Meditations for Good Friday

Meditations for Good Friday/Easter

Many of us are no doubt observing the solemnity of this day in some way. Some of us may have have dressed like Johnny Cash (you will note that my avatar is wearing black today), some of us may be fasting and praying, many will be attending church somewhere.

If you’re reading this, you evidently have not sworn off the internet for the day. So perhaps we might take a moment to be mindful of the sacrifice our Lord made to rescue us from ourselves and redeem all creation.

I thought a few lines of meditation on the meaning of this day would be in order for a cadre of writers. So please use this thread to share your thoughts with your brothers and sisters here.


Right, who’s first? Guess that would be me.
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Last night I attended a Tenebrae service at my church. At the end, the body of Christ joined in sacred communion. Before the altar I tore off a piece of the bread from the loaf held by the elder. This is the body of Christ, broken for you, he said to me. The pastor held the wine. This is the blood of Christ, shed for you, she said as I dunked my morsel of bread in the cup. When I pulled the bread out, it was dripping wine, so I held my hand underneath to keep from dripping on the floor. I licked some of the wine from the palm of my hand as I returned to my seat. As I sat there in the dark, there was still a bit left, dark and slightly sticky as I rubbed my hands together. Suddenly the whole thing was quite alarming.

Oh my God, I have your blood on my hands! I thought, and began to silently sob.
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[highlight]update:[/highlight] I suppose we can extend this to go through Easter, if people so desire.

Inspired said:

I play the piano, so I don't get the full effect of it (I had to keep those books coordinated and focus on playing, instead of the words.)

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I have also been involved in the "production end" of the service (sound & light in my case), so I'm familiar with this feeling. Sometimes if I had everything set I would get caught up in the moment, or since I was monitoring the vocals very closely I could tell the singers were getting emotional, but still you can't let yourself go completely, since you have a Job To Do. In that case we had two alternating teams, so that the worship teams could also simply worship in alternate months.

I also recommend seeing The Gospel According to Matthew. If you ever read the "making of the movie" book written by the actor that played Jesus, you'll be impressed. He is the first image of Jesus that really stuck with me. In that movie, he is a real guy, not a pale, weak portrayal of Jesus. He smiles, hugs, listens, . . . he's more like Jesus than I had pictured in my mind.

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I've seen parts of that movie, and it is quite fetching. Another thing I liked is that the actor really looks Jewish! I say that only because I think we need some counterpoint to the standard portrayal, and of course because there are Certain People who think that he must necessarily have been blue-eyed and blond... Not that Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth, isn't also a great film, for example, if you have seven hours to spare, but the Peter O'Toole stand-in playing Jesus is rather ethereal.

Another good movie is The Gospel of John. I would have said it was made by the same people as Matthew, but googling it just now I found out that this is not in fact the case. Gospel of John uses every single word in the book, and is part of a plan to do this treatment for all 66 books of the bible. This was quite well excuted when faced with the prolix fourth evangelist! The movie came out about the same time as Mr Gibson's movie, you may recall, but I liked it much better. The Passion just didn't "work" for me. I was too conscious of the standard Hollywood tarting up of the story throughout to really be impressed. Ham-handed tear-jerkers and lots of gore, the same old story. JMO, of course. The costumes and cinematography were outstanding, though.

Saturday

skylarburris said:

I would like to share this poem I wrote as a reflection...

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That's the spirit! Thanks for the link too, I liked your Palm Sunday poem quite a bit. So here's mine – we're on to Saturday now, so I thought I would treat that. The day in the middle usually gets left out, doesn't it?


Saturday

We let him down that night, all of us.
We all fell asleep, until the guards came
And took him away. Some of us scattered,
Some followed, but none of us made it.

Eventually I got inside,
To the Sanhedrin, their mock trial,
Because I knew the right people.
But I did nothing. I stood there,
And though my heart ached,
I said nothing. I did nothing.
Outside Simon denied him three times in the courtyard.
I didn’t even do that.

All day yesterday we watched our dreams die.
Our world was crumbling, and all our hopes
Of a glorious kingdom, the shining Messiah,
Were dashed on the stones of Gabbatha,
Nailed to the wood at Golgotha.
Stuck with a stick by some foreigner.
Buried in a borrowed hole in the hill.

It’s over, all of it.
Now what do we do? Pick up the pieces?
Just us twelve –
No eleven –
A motley group of hicks
From the sticks of Galilee,
And a handful of women,
We should try to change the world?
Insanity.

They took the best of us,
The best man of our nation,
Beloved, glorious as a young bridegroom,
Wise as a grandfather,
And crushed him underfoot.
That’s how the world works.
You can’t change it.
Reality.

Yet in my darkness I see a glimmer of light,
In despair the taste of hope;
And I seem to hear a voice far off, crying
“Lift up your heads, O gates!
Be lifted up, O ancient doors!”

Inanity.
Hope dies hard.
Time to grow up and get on with life,
If you can call it that,
Quit our youthful dreaming.
Hope’s not alive,
It’s buried in a cold stone tomb.

Oh I could go on deceiving myself,
But I won’t. Not unless
I see it with my own two eyes,
Or touch it with my hands.
O still small voice,
Please leave me alone.

Thank you, Judy. May your prayers be be granted.

Thanks to all

And thanks to all who have contibuted here.

Inspired, I notice you have a picture of a lake as your avatar (at least I hope it's not an invitation for us to "take a long walk..." as the old chestnut goes), and that several AbWriters have pictures of the shore, or water in some form in their icons. Myself included. I wonder what Herr Doktor Jung would have to say about that?

Easter

Right. Now Eastertide is upon us. I wish you all the joy of this triumphal day. However at this point I'm going to cheat and offer up someone else's work: a poem by the inimitable Edward Estlin Cummings.

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Interpret? Well that's a good start, but perhaps we should just make up lengthy stories about the meaning and origin of each avatar, with no pretense at factuality!