Good Friday

Good Friday

Stations of the Cross

We are praying for you on this Good Friday.  

Please join us tonight for our Good Friday Tenebrae (Darkness) Service at 7 pm in the Sanctuary.  Below you will find 14 passages of Scripture that can be used as steps or stations of the cross.  You can read them below or listen to them as well on our website or on Spotify.  

Grace and Peace,   


1 - Garden of Gethsemane

Matthew 26: 36-41

36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

2 - Betrayed by Judas

Mark 14: 43-46

43 Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.

44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” 45 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. 46 The men seized Jesus and arrested him

3 - Condemned by Sanhedrin

Luke 22: 66-71

66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. 67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”

Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”

70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”

He replied, “You say that I am.”

71 Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips.”

4 - Peter’s Denial

Matthew 26: 69-75

69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

5 - Pontius Pilate

Mark 15: 1-5, 15

Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

6 - Crowned with Thorns

John 19: 1-3

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

7 - Bearing the Cross

John 19: 6, 15-17

 As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”


15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

8 - Simon of Cyrene

Mark 15: 21

21 A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.

9 - Women of Jerusalem

Luke 23: 27-31

27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then

“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”

    and to the hills, “Cover us!”’[a]

31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

10 - Crucifixion

Luke 23: 33-34

33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, theother on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

11 - Promise of the kingdom

Luke 23: 39-43

39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[a]”

43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

12 - Mother and Beloved Disciple

John 19: 25-27

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,[a] here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

13 - The Death

Luke 23: 44-46

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45 for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”[a] When he had said this, he breathed his last.

14 - Placed in the Tomb

Matthew 27: 57-60

57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple ofJesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.


The Parts

Journey of Paul

Week 2

Friday, February 9


The Parts


1 Corinthians 13: 8-10

Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 


Are you a “know-it-all?”  


Often when we think of how we know something, we reference that we know it, how we know it, and how we know it by or through a particular acquaintance.  This is the basic sense of epistemology or the study of knowing.  What do we do about the things that we do not know?  Are you ok with not knowing everything?  I would hope so. 


The truth is that we only know in part.  This is a pretty interesting part of the love chapter.  This is often a part that would get ignored on the wedding day, but this is some of the most powerful and important words about love and relationships.  In this life, we will not know everything.  If we can be honest with ourselves about that, then the way we live in relationship with one another will reflect this truth.  I think about the times when I have officiated a funeral for someone and their long-time spouse is sitting in the front pew.  They would have spent a life-time together and would know as much as anyone else in the world would know about that person.  In truth, we still only know in part.  This is the mystery of love. 


Or consider all of what we just don’t know that we don’t know that we don’t know.  Whenever you are facing a crisis or something that is unfathomable, would the verses above give you comfort?  Love is the thing that never fails.  Everything else is going to cease, be stilled, or pass away.  Why?  Because we are living in a part of reality.  The completion is going to come, but it hasn’t arrived yet.  But when it does, all that is just the parts will disappear.  Our confusion will be made whole by the complete.  All of the mystery of the parts, our unanswered questions, our frustration might be painted in a different color and light when the complete comes.  What is the complete, the ultimate, the end all be all?  It is love. 


Be content with your lack of knowledge, it invites you to understand love.  You will know one day.  It will all make sense one day.  But until then, remember that love never fails and will make sense of it all.  


Prayer

Lord, thank you for your love that never fails.  Amen



Love is Not

Journey of Paul

Week 2

Thursday, February 8


Love is Not


1 Corinthians 13:4-6

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 


Sometimes we can know what something is by what it is not.  Here is my own list or version of what love is not, based upon the words of 1 Corinthians 13: 4-6.


When I want what you have, to the extent that it changes me, that is not love. 


When I feel the need to proclaim to the world all of my accomplishments because I am not actually centered or comfortable in my own skin, that is not love. 


When I do not see your value, and dishonor you, that is not love. 


When I look inwards only to satisfy my own needs, that is not love. 


When I explode because my short-fuse has been lit over something trivial, that is not love. 


When I keep a list of those who have hurt me, and the different actions taken against me, only to satisfy my own justifications, that is not love. 


When I join in the mob mentality by my conversation or social media sharing and posting, or when I affirm our dog-eat-dog world, that is not love. 


When I prefer falsehood for my own personal convenience, rather than living in reality or truth, that is not love. 


It might be hard to see love, but when we see something that is clearly not love, it tends to make sense.  So start living in love, even if it is by avoiding all of the things that love is not. 


Prayer

Lord, help me to love.  Amen 



Love Is

Journey of Paul

Week 2

Wednesday, February 7


Love Is


1 Corinthians 13:4,7

Love is patient, love is kind.  7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


Love is a four-letter word. 


One of the greatest mysteries that we as humans try to plum the depths of is this challenging thing called love.  While love can be challenging, it is still the greatest thing.  Will there ever be a moment where we feel like we have understood it fully?  Will a songwriter ever run out of images, metaphors, or words because everything that has ever been said about love has been already said?  Sometimes it is easier for us to understand something by what it is and by what it is not.  The apostle Paul does this in the next section of this love chapter.  He goes on to describe what love is (today), and what love is not (tomorrow’s devotional).  


