Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi,
quia per sanctam crucem
tuam redemisti mundum.
Qui passus es pro nobis,
Domine, miserere nobis.
We adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you,
because by your holy cross
you have redeemed the world.
O Lord, who suffered for us,
have mercy on us.
1. How will you pray and worship today?
In silence and prayer. Tonight we observe a service revolving around Jesus' Seven Last Words, with the hymn "Jesus, In Thy Dying Woes" as a centerpiece.
2. Share a powerful memory or memories of Good Friday past.
They're all powerful. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are the two most meaningful services of the year for me. As such, I'm honestly having a hard time picking one memory to mention. In college, we always gathered for Good Friday Worship at 7:30 AM, with a breakfast to follow with egg casserole, freshly baked cinnamon rolls and other goodies.
3. How have you grown and experienced God's love during this past Lent?
In partnership doing this Lenten Journal/Devotion business. I've been challenged, challengING and comforted throughout the season, including those times when I was forced to stop writing for a bit. It's not been as disciplined as I'd hoped, but I feel as though I've grown nonetheless.
4. In whom do you see the face of the suffering Christ most clearly?
Right now I see it in the people affected by the horrible earthquake in Italy. Innocent suffering always reminds me of Christ, and this was certainly an act of nature which struck down the just and unjust alike. But I also see Christ in the response to the spiritual, psychological and basic, physical need of the situation. The church prays; the people gather round and tend; the world sobs in grief. This is just one of the many ways we love one another as Christ loved us.
5. Where do you find hope for resurrection?
In my children. They give me such hope and joy these days, especially in this last week as our lives have been disrupted time and time again. Funerals, emergencies and other needs have intruded on us, to the point that it's all we can do to get to the next thing (including worship this week - I wrote my Maundy Thursday sermon at 4:00 yesterday afternoon). It's not been the Holy Week we hoped to encounter, but God is certainly wrapped up in all the mystery and frustration we're experiencing right now, and our girls are the point of light in all of it. Smiles, laughter, trust, peace, love; they give us all that and more, just by being who they are.
Bonus: Share a song, poem, or prayer that makes the paschal mystery come alive for you.
I've shared this before, but it still has been on my mind and heart this week. Thus, I give you Durufle's Ubi Caritas.
Thank you for this - and for the Maundy thursday reflection
ReplyDeleteI love the picture and the hymn. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteBy the way I read down and was moved by what have been going through recently--especially your story of the verbal gaffe, whatever it may have been.
ReplyDeleteI am sure it was really painful for you--and perhaps others-- but I am so friggin' impressed that you made an immediate and public apology. Who ever does that, especially pastors? And what incredible modeling for your congregation of the only thing we can and should do when we screw up, but which it is so hard to do sometimes.
This especially resonated because a couple weeks ago I was deeply hurt by something my rector said in his sermon and got a very different response....Defensiveness and dismissal of the first email and a grudging "sorry if I hurt you" half apology in the second.
Go you, go God. (Not in that order, as my best friend in grad school used to say).
There are some good countertenors in there!
ReplyDelete