An Explanation of the Lenten Season
Good Friday poem
by Bishop Ralph Cushman
"Life is so strange!!!....I lay
awake last night....You ask me why?.... I cannot tell ---
exactly....Only I have lost a boy!!.....And you
won't understand.....Unless you too have lost a
pal....A boy, who walked with you the fields,...and jumped with you
the brooks...together with you climbed the trees.........You watched
him as he grew....You told him all the secrets of the skies....and
you hopes for him.....and then, one day, you came to
realize......that you'd lost your son!"
At the supper Jesus ate with his disciples in the
Upper Room, he said,"Do this....in remembrance of
me."
What would he have us remember about him? Would it
be some of the great theological doctrines of our day? Or, would it
be that we remember his concern for the bruised, the persecuted,
the forgotten, and the impoverished? He would also
have us remember that He brought the love and power
of God to the sinners of His day. Shouldn't we
express our remembrance, not by merely partaking of the sacrament,
but also through the expression of our Christian concern for the
people of our day??
"Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He came to fill it with His presence."
Christ came to take up human suffering, to wear human suffering as a garment, to identify with human suffering with his total being. all human suffering is a participation in the mystery of Good Friday. On the night of Good Friday, darkness filled the earth.
The disciples, feeling lonely and abandoned, desperately questioned each other about the day's sorry events: "What has happened to the Master's dream? What has happened to the Master's promise? What has happened to us--an why?"
The were afflicted with that most devastation malady----the loneliness that strikes when one feels abandoned by god, the loneliness that cuts into the very depths of one's being. Their loneliness was overwhelm
Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days
from Illustrations_clergy@yahoogroups.com
GOOD FRIDAY THE CROSS WAS HIS
OWN
Jesus borrowed everything except the cross. They borrowed a bed to lay His head...When Chirst the Lord came Down;...They borrowed the ass in the mountain pass...For Him to ride to town;...But the crown He wore...And the cross He bore ...Where His own.........He borrowed the bread when the crowd He fed...On the grassy mountain side;...He borrowed the dish of broken fish...With which He satisfied;,...But the crown He wore...And the cross He bore...Where His own.........He borrowed the ship in which to sit... to teach the multitude;...He borrowed the nest in which to rest,...But had never a home so rude;...
REFRAIN:... Jesus borrowed everything except the cross.
He borrowed a room on the way to the tomb...The Passover lamb to eat;...They borrowed the cave; for Him a grave;...They borrowed the sheet...
REFRAIN:.......Jesus borrowed everything except the cross.
The thorns on His head were worn in my stead,...For me the Savior died....For guilt of my sin the nails drove in......When Him they crucified;.....Though the crown He wore......And the cross He bore.....Were His own------
THEY RIGHTLY WERE MINE.
GOOD FRIDAY painting by Sigismund
Goetzke
Entitled: "Despised and Rejected"
The picture has as its center, our suffering Lord nailed to the Roman altar with an angel hovering above, holding the Gethsemane cup. Around him is a panorama of humanity. Yet, none of these people look at the cross. The scientist stares at his test tube and the sports addict his sports page.
The society doll plays with her flowers coyly, aware of the admiring gaze of a fashionable young man. The politician has his crowd, the ditch digger his beer, the artist his cigarette. At the foot of the cross, a woman in rags; with a baby, sits dejected; in her despair, even she does not look up. In the distance, a widow with her lonely burden of grief stares only at the ground.
Alone on the cross, our Lord, is "cut off out of the land of the living."
The world, engrossed in its own pursuits--its business, pleasures gain, games and grief--has no time for, and no thought of, Christ, who is still "despised and rejected of men."
Or is it these people dare not look at the cross, so upsetting is the sight?"
poem by Janet Block
How often I have heard myself say.... "I don't deserve this....!"Being forced to make my own way. A chance I would rather miss......"I don't deserve this....!
I shouted and accused the Lord....You promised me babies and bliss....And divorce is Not a just reward.....But somehow in my agony....I heard Him gently whisper----"I'm here, I have not left thee through me your pain is shared....By the Sharing of the burden........And the grace of God above.....I know no man or woman....Could have a greater love....Now, in joy, I say....."I DON'T DESERVE THIS.....!!
Our problems are like gates in our lives each day.....Some are easy to open but others seem like they are locked and the key thrown away....We come to a gate and we knock and we pound....We ask why?....But no answer can be found....Then if we settle down, and we stop to think and pray....Before we know it, the gate is opened and in answer to our problem we have found a way....There will be many gates in our lives that we think we can't enter in....Let's not just sit around and ask, why?....We know that in our daily lives we have sinned....So let us kneel and ask forgiveness from God above....Our gates will be opened through His wondrous love...Our problems will seem small, if our faith is strong...And if we remember, God has the key to our gate....And we can't go wrong.
During a coffee break in a Manhattan factory, a small group of workmen were coaxing one of their number to have a cup of coffee.
"Naw, I gave it up for Lent. It's a religious principle with me."
But as the group stood to leave, he turned to the supply clerk standing next to him and said, "Say, I need another pair of work trousers. How about stealing me a pair some time this week?"
One day I met a stranger while traveling down life's road. He said, "If you will trust me I'll help you bear your load."
Since then through the valleys and over mountains steep, He has stayed so near and proved this promise He would keep. When my way is dark and stormy, He tells me not to fear. And when it seems I need Him most, I find He's always near.
He's no more a stranger but a friend is He....Since often I commune with Him and He speaks to me. In a still small voice I hear Him speak so tenderly. Saying,"Don't forget I am the One who died on Calvary."
The more I learn about Him..The more I want to cry, "Dear Lord, how could You ever love such a worm as I?"
Then it seems that I can almost see Him smile. And I hear Him whisper, "Because you are my child."
Calvin Wright David Baptist News