Month: April 2021

*Note: Check out our Holy Week Playlist on Spotify (linked here) as you read and reflect on the following. Today’s songs are Man of Your Word, Promises, and Lord You’re Holy.*

Scripture Reading: Psalm 13

Waiting, something that not many people like to do and try to avoid it all costs by ordering ahead or making reservations. Even in spaces like hospitals and offices where it is normal to have to wait, lobbies are filled with magazines and televisions to occupy our time. Then along came March of 2020, a time when we had no other choice but to be patient and completely stop the normal rhythms of our lives that kept us busy. Students were forced to learn online while their parents worked online. Senior students spent 4 years of their lives working towards a degree only to have the one ceremonial piece that made it worth it, a graduation, cancelled. Families spent months apart from each other due to travel bans and many families lost their homes due to job loss while communities of color were greatly impacted by racism and lack of adequate healthcare.

I imagine that the Israelites were no strangers to feelings of disappointment and impatience, in a lot of ways it is part of their history. While enslaved in Egypt they groaned just like in Psalm 13 “How Long Lord” waiting to be freed. Now fast forward to Jesus, a time when the Israelites are now anticipating the coming of a great conqueror to save them from the oppressive rule of the Roman empire. They are not expecting Jesus, a gentle man who spent his time with those who were deemed undesirable. In their anger and impatience they crucified him in an effort to stifle his movement and work on waiting for the next messiah. 

For his disciples and family, I imagine the Saturday after Jesus’ crucifixion was debilitating and quiet. In the Jewish tradition Saturday was a day meant for rest, a day where they could not busy themselves with work or other distractions. Many of them were hiding, worried they would not suffer the same fate because of their association with Jesus. While it felt as though Jesus had ended up being a great big disappointment, there was a lot more going on. Some argue that Jesus descended into hell to defeat Satan while others argue he was there saving lost souls. Ultimately, God was working on our behalf to defeat sin and free us from death forever.

While patience is one of the hardest virtues, it is also one of the most important to our walk as believers. It is hard especially during times of trial because it feels as though God is simply ignoring our suffering while expecting us to sing his praises. However quite the opposite is going on, God is working on our behalf in ways we are not able to see yet. On this Saturday the disciples thought God had forsaken them, they like the Israelites were groaning “…will you forget me forever?”. They did not realize that God had not forgotten about them but was in fact working to save them for eternity.

Written by Guerldyn Joanem

While Jesus was on the cross, he uttered 7 brief sentences. It is common to return to these, called the Seven Words or Seven Sayings, on Good Friday. Sometime between noon and 3pm, I invite you to meditate on these Seven Words. Read through each of these slowly, and more than once. 

Luke 23:34 – Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Luke 23:43 – Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.

John 19:26-27 – Woman, here is your son. Here is your mother.

Matthew 27:46 + Mark 15:34 – My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

John 19:28 – I thirst.

John 19:30 – It is finished.

Luke 23:46 – Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. 

Consider this, that Jesus is nearly dead – he has been beaten and whipped. He has been abandoned and denied by those in his inner circle. He has been forced to carry a heavy wooden cross through town and up a hill. He has been brutally nailed to that cross, which were designed to make it painful and difficult to even breathe. So each word he pushes out of his lungs must be worth the effort. 

Which saying from Jesus stands out to you? Go read that saying in its full context- read the 8-10 verses before and after the saying that has stood out to you. Who is Jesus talking to? What significance does this statement carry? How is that saying reaching across the last 2,000 years to speak to you now? 

When Jesus had spoken his last, although it was the middle of the day (sometime between noon and 3pm, hence the timing of this meditation today), the sky went dark. In the temple, a curtain that had separated the laypeople from the inner sanctum of God for thousands of years was ripped in two, from top to bottom. It was God the Father saying that we are no longer separated from Him. Jesus had made a way. 

I want to move your imagination now to the disciples on that strange Friday afternoon, where the sun went dark midday, where the ancient curtain was impossibly torn, where the man who they thought was the Messiah gasped his last breath. They didn’t know then that he would rise from the dead. Had they just wasted the last 3 years? Who would ever love them like Jesus had? Think also of Mary, who more than anyone had poured herself out for Jesus. Her very body had been broken to bring him into the world. What did she have to show for it now? Where were those wise men, that shiny star that promised Emmanuel, God With Us? 

