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.

A Reflection from “One of the Flock”

Two Sundays ago, Renée and James B encouraged us to embrace Jesus’ invitation of Present Living and quoted the writer Walker Percy to encourage each of us to live in God’s gift of each day.

“To live in the past and future is easy; to live in the present is like trying to thread a needle.”  

The Scripture for 3/29 was Mathew 6:25-27; 33-34: 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Here is a reflection from “one of the Union flock” (as they identified themselves):

Threading the needle

At some point in the last 10 days I was relearning how to use a sewing machine in order to make masks. My eyesight has dimmed since the last usage. I got to the final part trying to thread the needle (literally) at the base but I could not for the life of me see the hole. Super frustrating! I just kept trying. I figured odds are I would eventually succeed aided by muscle memory of years ago. And I did.

I guess the metaphor for me is that staying mentally healthy, physically healthy and helping my community stay healthy requires repeated failures and frustrations—part of the process. 

Message: Present Living in the Midst of Anxiety

Scripture: Matthew 6:25-27; 33-34

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.”

Prayers of the People

Prayed by Cathy Thwing on April 5, 2020, Palm Sunday

Gracious God, our Father, our Redeemer & Lord, our Counselor & Comforter, our Good Shepherd & Great Physician,

Our hearts cry out to You on behalf of ourselves, those we love & those around this world, Your world, whom we don’t even know. We ask You, Almighty God, in the powerful name of Jesus, to take away the power of the coronavirus to cause harm & to kill. Viruses mutate, let this one mutate itself into impotence.

Our hearts break, as Yours does, for the suffering of the whole world:
--for those who feel alone & isolated
--for those overwhelmed by too much company with housemates
--for those who are suddenly unemployed
--for those who are suddenly having to work in completely new ways
--for those who are suddenly having to home school children, & in many cases, work at the same time
--for those without resources to get through this new month
--for those detained & incarcerated
--for those who are homeless, who are fleeing violence, who are called “undocumented”
--for those who have lived many, many years
--for those with compromised immune systems, underlying health conditions, and those who are “essential” who look danger in the face every day
--for those who were already in precarious positions before the virus & now have this added calamity
--for those for whom the present circumstances tip the mental health balance
--for those who have lost loved ones
--for all who are afraid

Lord, have mercy upon Your people.

This week, Lord, may we hear Your voice which over & over again throughout history has said to Your people, “Do not be afraid!” Not because the circumstances aren’t fearsome, but because You are present with us, as close as our breath. May we take pauses this week to breathe slowly & deeply & to experience Your presence with us, to hear Your words of assurance that you are with us, that You love us, that You never abandon us, that You know what we need, that You will provide what we need, that You specialize in taking what we are able to offer & multiplying it to be enough, often considerably more than enough. May we remember that You fed 5,000 plus people with 5 loaves & 2 fish, & with 12 baskets of food left over (Matthew 14:13-21). May we remember the poor widow of Zarephath who during a famine in the land was gathering a few sticks for a fire to cook a final meal for her son & herself. The prophet Elijah asked her for a cup of water & a bit of bread, & she replied that she had only a handful of flour & a little cooking oil. Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid! Go ahead & do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself & your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ’There will always be flour in your jar & olive oil in your jug until the time when the Lord sends rain & the crops grow again!’ So, she did as Elijah said, & she & Elijah & her son continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour & olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.” (1 Kings 17:8-16) May we live this week not from scarcity, nor hoarding, nor clinging to our resources, but with generosity out of Your abundance & provision for us, offering You & others what we can & trusting in Your multiplication to make it enough.

Give us eyes to notice & hearts to embrace the unique gifts & opportunities of this unexpected season in our lives, even in the midst of its losses, uncertainties & worries.

May we remember this week that we are safe in Your arms, & that those words recorded in the Old Testament book of Lamentations are true today & true for each of us:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning, new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness, O Lord, great is your faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:22&23)

Thank you! Amen.

Cathy Thwing, 4-5-2020, Union Prayers of the People

Open Posture in Holy Week

As we journey with Jesus this week of Holy Week, you will receive a daily devotion, to help prepare you to receive the new life poured out for us through the cross and resurrection. This will also be on our blog each day.

Throughout this coming week, here are some ways — both remotely and at home —to spend time with Jesus on his last days before his crucifixion and resurrection. The zoom links will be on our webpage.

Palm Sunday worship gathering | Sunday, 10 am

End of the Day | Sunday, 9 pm

Book Group on The Great Divorce | Tuesday, 8 pm

Wednesday evening Bible Study | 7 pm

Maundy Thursday | a suggested liturgy, especially for families

Good Friday | Music and meditation will be offered at noon and available online

Easter Sunday | Easter in our homes. Stay tuned for suggested ways of celebrating. We we would love to hear some of your Easter ideas as well!

One idea: the Huff family is flowering a cross outside their home and invites anyone to come by and take a walk in the UDistrict if that would be a meaningful way to celebrate.

Their address is 5208 16th Avenue NE and the cross will be up Sunday! Email Emily if you have any questions.

Prayers of the People: March 29

The Lord’s Prayer in a Pandemic

(adapted from Jim Wallis, Sojourners, March 26, 2020 by Loretta Pain)

God of all mercy and grace.

Each week, we pray this prayer as your son, Jesus, taught us to pray. Today, we pray as a scattered community amid a worldwide pandemic.

Lord, we confess our sadness and our fears. We feel stuck, trapped inside, overwhelmed. Only your love and justice will bring your kingdom into our community right now. Inspire and sustain us to bring your kingdom to earth in this moment of crisis.

We pray especially for those fighting on the front lines of the pandemic — our first responders, nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals — to save as many lives as they can. Shelter them from this virus. Grant your healing mercies to those who will inevitably get sick. Speed the production and distribution of the protective and medical equipment they need. And help those of us not in the health care sector to do the most important thing we can to protect them — help us to stay home.

Lord, give us the strength not to hoard, but the courage to share what we have in order to provide daily bread for all. We know that we find you and each other at the table, so please make us hungry for larger tables. Even in times of social distancing, show us how our daily bread can bring us together.

You have forgiven our sins and trespasses and you have asked us to forgive others. Oh God, how do we treat others the way you have treated us? Lord have mercy, Lord teach us to have mercy — right now.

Forgive us for the temptation to retreat from our neighbors in this health crisis, taking social distance into social withdrawal from the most vulnerable.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

forever. Amen.

Lord, give us the faith and the courage to make this proclamation even in this time of a deadly virus.

Because we know what your kingdom on earth brings, give us the hope of that kingdom in our hearts, lives, communities, and the nations. Let that future we believe in help sustain us in the present, even when things we can’t control seem to dominate our lives. Lord, help us to believe that the virus, the threats, the injustices, and the fears they create are NOT in control and never will be,

“For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen.”