The challenge with this part of scripture is that when we make the translation into the English language, most translations will put the description of love as more descriptive and ethereal than personified.  For example - Love is something.  Love is patient and kind.  But the proper way to actually translate this would be more like this - love is someone who is patient, love is someone who is kind. While it is easier to just say what love is… I think we can miss a very powerful moment and meaning here. 


We are always trying to find ways to personify or simplify the mysterious.  So why wouldn’t we take advantage of this language to do it here?  I am careful to remind couples at their weddings (if they choose this scripture) about this truth.  Love just isn’t a thing that is patient, it is a person who is practicing patience.  The thing about relationships is that there will always be another person there to reveal the truth about who we are and how we love.  I can easily say that I am a patient person, but if I am standing next to my spouse, she might have a different take on it.  It is best to be careful about our choice of words when we are within elbow distance of our spouse or partner. 


Patience and kindness have to be expressed and lived out.  I also remind couples that as they make their vows, which are promises and words to express their love, they need to put these words into practice.  They must take their vows with them and live them out.  Our vows cannot stay at the altar, but need to be put in practice with the other.  The challenge is that often patience and kindness will not remain static, there will always be an active opportunity to put patient love and kind love into practice.  There will always be someone in your love that needs your patience and kindness.  Don’t be shocked if you encounter that person today.  Be love to and for someone today.  Love is someone who is patient.  Love is someone who is kind.  You are that someone. 


Prayer

Lord, help me to love.  Amen   



Generosity and Nothing

Journey of Paul

Week 2

Tuesday, February 6


Generosity and Nothing


1 Corinthians 13:3

3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.


There was a really nice couple in a church that I served as an associate.  They were very loving people who wanted to make a difference in the lives of others.  I can’t say that I knew them very well, because they split their time between the town we were in and a winter home down south.  When they were in town, they were not very frequent attenders, but they considered our church home as theirs. Every interaction that I had with them was positive and they were always very kind to me as a young pastor.  


My biggest struggle was once a year they would come to the front of the church and they would be honored for their generosity and they would challenge others in our congregation to be likely as generous.  Those were the Sundays where I just felt awkward.  I couldn’t get the following words of Jesus out of my head when I would see them do this.


Matthew 6: 1-4

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.


It isn’t like they were unaware of the following verses.  But practically, doing things like this worked for that congregation, and at the end of the year we had a budget to meet and bills to pay.  It’s stories like this often where we find people becoming disenfranchised with organized religion because they believe that the church only cares about your money.


The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 seems to be encouraging of generosity though.  He wants people to know that generosity and helping the poor is an achievable goal.  Sacrifice and surrender are good things, but as you can hopefully see by now, Paul is going to put them into the proper context with love.  If we give all that we possess away, or might even give our own bodies over to hardship, if we do it apart from love, we gain nothing.  The language of gaining is important here.  Previously, Paul would have negated the action in the language of it being nothing.  Here, there is no gain.  If we expect to get something in return for what we give away with a motive or separation from love, the return on investment will be nothing. 


I am not sure what the couple was hoping to get in return for what they were doing.  Perhaps it was the feeling of goodness that generosity can bring with it.  Or they remembered how blessed they were because they were able to give money away.  Or maybe they liked the honor and the recognition from others.  These things will have a reward to them, but if you expect for there to be a gain, it will be nothing.  The reward given is done.  The return on investment will be nothing.  Love invites generosity.  Love invites a generosity that might encourage you to share in secret so that the greatest reward might be given by our Father and not by the applause of others. 


Prayer

Lord, help me to give with love.  Amen 



Something and Nothing

Journey of Paul

Week 2

Monday, February 5


Something and Nothing


1 Corinthians 13:2

2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.


What is the one thing that might stand out on your resume?


I can remember in college when they were teaching us how to prepare our resume and other skills needed for when we graduated and entered the real world.  If you had a good GPA, then you would want to make sure you highlight that.  If you didn’t, then try to find extra-curricular activities to focus on instead.  If you talk to someone in HR, particularly related to hiring and personnel management, they can teach you a lot about what makes a great and not so great resume.  For the apostle Paul, there is one thing that needs to be highlighted, featured, and certainly not left off of the list; love.  


Consider the other items on the resume such as prophecy, the ability to father all mysteries and all knowledge, and faith to move mountains.  That is a pretty impressive list.  But if we do not have love, we are nothing. 


Prophecy is speaking to people on behalf of God, this is what the prophets did.  Or consider very simply just the basic understanding of public speaking.  Some surveys say that people are more afraid of speaking in public than of death.  So that is to say, people might prefer to be in the casket than to have to be the person who speaks in front of it.  How many of us would like even the simple ability to make a toast or to at least now break out into a dripping sweat next time we have to make a presentation at work?  Prophecy would be a highlight on any resume or on any spiritual resume, but without love, it equals nothing. 


