Good Friday
(3/25/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 18-19

Epistle: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9

In the fourteenth verse of the sixth chapter of Paul's letter to the Galatians, he writes,

"May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"Faith alone justifies us before God. Hope directs our attention to the end. But love perfects. At the end everything must become love. Perfection means love. But the sign of perfection in this world is called 'cross.'

"That is the way perfected love must go and always will go in this world. However, this truth shows us, first of all, that this world is ripe for demolition, overripe. It is only God's indescribable patience that is still waiting to the end. This truth shows us, secondly, that the church in this world remains a church under the cross.

"Woe to the church that already here wants to become a church of visible glory. It has denied its Lord on the cross. Faith, hope, and love all lead to the cross to be perfected.

Let us pray:

Forgive us, crucified Lord, for the times when we ignore your cross or when we are embarrassed by it. Help us to see your cross for what it is--love made perfect. Amen.

In the fifth verse of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, we read,


"But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"The cross is at the center. As I look at the large crucifix, I remember how it came to us. Four years ago a Franciscan priest, Father Pancratius, whom I met in Freiburg while he was dying of cancer, said to me, 'Henri, I want to give you this crucifix before I die.

'I want you to give it a place among your people with disabilities.'

"He told me the story of the crucifix. When many years ago he went to Croatia with a group of young Germans to help restore a church that was destroyed during World War II, they found the crucifix under the rubble.

"The pastor, grateful for the German gesture of reconciliation, gave it to Father Pancratius. There were no crossbeams, just the wood-carved body...

"Good Friday is much more than reliving the passion of Jesus; it is entering into solidarity with the passion of all people of our planet, whether in the past, the present, or the future. In Jesus all human suffering is collected.

"The broken heart of Jesus is the broken heart of God. The broken heart of God is the broken heart of the world."

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, on this day of sorrow, we will unite our sufferings with yours. We will set aside ten minutes to reflect on the meaning of your death for us...and give thanks for the freeing power that has come into our lives because of your sacrifice. Amen.

Holy Thursday
(3/24/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

In the twenty-fourth verse of the ninth chapter of the gospel according to Mark, we read,

"Immediately the father of the child cried out, 'I believe; help my unbelief!'"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"Your faith shall be tried by sorrow. God sends his children sorrow just when they need it most, when they have become far too confident on this earth. Then a great hurt comes into our lives, a hard sacrifice, a great loss, sickness, or death.

"Our unbelief rears up. Why does God demand this of me? Why did God allow it? Why, yes, why? That is unbelief's greatest question. It tries to choke our belief. No one is spared this anguish. It is all so puzzling, so mysterious.

"In this hour of godforsakenness, we may and ought to say: I believe, dear Lord; help my unbelief! Yes, dear Lord, even in darkness, even in doubt, even in godforsakenness. After all, dear Lord, you are my dear Father, who makes all things work together for my good.

"Dear Lord Jesus Christ, you yourself cried out: My God, why have you forsaken me? You wanted to be where I am. Now you are with me. Now I know that, even in my hour of need, you do not forsake me."

Let us pray:

Yes, Lord, we do believe. Help us to overcome our unbelief. Amen.

In the twenty-sixth verse of the eleventh chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, we read,

"For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"God says, 'I am your God and will be faithful to you even when you won’t be faithful to me.' Through human history, this divine faithfulness is shown to us in God's increasing desire for intimacy. At first God was the God for us, our protector and shield.

"Then, when Jesus came, God became the God with us, our companion and friend. Finally, when Jesus sent his Spirit, God was revealed to us as the God within us, our very breath and heartbeat.

"Our life is full of brokenness--broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives?

"Without this 'place' of return, our journey easily leads us to darkness and despair.
"But with this safe and solid home, we can keep renewing our faith, and keep trusting that the many setbacks of life move us forward to an always greater bond with the God of the covenant."

Let us pray:

We pray that you, Lord, will heal us. Let us learn from your example that the freedom of forgiveness also frees us for service and love. Amen.

Wednesday of Holy Week
(3/23/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 13:21-32

Epistle: Hebrews 12:1-3

In the thirty-fifth verse of the twenty-sixth chapter of the gospel according to Matthew, we read,

"Peter said to him, 'Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.' And so said all the disciples."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"It is good that we not boast about faith. Faith is not indicated by boasting. It is precisely because everything depends on our really having faith that every desire for boasting must fade away. Whether we believe or not will become apparent.

"It will become apparent daily, and declarations will be of no help at all. You all know how, in the passion story, Peter says to Jesus, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And Jesus' answer: "Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times." And the story ends, "Peter went out and wept bitterly." He had denied his Lord.

"Grand declarations, however sincere, however solemn, are closest to denial. May God keep all of us from that."

Let us pray:

Lord, when we are tempted to take pride in our faith, may we learn to bite our tongues and turn to you in silent prayer.