Sometimes, I get so caught up in Lent, in making time to pray, in fasting, in listening to Lenten devotionals, that I forget about Holy Week. I forget that Jesus was a real person who was really murdered by Empire and Religious Leaders. I forget that he had a mother who held his lifeless and battered body. I forget that he had laughed and stoked campfires and thrown nets to catch fish. I forget that he probably had calluses on his palms from sanding down wood. I forget that his words, his robes, his saliva had healed people. When I remember, I am heavy-laden with grief. Because that is what Mary and the disciples stood to lose. That is what Peter thought about as he hovered at the fringes of the crowd, burdened with shame as he remembered he and Jesus’ last exchange. 

Westerners in general, but Americans in particular, are allergic to grief. In a culture that pulls us up by our bootstraps, that feeds us empty Dreams, that tells us we are sufficient in and of ourselves, that would rather split its own soul than to ever face its faults…where is there room for the messy, non-linear shape of grief? We would rather rush to pleasant platitudes and plastic smiles. We want Easter, yes, and Easter will come even if we have to drag it here prematurely. 

As I write this, I want to wrap us up in a comfy place. I want to look forward with eager expectation at the jubilation Sunday will bring. I want to remind us that this Good Friday is not the end of the story for us. I am uncomfortable with naming the grief of this loss if I don’t soften it with the hope of what is to come.

But I think

It is a good practice

To sit in the lament

And not rush to the victory

Because the tomb is not yet empty, and the victory is not yet won

Not yet, not yet, not yet. 

As you think about your meditation on one of Jesus’ final sayings, as you allow yourself to remember the reality of his life and death, as you find yourself at the scene of the cross in kinship with the disciples and with Mary…what grief do you need to name? What echoes around in your heart saying, “Not yet, not yet, not yet”? What victory are you waiting for? What loss are you hoping to have restored to you? In short…where do you need resurrection? How is God inviting you to wait in that need this Friday? 

If you’d like to continue in your remembering of the cross, check out this video on the Stations of the Cross written by students from the School of Restorative Arts and North Park Theological Seminary : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=304KVHLrlH4&feature=youtu.be

Written by Sara Woody

*Note: Check out our Holy Week Playlist on Spotify (linked here) as you read and reflect on the following. Today’s songs are O Come to the Altar, Scandal of Grace, and Come As You Are.*

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

At the church I grew up in, 5^th grade was the year that most students participated in their first communion. Leading up to this event, there were several classes that I went to with my peers and our parents to teach us about this process and its significance. A few weeks later I watched as my friends took their first communion at a special church service while I remained a spectator in the pews. My parents thought I was too young and that the process was too rushed. They wanted my first communion to be my choice, and that I could let them know when I was ready. How long was I supposed to wait? How would I know when I was ready?

I sat with these questions for quite some time, and it wasn’t until my confirmation in 9^th grade that I told my parents I was ready. It was already a time that I was proclaiming my testimony to the church and taking ownership over my faith. What a more fitting opportunity to celebrate than by partaking in the Lord’s supper! It ended up being a really special moment, as my parents surprised me by signing up to serve communion that Sunday.

Before communion is served, a pastor will often read from 1 Corinthians, retelling the events of Maundy Thursday. Every time we participate in communion we practice the ancient tradition of entering a covenant and we are reminded that Jesus died on the cross for each and every one of our sins. Beyond this, we share a meal together as friends. This is something that Agape and Ecclesia does so well. When we are able to gather in person, the way in which we practice communion so perfectly captures the idea of community!

Whether or not your first communion experience was as memorable as mine, I challenge you to think carefully about the words of institution the next time you hear them. Jesus spoke these words to his followers and friends, knowing full well that one of them would betray him that same evening and another would deny him three times. Did Jesus wait for the right moment? That’s debatable. Were the disciples ready for this experience? Probably not, and that’s okay. But what Jesus did do was ensure that his heart and mind were in the right place as he shared this final meal.

Reflection Questions:

What do you currently do to prepare yourself for communion? What does it look like to prepare your heart and mind before an important and symbolic meal?

In addition to communion, where in your life is Jesus calling you to prepare your heart and mind?

 

Written by Emily Petersen