“I don’t have the right personality for Good Friday, for the crucifixion: I’d like to skip ahead to the resurrection.” Anne Lamott, Plan B
“I find that Holy Week is draining; no matter how many times I have lived through his crucifixion, my anxiety about his resurrection is undiminished — I am terrified that, this year, it won’t happen; that, that year, it didn’t. Anyone can be sentimental about the Nativity; any fool can feel like a Christian at Christmas. But Easter is the main event; if you don’t believe in the resurrection, you’re not a believer.” John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany
I didn’t grow up with the rhythm of Holy Week. Our church, like many Churches of Christ, leaned heavily on the truth that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ every Sunday. I appreciate that emphasis.
And yet . . . the wisdom of the larger Christian community prevails. There is something about the celebration of Easter that is life-changing. It calls forth hope out of bleakness; it suggests the possibility of wholeness even in the midst of brokenness.
Seek him with me this weekend, dear friends. There are so many things I was certain of when I was twenty-two that I’m quite uncertain of today.
But this I’m sure of — sure enough to stake my life on it: Christ, the Lord, is risen.
Bruce Marchiano, the actor who plays Jesus in the Visual Bible, said recently at the Tulsa Workshop that no film can be accurately made about Jesus without it being rated X. He pointed out the super-trauma of Jesus final days…especially Isaiah’s point about him being beaten to a pulp….cannot be accurately filmed and, yet, cleanly presented.
I read recently of a writer who said he believed if he had personally been there, he would have passed out.
You are correct, Mike, we celebrate this every Sunday. However, I’m with you. I join the entire believing world with renewed awareness of how little I can really take in of His successful sacrifice.
I’ve said the same thing, except that I believe if the *Bible* were filmed accurately, it would be rated NC-17. Face it, it has murder, incest, adultery, treachery, betrayal, and lots and lots of bloody wars!
This is only partially related. What I’m trying to figure out is how best to honor Good Friday with our children.
They have the day off school (we’re home schooling at present, but we keep the same holidays as the public schools).
At christmas time we like to read sections from the gospels leading up to and through the birth itself. I’m not sure that reading the gospels for the end of Jesus’ life would be as useful (plus I’d choke up anyway).
Has anyone got traditions that they use with their children? Mine are fairly young (11 down to 4), if that’s of importance.
Thanks Mike - regardless of our upbringings, our leanings, or our spiritual journey - Christ died for us and rose from death to live forever - just as we will that believe. Good Friday.
It is telling that as we age and doctors say your hormones are no longer present, how the thought of what Jesus went through and why, makes me weep more. Is it because I want to be more like him everyday? Is it because in the busyness of the life of a young wife and mother you cannot bear to put yourself in His place for only a fraction of time, because this earthy life goes on. Does He understand? I am only talking about myself.
Bernard,
I am very touched at your sincere desire to share the Gospel story with your children. As adults, we have trouble comprehending what happened during that weekend that changed the world for eternity. So, of course, your children cannot begin to take it all in. What they will remember, however, is how important this story is to you. I will never forget the times in my childhood when my dad choked up as he spoke of Jesus on the cross, the amazing grace and love of the Father, or as he prayed so fervently for the church. He was my hero - strong, proud, protector, provider - but if anything could bring him to tears, it was speaking about the events we are focused on this weekend. So, however you decide to spend this time with your children today, what they will remember throughout their lives is how important this event is to you and how your shared your deep love for our Savior.
Blessings to you.
Mike, I love the Easter season.
One of my favorite quotes about resurrected life comes from the fiction series Anne of Green Gables from Captain Jim:
“It always amazes me to loook at the little, wrinkled brown seeds and think of the rainbows in ‘em. When I ponder on them seeds I don’t find it nowise hard to believe that we’ve got souls that’ll live in other worlds. You couldn’t hardly believe there was life in them tiny things, some no bigger than grains of dust, let alone colour and scent, if you hadn’t seen the miracle, could you?”
Bernard,
I baked resurrection cookies with my grandsons 8 and 6 last year.
