A Good Friday Meditation

This is the core of the meditation I used on Good Friday

Step	Reference	Comment
Prayer	Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.	Jesus ~You know what you have to do. Nevertheless you would rather not. What is important to You is not yourself, your likes and dislikes, but your Fathers. So you pray, asking your Father if this is really necessary. “Do I have to accept this challenge?” Now understanding that this is the only way, you accept Gods way willingly. You realise that this is the only way I can be saved. You will submit to this for me.
Betrayal	While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.	The betrayer arrives with a friendly greeting. He hands you over to the leaders of your people. They arrest you and you submit to their power. Your ordeal has started. Although you know that I too will betray you, you do this for me.
Sanhedrin	The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. The high priest said to him, I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Yes, it is as you say, Jesus replied. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, He has spoken blasphemy! What do you think? He is worthy of death, they answered.	The 71 members of the ruling council interrogate you. They are determined to find evidence they can use to put you to death. Its difficult for them, but they do find the evidence they need – with your help! The evidence is good but the conviction is false. The truth cannot be blasphemy. They have decided -all of them. You do not protest, or attempt to argue your case. I use your name in inappropriate ways, and am guilty as charged I am in your thoughts as you prepare to die for me.
Peter	About an hour later another asserted, Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean. Peter replied, Man, I don't know what you're talking about! Just as he was speaking, the cock crowed.	Your closest friend is so scared of what's happening that he even denies that he knows of you! When he realizes what he's done, the reality of it is almost too much for him. For you, for now, you face the future all alone. Even though I have denied you on many occasions and in many different ways, and you know that I too would leave you alone, to go on for me
Guards	The men who were guarding Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and demanded, Prophesy! Who hit you? And they said many other insulting things to him.	The guards are just bullies, they're not allowed to do anything really harmful, a few cuts & bruises is the worst you'll get here, but it's the humiliation that really hurts. You keep quiet. I think you could answer their question, but that is not the way it has to be. Many times I have avoided lesser mockery than you now suffer, when I could have defended your name Despite this you suffer in silence for me.
Pilate	Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.	The puppet governor has no real power – he's caught between Rome and the Jews. What does he really understand? You give him a glimpse of something, but he doesn't see it, he's too preoccupied with his political problems. How often have I missed a glimpse of your kingdom because I'm so focussed on my own problems? In your kingdom you are preparing a place for me.
Crowd	Pilate said to the crowd “As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.” With one voice they cried out, Away with this man! They kept shouting, Crucify him! Crucify him!	The crowd is fickle, you didn't give them what they wanted, never mind that there was something better to be had. They couldn't or wouldn't see that. No doubt their leaders have helped them come to that conclusion. Sometimes I allow myself to be manipulated, and find myself with those screaming for your blood! You can see through it all – to salvation for me.
Simon	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.	After the beatings and with the weight of the cross you stumble and fall. Any one would, but you are NOT anyone. The soldiers don't care, they just grab the nearest person and press him into service. A short time of welcome relief. How can God show weakness and frailty? Its a mystery that I am not prepared to probe, and an example that I am unwilling to follow. Even in your weakness you show no self pity, just your love for me.
Women	A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.	What can they do? They can't do anything. That's not your reaction, you see things that they have no idea of. You try to warn them, but does it get through? The people following you and painfully aware of the loss they will suffer. I too am pre-occupied with my own sufferings You know that you are going through these sufferings for me.
Crucifixion	When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals— one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.	The sentence is carried out. An innocent man. A criminals death. Dying with the lowest of the low. In unimaginable pain, struggling for breath, fighting just to hang on to life because there is something you want to say. “Forgive them” Do I forgive as I should? Even so, your forgiveness is also for me.
Death	When he had received the drink, Jesus said, It is finished. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.	And now you are gone. God is dead? And you let it happen. For me.
Burial	Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.	Now in death you are honoured, as you had not been in life. The rich look after your body, and ensure that you get a proper burial. Your life has been spent, your mission is complete You have made friendship with God possible for me.