Or consider now what Paul might say about fathoming all mysteries as a potential for making it to the top of the list of our resume.  In 1 Corinthians 2: 9-13 Paul sheds some light on this subject - 

9 However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.


Our abilities even in the realm of mystery are not of our own works, but they are by the Spirit.  The Spirit cannot abide that which is not love.  Even if we use our intellect to the best of our abilities, without love, it is nothing. 


Faith is another important part of our spiritual resume, if not the most foundational.  Even this is a gift given to us by God - Ephesians 2.  If our ability to possess faith is mountain-moving, apart from love, it is nothing.  We are left then with simply mountains moved from one place to another.  It doesn’t get us or them anywhere.  Love has to be the central defining and greatest part of who we are.  


Paul wouldn’t say that prophecy, knowledge, or faith are not important, not by any means.  But he places a particular emphasis and color to it.  These things are good and important, but if love is separated from them, then whatever we would make of ourselves as important, it becomes nothing.  Love is the most important thing.  It goes to the top of your resume.  Let love be the ultimate something in your life.  If it isn’t, then it’s nothing. 


Prayer
Turn my nothing into something with your love.  Amen 



Tongues and Cymbals

Journey of Paul

Week 1

Friday, February 2


Tongues and Cymbals


1 Corinthians 13:1

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 


God bless the music teachers.  Have you ever walked past an elementary school music room?  Particularly when the whole class is learning the recorder?  


In Meredith Wilson’s, The Music Man, there is this great scene at the end where the students are “playing” their instruments, but their parents are so filled with pride and joy that they didn’t notice the awful sound.  I found that scene really funny until I went to the first music concert for my children.  I became that parent in that scene.  When those 60 students all started to play, it sounded like 60 bags of hammers crashing onto a tin roof.  Yet, it was still music to my ears. But if I’m honest with myself, as in, if I went to the concert and I didn’t have a loved one in it, I would only hear the clanging cymbals and resounding gongs.


This is the image the apostle Paul uses to describe those who speak but do not have love.  If this doesn’t communicate the importance of being a person of love, then just insert your favorite skin-raising sound.  Would it be something like nails on a chalkboard, the squeaking of sneakers in a hallway, or a car alarm?  You can get the point.  But let’s connect it into what Paul was trying to do and say with this congregation. Remember that this passage isn’t just talking about speaking in the tongues of angels, but also of men.  It doesn’t matter whether it is the language or earth or heaven, if it is separated from love, it is something that isn’t pleasant to the ears.  


After the initial greeting and words of grace and peace, Paul gets right down to business in 1 Corinthians 1 by addressing the divisions and quarreling among them related to who they choose as their leader.  This is the tongues of men mirror example.  It doesn’t matter what is said or who says it, if it is done without love, it is a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.  But you might be considering this passage to be more about the tongues of angels.  Check out what Paul addresses in the previous chapter - 


1 Corinthians 12: 7-11

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 

  

If this congregation wanted to divide over earthly leaders or even a spiritual hierarchy with the different gifts that people might possess, we are reminded that even the gift of tongues is for the common good.  It is given by the same spirit and is determined by God and not by a person's worth or ability.  Paul also goes into great detail and description in 1 Corinthians 14 about tongues, prophecy, worship, and the edification of the church.  


You can speak with the greatest eloquence of language, or you can even express the mysterious inexpressible language of the angels, but if you do not have love, it sounds like a bag of hammers hitting a tin roof or a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.  Ouch.


Prayer 

Lord, I want to have love before I speak.  Amen 



The Mirror

Journey of Paul

Week 1

Thursday, February 1


The Mirror


1 Corinthians 12:31  

And yet I will show you the most excellent way.


How would you read the Bible if it didn’t have chapters and verses?  It might be harder to memorize parts of it without a verse by verse structure to draw from, however, I believe we might understand the story a little bit differently.  One can understand why the chapters and verses were put there to help the reader, but it wasn’t originally written in that way.   It isn’t like Paul wrote by thinking about what needs to go into each chapter.  So when we read 1 Corinthians 13 and begin only in the first verse, we might lose the reason why Paul is writing this beautiful piece about love.  The verse above gives us a context for why the great love chapter was written in the first place. 


My scholarly guess, which is to say, I am pretty confident about this fact, is that they put the “And yet I will show you the most excellent way” verse as a way of transitioning from one style of communication to another.  For me, this is the lead into what will be the response to the first “12 chapters” of the letter thus far.  While many call this the love chapter, I tend to refer to it as the mirror chapter.  If you look more in detail (of which we will over the next few days) you will see that the love chapter essentially holds a mirror up to the Corinthian church to help them see how they are doing in light of the responses Paul had earlier in the letter.  It is one thing to give direct advice or communication, it is another to say, love is like this, now - do you look like that?  Are you acting like that? 


The mirror doesn’t lie. Some days, I wish the mirror would though.  It is only when we see things clearly in the mirror that we can begin to address what needs to be addressed.  So I was going to hold up a mirror on your spiritual life, what would you see?  


Prayer

Lord, show me the most excellent way.  Make it clear.  Amen