In the beginning Before heaven was. Before earth was formless -
There you are Father, Son and Spirit Holy Three in one The sacred dance
And In the end At earths destruction Beyond the days of new heaven and new earth There you are, dancing still
Unimaginably timeless The dance of love goes on Graceful and fluid, Majestic and lovely, Flowing like water Intensely intricate Entwining and joyful.
It is hard to see where one person ends And another begins Father, Son and Spirit Holy.
And mystery of mysteries You bid us come.
Spirit draws us, Son takes us In nail pierced hands And presents us to the Father.
And we are caught up in the holy dance The eternal relationship of love Which knows no beginning and no end.
What a privilege to be Caught up in you And the rhythm of eternal communion As we spin and sway and move to the music of grace With Father, Son and Spirit Holy.
Sunday Hopeless and weary, yet still Our love for him drew us to the place where he lay Braving the knowledge that the guards would still be there Despite the finality of death, we had to see even his grave one more time.
The earth shook as we approached.
We shook, too. Though we had thought that those last dark days had wrung out every last emotion, We found we were wrong but still our love drew us.
A light too bright to look into Words issued by an angel Words too bright to believe entirely but unbidden, a strange forgotten joy was birthed. It was hope.
We ran. We ran to call the others, but stopped in our tracks.
He was there. Radiant. “Greetings” he said.
“Greetings“……….GREETINGS??”
Are those words from beyond the grave…….? “Greetings” even now it makes me laugh.
And we who had thought to never feel again were filled with joy. Laughter spilled out, love overflowed, struck down with awe we lay flat and clutched at his feet with love whilst we could barely breathe.
“Fear not” so gentle his words that banished fear forever. and now we could let him go For we knew he would never leave us again.
oops – forgot to post yesterday, so two offerings today. Here we are, Good Friday, remembering the darkest of days. We know the events through the bible and with hindsight. I cannot imagine how the mother of Jesus, or his friends felt at the crucifixion, not knowing what would follow.
I watched a much loved sister die over a relatively short period of time a few years ago. Sitting at her bedside, watching her lovely face grow thinner, seeing her slipping away in front of my eyes, was agonising. Yet I kept thinking about Mary, watching Jesus die before her eyes, an unimaginably more painful death with no pain relief, no nurses, and so alone.
He would have been naked, exposed, his skin gouged, his face beaten…publicly derided and humiliated. I cannot imagine watching that happen to a much loved son, to someone you loved more than yourself.
The Death Mary watched and wept as the torture proceeded not knowing that each and every savage, painful moment
drew You closer to home to the place where tears are tenderly wiped away and glory is inhaled with every breath.
Every step on the highway to death forged a path to a life that will never perish.
And when deepest blackness darkened the sky and utter bleakness stole Your soul that was the last grasp of evil’s fingers upon You.
Never again can the tentacles of death trap those in whom Your Spirit inhabits.
For we are free and more alive than we will ever know even while we die.
I will fear no evil. For the Good Shepherd is by my side.
Father forgive them, they know not what they do
The only certainty more sure than our past, present and future blind mindless murder of God
is His open arms offering free forgiveness to the killers.
Facing the unknown, when you are about to approach something difficult, be it a parting, a difficult journey, or a course of unpleasant medical treatment, is difficult. It would be much harder to face these same things, whilst knowing fully what they would entail. Which of us has not said at some time ‘if I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t come this way’.
I believe Jesus knew what lay ahead. He knew that betrayal, torment, agony and death were coming. For the person of God to ‘become sin’ – this too, lay ahead, and is a darkness beyond our understanding, yet he walked into that too, with eyes open. Jesus knew what would happen, why else would he pray, ‘If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.’
Is there anything on this earth that can console a person in such grief, facing the loss of body, soul and spirit? Perhaps only not to face it alone. Yet that was the point at which Jesus’s friends slept. Those same friends whom he had nurtured, taught and loved for 3 years. those same friends would flee, leaving him to face the terror alone.
Jesus How did You feel? You told them you were going You told them they would grieve. Were you hinting when You said “a time is coming when I will not pray for you, you can pray yourselves.”
You reminded them of their love for You. You told them that You were going. You said they would be scattered But that You, Jesus would be all alone
WHY didn’t they pray for You Jesus? For Heaven’s sake they could not even stay awake To be with You While Your anguished soul cried out
How easily the word Forgiveness trips off my tongue. Yet as I consider the depth of the betrayal of Jesus and the agony of the cross, the grace of His quiet forgiveness strikes me anew. How quick I am to take offence if I feel slightly ignored or badly treated by people I don’t know, let alone by friends. Yet He foreknew what would happen, and did not forbid Judas to come to the last supper or turn away from the fake kiss.
With Easter almost upon us, I plan to put something up daily regarding the week on the Passion of Christ. Please ignore the timeline – like the bible, I will jump around the timeline a bit.
Today reflecting on people Jesus loved. Mary, the disciples, and us.
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