Ro 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Manchester Passion

On BBC 3 live, and repeated on BBC 2 later last night (15 Apr. Good Friday 2006), it is a re-telling of the story of the Passion of Christ in a modern way. Using the music of the city, and various locations around Manchester we follow Christ from the Last Supper to the his final condemnation. Then we jumped almost immediately to the resurrection. No attempt was made to re-enact the crucifixion itself, but there was a graphic description of crucifixion as carried out by the Romans at that time. We have ourselves represented Christ's life in public, and know how powerful the story can be, although we didn't have the BBC to make a high quality programme about it. Some of the pieces I particularly enjoyed:

• Riot police with SPQR on their uniforms, particularly in their confrontation with Peter.
• Jesus being 'bagged' (hooded) and put in the cage in the back of a police van.
• The 'front man' who also played Pilate telling us that we'd really all like to be Pilate -he has a point, I suppose.
• The crowd shouting CRUCIFY!, was good for getting everyone involved, and certainly could have been fairly convincing as a wild mob.

Some of the interviews of the public who had travelled to Manchester to see (be involved in?) the spectacle were also interesting.

• “I don't believe in organised religion – so I'm here representing all those who don't believe in organised religion” - Think about it!
• A Moslem explaining how important Jesus is in Islam. He's just another prophet from God, is what it amounted to.
• A Christian punk rocker saying that Jesus would have come to the punks and had his ministry amongst the drop outs and low-lives. Yes, I agree, He would, but there is more – Jesus ministered to ALL those who needed / recognised Him. Think of Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea, who took care of His body.

There are also some criticisms, not of what was being shown – that was good, and telling the story in a local way (both geographically and in time) is a helpful ting to do to get people aware and involved. My criticisms are of the way things were put together and presented.

• The singer who played Mary was difficult to hear, and way to serene to really be involved in the story.
• There were many occasions when one or two lines from songs were repeated over and over. I don't much like this in a worship environment, where the songs are written with repetition in mind, here it was inappropriate, and seemed to be there just to fill the time.

Offence

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1749813,00.html Lets hope that none of the 'pop' fans who turned out for the event were offended, not by the music anyway – that wasn't radical, innovative, or so far as I could tell offensive.

There is much that is described as 'must see' or 'unmissable', this wasn't – it should have been!

The Bible Makes Sense

The Bible Makes Sense

Walter Brueggemann
Westminster John Knoxx Press
ISBN 0-664-22495-4

“Well of course it does!”, or perhaps you don't agree? This is really a Bible Study work book, but we have it as an assigned text and have been loaned a copy. Each chapter is followed by a series of questions that can be used for reflection or discussion, then some Bible passages for meditation. Following this there is some summary text. The book starts with a fresh perspective which sets the Christian faith against the background of the post modern world that we live in. Through each of the ten chapters we get a different view, or emphasis of the Bible. Some will speak more clearly to you than others. Some you might even disagree with, but that's really what the book is for – making (or should I say helping) us think – about the Bible in our setting. The way I read this book is not ideal, but even so I believe it is a useful resource, and invaluable if you are in a Bible Study group where the members are prepared to do some ground work before the meeting.

I liked it so much, I'm going to buy my own copy!

Scripture and the Authority of God

Scripture and the Authority of God
N. T. Wright (Bishop of Durham)
SPCK
ISBN 0-281-05722-2

The back cover starts “What sort of 'authority' does the Bible have? What does it mean for an ancient, complicated and sometimes strange book to be 'authoritative' in the life of the church or individual Christians?” If you don't have a ready answer for the question and would like one, the I suggest you read on. I read it, not because of the back cover, but because it is a set book in my training course. If it hadn't been I might have missed out on a stimulating and thought provoking book. Looking at Scripture in our own time and throughout Christian history, and the way that various different movements have dealt with it, in particular for me the discussion on the enlightenment was most interesting. Some of the other interesting questions answered are What is tradition? What does literal reading really mean? What is the place of 'reason'? What is the place of experience?

