Sunday, April 17, 2022

He is risen!

on Easter Sunday: 

"Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!"

 Charles Wesley (1739)


Easter lilies

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Holy Saturday

"Now is the Lord brought to peace

    My Jesus, goodnight!

The trouble is over, which our sins caused for him.

    My Jesus, goodnight!

O sacred bones,

See how I weep for you with penance and remorse

That my fall has brought you into such distress!

    My Jesus, goodnight!

As long as life lasts

Have a thousand thanks for your sufferings

For having valued so highly the salvation of my soul

    My Jesus, goodnight!"

 

from J.S.Bach, St. Matthew's Passion BWV244, No. 67, libretto by C.F.Henrici (Picander), 1729. 









Friday, April 15, 2022

Thoughts on Good Friday

A thought on this one day of the year on which we contemplate Jesus' death, and not His resurrection...

Despite -- or perhaps, because of -- all the attending pain, uncertainty, and even conflict that the journey entailed, I never felt more spiritually attentive than when I faced and experienced the death of my father and my mother. That was over ten years ago.

I wonder if Jesus experienced something similar as he faced his own death... a heightened intimacy and spiritual attunement in the presence of the Holy Ghost and the will of the Father,

   so much so, that his agonizing prayers in the Garden of Gesthemane entailed not just sweat but blood;

   so much so that on the night before Golgotha he could pray "not my will but Yours", despite the wrathful, absolute separation from the presence of God that he was about to experience;

   so much so, that he could care for his mother, his disciples, even his tormentors as he himself bled to death.

I wonder if I too could be just as attuned to the will of God when my time comes -- a certain death that could arrive tomorrow, even tonight.

O God, is it selfish of me to pray that you would spare me and let me live even just one day longer, so that I too would be so attuned to your Spirit and your will?

   Lord, have mercy.
   Christ, have mercy.
   Lord, have mercy.

 

a wooden cross from Ethiopia

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Hot Cross Buns... and a Maundy Thursday reflection

 

 
Maundy Thursday is a day to meditate on the last supper and the washing of the disciples' feet... events in which Jesus models for us the practice of hospitality.

Today my wife and I attended a Celebration of Life service of a long-time family friend -- a widow and mother of three adult children. She passed away just over ten days ago on a cloudy Sunday morning, to be in Jesus' presence.

Yesterday, we received in the mail a card that she wrote to us just days before her death.

She had filled the entire inside surface of the card, her small handwritten pen marks visibly shaky, a testimony to her failing strength. Her words of gratitude, blessing, resolve, and hope brought tears to our eyes. I hope that I too could face my final days this way -- with words of thanksgiving and encouragement to those who will be left grieving. 

By her actions, even into her final hours, she showed a willingness to practice hospitality; she created a place and a space in which we were invited and felt welcome to receive grace.

We received gracious other treats today, from others with a great sense of hospitality; a neighbour and a friend both baked hot cross buns for us. To receive these gifts was an incredible reminder that these small acts of hospitality really matter -- that in fact they are not small at all. 

Washing the feet of guests and enjoying a meal together were not in themselves extraordinary actions. Yet they were recorded in the Gospels; they changed the course of history.

I am grateful for the encouragement that I have received throughout today by the words and actions of others who sustain us and give us hope, and in turn give us the strength to be gracious to others in an often hostile world.

May the Spirit of God be with us as we remember Jesus' death and resurrection in the coming days.

Amen

Monday, April 11, 2022

a Palm Sunday prayer


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
On this Palm Sunday... 
 
I pray that the raging war within my heart
 
    Fueled by
            Suspicion
            Vengefulness
            Greed
            Pride
            Misinformation
            Tribalism
            Individualism
            Consumerism
            Jealousy
            Self-loathing
            Narcissism
            Lust
            Uncertainty
            Complicity
            Regret
            Impatience,
 
    Wanes and cedes
        as we welcome
           The Prince of Peace
 
    Whose gentle and triumphant entry
        Signals to us,
                Once and for all
                Yet again
        Another Way of living.
 
Hosanna in the highest!