusalem?

As the last of the gospel writers, John skips much of the debate between Jesus and the religious leaders, and it is into John’s writing that I invite you to pause in our time of disorientation. He goes a different route and expands the message of this in-between week; his writing is more organic, internal, mystical and raw.

These next few days, I invite you to read John 12:20-50. Perhaps in different translations. As you contemplate Jesus’ week ponder how Jesus’ words speak into our week of:

disruption (schools closed til June);
frustration (there is not enough appropriate medical gear);
fear (do I have the virus – does someone I know);
anxiety (will I have a job at the end of this time);
loneliness (does anyone think of me)
sorrow (more deaths each day);

Perhaps these questions will guide your reading of John 12:

What does it mean for Jesus to say that “his hour has come?”
How does Jesus experience a troubled soul?
What do you notice in the relationship between Jesus and the Father?
What did it feel like for Jesus to not be believed in and still carry on?
What does it mean that Jesus came “not to judge the world but to save the world”?

As Jesus anticipates his earthly life ending, we cannot help but wonder how Jesus in his humanity experienced heartache, even torment, about what was to unfold at the end of the week – betrayal, denial, verdict of guilty, whipping, mockery and then death.

In Jesus’ humanity, he held onto a deep conviction. His life on earth was part of a larger story – a story that is for all humanity. Salvation, hope, new beginning, eternity. God disrupted the world through Jesus’ presence to alter the direction of history from destruction to LIFE. Can we believe this during a pandemic?

Sunday, with breath-taking news, will come. But, we hope you will pause today and reflect. Jesus is with you in your humanity. Jesus walked in the path of sorrow, suffering, and pain.
As the writer of Hebrews 2 poignantly declares: Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

What is Jesus’ invitation to you TODAY?

John 12 in The Message 44-46 Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark.

47-50 “If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn’t take it seriously, I don’t reject him. I didn’t come to reject the world; I came to save the world. But you need to know that whoever puts me off, refusing to take in what I’m saying, is willfully choosing rejection. The Word, the Word-made-flesh that I have spoken and that I am, that Word and no other is the last word. I’m not making any of this up on my own. The Father who sent me gave me orders, told me what to say and how to say it. And I know exactly what his command produces: real and eternal life. That’s all I have to say. What the Father told me, I tell you.”