In the seventh verse of the fiftieth chapter of Isaiah, we read,

"The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame...."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"A man with hope does not get tangled up with concerns for how his wishes will be fulfilled. So, too, his prayer is not directed toward the gift, but toward the one who gives it.

"His is not a question of having a wish come true but of expressing an unlimited faith in the giver of all good things.

"For the prayer of hope, it is essential that there are no guarantees asked, no conditions posed, and no proofs demanded, only that you expect everything from the other without binding him in any way. Hope is based on the premise that the other gives only what is good.

"Hope includes an openness by which you wait for the other to make his loving promise come true, even though you never know when, where or how this might happen."

Let us pray:

Lord, teach us this Holy Week to live in and learn from your attitude of patient suffering. Amen.

Tuesday of Holy Week
(3/22/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 12:20-36

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

In the thirteenth verse of the fourth chapter of the first letter of Peter, we read,

"But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"All who suffer and carry heavy burdens are called by Jesus to cast off their yoke and take up his, which is easy, and to bear his burden, which is light. His yoke and his burden are the cross.

"Walking under this cross is not misery and despair, but refreshment and peace for one’s soul; it is the highest joy. Here we no longer walk beneath our self-made laws and burdens, but rather under the yoke of him who knows us and who himself walks along with us under this yoke. Under his yoke, we are assured of his proximity and fellowship.

"When a disciple picks up his or her own cross, it is actually Christ himself who is thereby found."

What are the "self-made laws and burdens" that we labor under? Do we know the joy of working under Jesus' yoke?

In the first verse of the seventy-first psalm, we read,

"In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"There is no hope in denial or avoidance, for ourselves or anyone else. New life can only be born out of the seed planted in crushed soil. Indeed, as the psalmist notes in the seventeenth verse of the fifty-first psalm, 'The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.'

"What keeps us from opening ourselves both to the reality of the world around us and to God’s healing hand? Could it be that we cannot accept our powerlessness and are only willing to see those wounds that we can heal?

"Could it be that we do not want to give up our illusion that we are masters over our world, and therefore, create our own Disneyland where we can make ourselves believe that all events of life are safely under control?

"Could it be that our blindness and deafness are signs of our own resistance to acknowledging that we are not the Lord of the Universe? Often we don't realize how much we resent our powerlessness."

Let us pray:

Lord, during this Holy Week when you were rendered powerless for our sake, we will strive to accept our own weaknesses and to depend on You.

In a few moments of silence this day we will remember times in our lives when Your strength became clear because of our weaknesses. Amen.

Monday of Holy Week
(3/21/05)

Readings from the Daily Lectionary

New Testament: John 12:1-11

Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15

In the twenty-third verse of the ninth chapter of the gospel according to Luke, we read,

"Then he said to them all, 'If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'"

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes that,

"Our cross is already there, ready, from the very beginning; we need only take it up.

"But to keep us from believing that we must simply choose any arbitrary cross, or simply pick our suffering as we will, Jesus emphasizes that each of us has his or her own cross, ready, appointed, and appropriately measured by God. Each of us is to bear the measure of suffering and rejection specifically appointed for us. And the measure is different for each of us. God deems some worthy of great suffering, and to them he grants the blessing of martyrdom.

"Others he does not allow to be tempted beyond their strength.

"The cross is not the horrible end of a pious, happy life, but stands rather at the beginning of community with Jesus Christ.

"Every call of Christ leads to death...death awaits us, namely death in Jesus Christ, the dying away of our old form of being human in Jesus' call.... Suffering is the mark of the disciples of Jesus Christ. The disciple is not above the teacher.

"Discipleship is...having to suffer. Thus did Luther count suffering among the signs of the real church.

Let us pray:

Lord, who can face the thought of suffering and rejection? We know we cannot without your grace. Help us to be the kinds of disciples you have called us to be. Amen.

In the sixth verse of the forty-second chapter of Isaiah, God proclaims,

"I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations...."

Henri Nouwen writes that,

"When all is said and done, what we must learn above all is to offer ourselves -- imperfections and all -- to God. If we keep waiting until we are 'worthy' of God, we will move farther rather than closer to Him. It is through our broken, vulnerable, mortal ways of being that the healing power of the eternal God becomes visible to us.

"We are called each day to present to the Lord the whole of our lives--our joys as well as sorrows, our successes as well as failures, our hopes as well as fears. We are called to do so with our limited means, our stuttering words and halting expressions.

"In this way we will come to know in mind and heart the unceasing prayer of God’s Spirit in us. Our many prayers are in fact confessions of our inability to pray. But they are confessions that enable us to perceive the merciful presence of God."

Let us pray:

Lord, instead of worrying about the times when we can't pray and when we're discouraged, we will try to turn them into opportunities to trust You alone. Amen.