On Saturday, we mixed ingredients and told the story of crucifixion, and then the cookies were placed into a sealed oven (turned off). Each ingredient represented events in the resurrection story. On Sunday morning, Jack and Adam’s first requests were to unseal the oven. They found cookies that represented the tomb of Christ, hollow, in the center. Empty.
You can find the recipe and accompanying scripture readings on the Internet or the recipe is at my blog today.
http:stainedglasspickup.blogspot.com
He is risen indeed.
Alleluia!
Mike
Today in Zambia Good Friday is a holiday and as we sat on the veranda here at Namwianga Mission, we were approached by a young mother and baby whose husband is ill and they have no food. This is a common occurence here and I still stutter as I try and decide how best to help them. We finally decided hope in the form of meal was the best way and so I sent them to where they could get enough meal to feed their family. Resurrection means hope to me and is the only way I can get through these terrible times of living in a fallen world full of faces fearful and hopeless. I am grateful to a God who allows me to participate in the care of His people. Not faceless unknown receipents of charity but actual touching and talking to those who don’t know me but do know we are christians who want to help them. Bless you and Diane as you celebrate Him who “broke himself for bread”.
Laura
I believe the Lord is risen.
I truly believe Holy Week touches me deeper- the images are more vivid in my mind and heart as a result of the weekly observance…and vice versa!
Personally, I wish we did something to remember Good Saturday. I wrote something about it on my blog. It’s really a symbol for the time we find ourselves in.
Something about Easter weekend…even when the world around me is full of pain and chaos, hope begins to stir in my heart as I think about the resurrection and what it means for my life today. For the last three years, I have celebrated Easter by playing in the pit orchestra for Pioneer Drive’s annual Easter pagaent. I can’t tell you what an incredible blessing that is to be a part of the retelling of the greatest story ever told. In the two weeks leading up to Easter, we perform six times, not to mention all the rehearsals and dress rehearsals, and yet there are parts of the story that choke me up every night. He is risen! Hallelujah! He is risen indeed!
AMEN!
Great comments Mike. The more we can do as a body of believers to remind folks of the importance of the resurrection the better.
Anyone going to watch the Passion of the Christ today or tonight as a congregation?
“All other ground is sinking sand……….on Christ the solid rock I stand”.
DU
Like Mike, I didn’t grow up with the feel of the holy element the week, but now that I am old and more mature in the Scriptures (So I will like to believe), I now appreciate what other Christians have been celebrate for years.
Jesus is Lord!!!
Amen for the Easter weekend. Remember to do everything to the glory of God.
I just got home from our annual drive-through Easter Panorama. It was about 30 degrees as we donned our costumes to act out scenes from the last week of Christ’s time on Earth as cars drive through listening to the story on tape. Once again this year I found myself in the mob scene before Pilate. The words hung in my throat. “Crucify Him!” “Give us Barabas!” “His blood is on our heads!” It’s easy to point a finger at those people , and then I remember that I do that every day! Being in that scene on Good Friday always prostrates me at the foot of the Cross.
About 200 people drove through tonight! Pray for their lives to be changed by the power of the Cross! Pray for us tomorrow night as we continue this ministry, as we continue our worship!
Bernard~
I am not a mother and not an expert on children, but my spirit says that you can do nothing better for your children than simply this…read the story and get choked up. Children are not used to seeing fathers cry, but I know from watching mine cry quite a lot lately at the loss of a son - a father’s tears are powerful. Your tears of sorrow for His death, and of joy for his resurrection, are the most powerful testimony you offer.
Quoting Anne Lamott and John Irving in the same post? God must be trying to get my attention. I still read A Prayer for Owen Meany every year or two. Without a doubt my favorite book. Thanks for your words and theirs.
Leslie Newbigin was once asked if he was an optimist or a pessimist. His response was, “I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.”
Among the false promises of TV evangelists, tarot card readers, and a slew of talking heads, one man refuses to say whether the world will be a better or worse place tomorrow, whether we will be richer or poorer or sick or well. He simply holds out his wounded hands, offers new life, and says “Follow me.”
Although I was raised Roman Catholic, I didn’t appreciate the church calendar until after years of being away from it. Now I miss it (but NOT the Catholic church) dearly.