Believe. Experience. Enjoy.

“There is a “faith” which has forgotten what it is to doubt; a way of hearing which no longer listens to the silence; a certainty that God is close which dares not look into eyes still haunted by divine remoteness; a hope for some glory other than a crown of thorns.

Such supposed but cowardly and inauthentic faith and hope has failed to wrestle with the conundrum of the grave, evading the possibility that God is God among the suffering and the dying, and that the King who rules the world is only a wounded lamb that has been slain. Whereas our three-day story — that “word of the cross” to which our faith and hope should be conformed — does indeed portray a God who prevails only by allowing place and recognition to the hostile opposition, saying “Yes” to the guilty and the doubting and the dying. That is divine affirmation of the very persons and realities which embody the world’s great “No” to God, the living expressions of its ugliness, destructiveness, and sin. But because God acknowledges all this negativity and lets it be, because the word God says is Yes not No, positive not negative, for life not against it, grace surpasses its antithesis, proving more creative than evil can be destructive. Thus, in its very affirmation, death is defeated; and thus the Son of God who lay in death among the godless of the earth rises to new life, and brings them with him: witnesses to God’s even greater presence within the absence of that presence, which was great enough.”

• Alan E. Lewis, Between Cross and Resurrection

HT to Internet Monk

"I have died with Christ, and so I sit alone in an empty church today, joined occasionally by a few others, who sense in their soul’s depths the depths of this day. I sit here sensing that I am sitting in the still, small point around which all things circle and converge. To be here, this day, is to sit peering into the center of all things. Nothing happens, yet everything has happened, and everything has changed. “It is finished,” Jesus cried out, and so it is. Nothing can be added to this death, and nothing taken from it. His death is a monolithic achievement we see and don’t see, the love of God a sin-blinded world cannot see with its own eyes. Truly, nothing can, now, separate us from the love of God other than our own hard-hearted indifference and arrogance." - Randy Roberts

Read his full article on his experience of Good Friday here:

https://internetmonk.com/archive/86124

When the time came for Jesus and the apostles to eat, he said to them, “I have very much wanted to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer. I tell you that I will not eat another Passover meal until it is finally eaten in God’s kingdom.”

Jesus took a cup of wine in his hands and gave thanks to God. Then he told the apostles, “Take this wine and share it with each other. I tell you that I will not drink any more wine until God’s kingdom comes.”

Jesus took some bread in his hands and gave thanks for it. He broke the bread and handed it to his apostles. Then he said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Eat this as a way of remembering me!”

After the meal he took another cup of wine in his hands. Then he said, “This is my blood. It is poured out for you, and with it God makes his new agreement.

• Luke 22:14-20

“When Jesus wanted to give his followers — then and now — a way of understanding what was about to happen to him, he didn’t teach them a theory. …He gave them an act to perform. Specifically, he gave them a meal to share” (Tom Wright).

H/T to the Internet Monk for their beautiful posts this Holy Week

https://internetmonk.com/archive/86153

Lord God,

We tremble to think

That it was one of Jesus’ own friends who betrayed him.

One who sat by him, who broke bread with him.

Give us strength, we pray,

To walk faithfully with Jesus,

Even when the road we walk is rocky

Even when the message of the cross seems like foolishness

And even when we feel betrayed.

You, Lord, are always faithful.

We stumble, we become lost,

But you are steady and sure.

Give us the grace to endure our troubles,

And reveal to us the glory of your kingdom,

Through your son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Matthew 26:27-56; 1 Corinthians 1:18

https://www.ibelieve.com/faith/8-prayers-to-pray-each-day-of-holy-week.html

A man once planted a vineyard and rented it out. Then he left the country for a long time. When it was time to harvest the crop, he sent a servant to ask the renters for his share of the grapes. But they beat up the servant and sent him away without anything. So the owner sent another servant. The renters also beat him up. They insulted him terribly and sent him away without a thing. The owner sent a third servant. He was also beaten terribly and thrown out of the vineyard.

The owner then said to himself, “What am I going to do? I know what. I’ll send my son, the one I love so much. They will surely respect him!”

When the renters saw the owner’s son, they said to one another, “Someday he will own the vineyard. Let’s kill him! Then we can have it all for ourselves.” So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Jesus asked, “What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? I’ll tell you what. He will come and kill those renters and let someone else have his vineyard.”

• Luke 20:9-16

https://internetmonk.com/archive/86140

When Jesus came closer and could see Jerusalem, he cried and said:

It is too bad that today your people don’t know what will bring them peace! Now it is hidden from them. Jerusalem, the time will come when your enemies will build walls around you to attack you. Armies will surround you and close in on you from every side. They will level you to the ground and kill your people. Not one stone in your buildings will be left on top of another. This will happen because you did not see that God had come to save you.

When Jesus entered the temple, he started chasing out the people who were selling things. He told them, “The Scriptures say, ‘My house should be a place of worship.’ But you have made it a place where robbers hide!”

• Luke 19:41-46

What are you placing your ultimate hope in? How does Jesus' actions make you feel? What would it mean to you if Jesus upended your misplaced security? What do you think he is using that experience for?

O merciful Father, who hast taught us in thy holy Word that

thou dost not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men:

Look with pity upon the sorrows of thy servants for whom

our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy,

nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of

thy goodness, lift up thy countenance upon them, and give

them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hey all! A friendly reminder that we will have our monthly potluck this Sunday, March 31 at 11am. Chili is on the menu this time so bring your appetite and a friend/neighbor. If you did not sign up to bring anything and want to, let me know and I can send you what has been signed up for already. I will supply the Antacids and Beano.