Friday

 

New Math

 

And He Breathed His Last

 

Words from the Cross

My friend Bethany has written a great post on “Prayers from the Cross” here and Lent and Beyond has a great post about it here.  Since these eloquent writers have already put their thoughts down so well, I am going to ponder and enjoy what they have to say and just post an image.

Today is a special day for me.  It was 22 years ago that Jesus found me – sitting in the audience at a Passion Play – and I fell in love with Him.  My life has never been the same.

So, wherever you are today, may you enter into the depth of this Story of Jesus hanging upon the cross.  May you know His great love for you and may He find you wanting Him with every fiber of your being.  May you enter into His death with Him and may you find that because of His death, your life will never be the same.

 

Nails

“The Son of God was laid upon the cross.  He had clung faithfully to the cross until the end of the journey.  But then He was to become one with the cross.  He was to be nailed to it.  He was to die upon it.  New instruments of torture came in view.  In addition to the chains of arrest, the whips of the scourging and the crown of thorns, we can now see the huge nails and hammer.

How Jesus must have trembled when He saw them!  What grief must have pierced the Father’s heart as the time for this cruel, new torture approached the Son.  Nailed to the cross!  Wehn we talk of nailing things, we usually mean lifeless objects.  We hammer nails through them, but they are insensitive.  We do not work on living creatures with hammers and nails.  But the Son of Man, who is the Son of God, the Creator of man, was less respected and worse treated than a lifeless object.  With crude violence they hammered nails into His hands and feet.  Those hands created and sustained the world.  One day, all enemies, together with the whole universe, will fall down at those feet.”  (From Behold His Love by Basilea Schlink)

 

Fickle

 

Friday

 

Gethsemane

³⁹Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” ⁴¹He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴²“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

⁴⁵When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ⁴⁶“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Luke 22:39-46)

Gethsemane-

who hears His pleading,

His fearful crying and entreating?

The Son of God in anguished fear

With none to solace Him is here.

He is alone, forsaken.

Gethsemane -

who notes His yearning,

Who sees Him to His friends now turning,

That He may all His grief impart,

And they may cheer, console His heart?

Alas!  His friends are sleeping.

Gethsemane -

who sees Him wrestling,

With evil powers around Him pressing,

Tormenting Him with all their might?

And in His soul He sees no light,

By God and man forsaken!

(Song from Well-Spring of Joy, taken from Behold His Love by Basilea Schlink)

 

Maundy Thursday Prayer

For those who come from a faith tradition like mine, you may not know what Maundy Thursday is.  I wrote a little about it here last year.  It is a call and reminder to walk in obedience to God – to put our lives into action.  And yesterday as I was roaming the blogshpere, I was also really struck by a blog post by Kathy Escobar on whether we are fans or followers of Jesus.

As we enter into these next few days I am praying this prayer (written by Mother Basilea Schlink):

My Lord Jesus,

I implore You, let me not be a Christian in name only nor a mere spectator of Your passion, but rather Your cross-bearer, following Your footsteps.  As a true member of Your Body, let my life reflect Your image.

I place myself in Your hands so that You can imprint upon me the traits of the Lamb.  Help me to endure willingly all that people do to me.  May I remain silent when I am unjustly accused.  Teach me to bless those who curse me and those who hate and persecute me.  I will humble myself beneath scorn and disgrace and patiently bear every cross that comes to me.  I know they come from Your hands.  People are just Your instruments.

I thank You that I can rely on the words of Scripture [and Your Spirit] and need no longer live for myself alone, but may let You live in me.  You are the Lamb of God, who endured all things in love.  Come into my heart anew as I meditate upon Your passion, and imprint in me Your humility and love.  As I think on these things, help me to thank You for the suffereing that You endured because of my sin.  Help me to show You my love and gratitude, not merely in words, but also in deeds.

 

Four Cups Plus One More

Tomorrow we will sit down to a meal in which I want my kids (and those guests joining us) to enter into the Passover meal and Jesus’ journey on His way to the cross.  I hope to bring elements faithful to the Passover (though I am not Jewish and many authentic elements will be excluded from our meal) but also interact with them in a way that possibly Jesus and His disciples did.  Thus, the readings are from both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels.

Here is what we will attempt:

As we go through the evening together, we will drink 4 cups of wine – each symbolizing a promise that God made to the Israelites while still in bondage in Egypt.

Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:6-7)

1st Cup – The Cup of Sanctification…“I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians”

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, our Creator.

(then drink)

Usually there would be a washing of hands but we read John 13:1-14 and so will wash one another’s feet (oldest to next oldest and so on until the youngest washes the oldest ones feet.)

Then, dip parsley in salt water and eat – to remember the tears of the children of Israel (read John 13:21-30 – possibly when Jesus gave Judas the morsel and sent him off)

2^nd Cup – The Cup of Deliverance…”I will free you from being slaves to them”

Read Exodus 12:1-42 (or the story from a children’s bible – especially for those with young ones)

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, our Creator.

(then drink)

Meal will consist of:

hummus and pita bread

roasted lamb

Tabouli

imjadara (lentils and brown rice)

(My husband comes from a Lebanese background, so these are foods we make often…I say make whatever your kids – or guests -will eat!)

3^rd Cup – The Cup of Redemption…”I will redeem you with an outstretched arm”

Read Mark 14:22-25 and partake in Jesus’ new twist on this Passover meal.

4^th Cup – The Cup of Praise…”I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God”

Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, our Creator.

(then drink)

Serve dessert and have individuals read Psalm 115-118 and Psalm 136 (read aloud to the rest of us)

5^th Cup – End with Mark 14:26-42 – going to the garden to pray and asking that God “take this cup from Him…yet not My will but Thy will be done.”