Tag: Good Friday
-
Expecting or Distracted?
Psalm 51:1-12; Habakkuk 3:2–13; John 12:1–11 It is so easy to be distracted from the important things in life. Some blame electronics. Others blame the media. Others blame no prayer in school. Others blame a culture that has walked away from its somewhat Christian-ish roots. There is nothing new under the sun when it comes…
-
The Tension of Pain and Joy
Job 4:1-21, Psalm 77, Ephesians 2:1-10 (read online ⧉) Job’s friend, Eliphaz, was one of 4 friends that came to visit Job in his time of trouble. While, ultimately, they misspoke of God, at other times they spoke truth of God and Job. Eliphaz told Job that he was a teacher of God and a…
-
Grateful In Ashes
Joel 2:12-17, Psalm 51:1-17, 2 Corinthians 4:21-6:10 (read online ⧉) Through the prophet Joel, God sought to realign the life of the Israelites to Him. God was calling them to live a life oriented to Him. God didn’t want them to miss out on the life they were meant for. As we begin the Lenten…
-
The Rot of Forgot
2 Chronicles 30:13-27, Nehemiah 8:7-12, Jeremiah 15:16 The world is supposedly becoming Post-Christian. The thought behind the term is that the “Christian Era” was when Christianity was dominant throughout the world as if Emperor Constantine’s edict of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire made Christianity instantly accessible, understandable, and pervasive. The sad…
-
Season’s Traditions
Mark 7:1–13, Galatians 1:13–17, 2 Thessalonians 3:3–15 (read online ⧉) We are rapidly coming (or for some already entered) into some of the heaviest time of tradition in the calendar year. For many, it starts with October observations. For others, it starts with Thanksgiving. For others still, there is Christmas. The list of Christian and…
-
Holy Saturday
Psalm 25, Lamentations 3:22–27, Matthew 27:62–66 Are your clothes in 1 piece? One of the traditional Jewish responses of extreme grief or anguish is the tearing of their clothes. Yesterday was Good Friday. Jesus died on the cross. Are your clothes torn? While they were able to put Jesus’ body in the tomb in time,…
-
Surrender the Pain
Isaiah 52:13-53:11, Luke 22:39–23:56 You might wear a cross. You might have one on a wall in your home. You probably have one on your bible. Today the cross has lost much of its brutality and disgrace. Movies like the “Passion of the Christ” attempt to convey the brutality, but it is so very hard…
-
Maundy Thursday
Psalm 116, Psalm 117, Mark 14:12–52, Ephesians 5:15–21 Many churches observe Maundy Thursday through a communal recreation of the Last Supper (or the First Communion). It is an especially poignant time to do it, as the shadow of Good Friday sits right there…waiting. John 13–18:27 is a much longer version of Maundy Thursday, and well…