Bishop Wright also deals with the misreadings briefly, go through the list and pick the top five that apply to you.

At 107 pages this is very much an introduction to the main topic, and there are plenty of references if you want to dig deeper. My only criticism is that some of the chapters are rather too compressed, and I had to read them very carefully to make sure that I was getting the meaning.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

The story in the book is an allegory of the Christian faith, so it is no surprise to find that secular commentators do not understand what is happening in the film. Their biggest criticism is not that there's a deeper magic, so that Aslan can be resurrected - that's all nice and mystical. Their biggest criticism is that the children are made Kings. Well that's true of the reviews I've read anyway. So what of the film itself. From what I remember it did justice to the original story. The special effects were very good. Aslan was easily believable, and the beaver was a star! So was Georgie Henley as Lucy, while the other children were OK, Georgie was very good indeed. I didn't find the white witch particularly scary, but we must remember that the story is intended for children, and too make her too scary and risk upping the certificate would have been counter productive.

So I recommend that you go see the film, and have a very enjoyable time.

THUD

THUD
Terry Pratchet
Doubleday ISBN 0385 608675

Another excellent book in the Discworld series from Terry Pratchet, and another one without chapters.  The dwarves and the Trolls have never been friends, rather they have been enemies.  Now there are so many of them in the city that trouble is about to occur in Ankh-Morpork. The ONLY one who can sort it out is Commander Vimes of the city Watch (police).  This is more than just a war story (well not a war story at all really), it has some good characterisations, some new characters, and the usual cast of old friends.  There is also some nice comment on the modern world.  I especially like the organiser – it is actually useful here!  The i-pod was a bit more un-believable, but this is a magic world, after all. Sam actually scores a point off Vetinari.  If you have a good imagination, there’s also a wonderfully comic scene with cabbages.  


If you haven’t read it already, then I strongly suggest you put a day or two aside, because you won’t want to put it down.

Reader Training Nov 2005

Reader Training

As many of you will know I was selected for Reader training (only training, they’re very definite about that).  I’m not going to cover what a reader does here, just give you all an update on the process, and how I’m progressing.
Firstly there are a number of things that you have to get set up, some you do yourself, and others are part of the course.  You MUST have a spiritual director, and they will offer a list of names.  That finally came through this week, so I have to ring one of the two people on the list, and see if they are prepared to accept me (and I them, of course).  Then there’s the tutor group, there are four of us in the group, three are from the Chelmsford Christian studies group, so I’m already with friends.  Tutor groups meet about once a month.  My tutor is based in Thorpe Bay, and as most of the group are local to Chelmsford, we meet alternately in Billericay and Thorpe Bay.  The other person you have to meet with regularly is your incumbent, no problem there!  The there are the training days at Chelmsford, always a Saturday, and again roughly once a month.
So what do we do?  We started with a quiet day in the church at Wickham Bishops, and were given a number of different passages and ideas to reflect on.  It is always good to put aside a reasonable amount of time and dedicate it to prayer and reflection.  As you must have guessed I had a wonderful day, and came back really looking forward to getting started properly.  The first thing we have to do is prepare and present a Bible Study.  I spent four hours with no-one around, and my books spread out all over the lounge, studying a chapter of Acts, and trying to extract the theology.  I’ve done mine now, I also tried so experiments with the presentation, which didn’t work as well as I would have liked – but that’s what training is for!  I don’t know whether I passed or not, as there are still two other bible studies to go.  Then we have to prepare a hermeneutics paper, about 2000 words.  This is due in January, so I will spend most of my time in December working on it.  Later there will be Leading Worship, to practice, projects in the parish to complete and write up, and a time spent in another parish.  At the November family service I was preparing for the ‘Worship’ training day, and taking lots of notes.  It was a very good service, and there are many positives to take from it, so thankyou to the seventeen people who made it work so well.  Towards the end of the course we will have to prepare and deliver a sermon in the church in Thorpe Bay.  That will also be an interesting experience.  That’s not all, but I don’t want to bore you with too much detail now.  Lookout for updates in future Spotlights.

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