{"id":3234,"date":"2020-04-10T10:06:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T00:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=3234"},"modified":"2020-04-13T12:26:10","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T02:26:10","slug":"good-friday-message-10-04-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/?p=3234","title":{"rendered":"Good Friday Message & Sermon 10-04-2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Jesus’ followers,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As we enter into the solemn mood on this the holiest of our holy days, we kneel at the feet of the cross, crying for our loved one who has died.\u00a0 We were not his followers then, but we are his followers now.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I wrote about haiku, Japanese poetry enshrined within 17 syllables.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My morning dog walks are slow…Harry is middle aged, blind, and has been off colour the past few days.\u00a0 The walk allows me to wake up properly, pray, and sometimes, through the silence, bits of haiku start to form.\u00a0 Today, this Good Friday one came into being:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary on her cross.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Heart shredded by grief’s talons.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

“My son, my son, why…”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Blessings as you mourn, and wait through Holy Saturday. Sometimes we are not good at waiting, impatient in this society of 2 minute noodles, drive-through food etc, though these weeks in lock down may have made us a little more patient.\u00a0 When we slow down, when we wait…well, we see things we haven’t noticed before, we become mindful.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the darkness, remember…you are loved. In Jesus’ darkest time, he remembered and cared for others, right to the end:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

‘When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. ‘(John 19: 26-27)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Barbara<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Good Friday Service: Leighmoor Uniting Church, 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you have a cross, of any kind, I invite you to have it in front of you, or wear it, during this service at home, and to have as a focus for the rest of the day. I would have used other symbols for the Good Friday service, having them as the \u2018voices\u2019, but instead I have chosen to put together a service that is easier to follow on your own, or with a small family group.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

On this Good Friday we hear the Bible Readings, and are invited to enter the story, through some of the key characters. When we hear their stories we may ask ourselves: Am I like Peter?\u00a0 <\/span>Do I deny Jesus? Do I grieve like Mary?\u00a0 <\/span>Each of the stories (some of them adapted from Whole People of God <\/i>material) is linked with Bible readings, if you want to look them up. I was going to include them as well, but it would be many more pages!\u00a0 <\/span>I have included prayers, parts of hymns, and a poem.\u00a0 <\/span>You may enter into all of it, or part of it.\u00a0 <\/span>You may even choose to focus on a hymn, or a reading, instead.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

From the depth of his agony, Jesus cried out:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this question he identified himself with all who suffer pain, rejection, and death.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are invited to experience God\u2019s presence, even in our darkest hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the darkest of all Christian days, yet we worship God.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In our grief, we seek God\u2019s caring presence.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hymn 339: O sacred head sore wounded.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. O sacred head sore wounded,<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    with grief and shame weighed down;<\/strong><\/p>\n

    O kingly head surrounded<\/strong><\/p>\n

    with thorns your only crown;<\/strong><\/p>\n

    death\u2019s shadows rise before you,<\/strong><\/p>\n

    the glow of life decays;<\/strong><\/p>\n

    yet hosts of heaven adore you<\/strong><\/p>\n

    and tremble as they gaze.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. What language shall I borrow<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      to praise you, heavenly friend,<\/strong><\/p>\n

      for this your dying sorrow,<\/strong><\/p>\n

      your mercy without end?<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Such agony and dying!<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Such love to sinners free!<\/strong><\/p>\n

      O Christ, all grace supplying,<\/strong><\/p>\n

      turn now your face on me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. In this your bitter Passion,<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        good Shepherd, think of me,<\/strong><\/p>\n

        look on me with compassion,<\/strong><\/p>\n

        unworthy though I be:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        beneath your cross abiding<\/strong><\/p>\n

        forever would I rest,<\/strong><\/p>\n

        in your dead love confiding,<\/strong><\/p>\n

        and with your presence blessed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

        (-Paul Gerhardt)<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Reflections<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Judas Iscariot tells his story: (Luke 22:39-51)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Was I there?\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, I, Judas Iscariot was there all right.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t suppose you\u2019ll ever understand why I acted as I did.\u00a0 <\/span>But if you had known Jesus as I knew him, perhaps you wouldn\u2019t be quite so harsh in your condemnation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Why, he had everything going for him!\u00a0 <\/span>He could make the crowds hang on his words.\u00a0 <\/span>There were hundreds-no thousands-who would have done anything he asked them to do.\u00a0 <\/span>He was the perfect leader for our people.\u00a0 <\/span>And then he threw it all away.\u00a0 <\/span>It would have been child\u2019s play for him to get the whole nation behind him and throw those detested Romans clear out of the country.\u00a0 <\/span>I was sure that\u2019s what he was leading up to, with all his fine talk about a kingdom.\u00a0 <\/span>And then he blew it.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cMy kingdom is not of this world\u201d-indeed!<\/strong><\/p>\n

          I tell you I\u2019ve never been more disappointed in my life.\u00a0 <\/span>Someone who lets people down like that ought to be betrayed.\u00a0 <\/span>And yet\u2026O God\u2026I wish I could forget those eyes that seemed to see right into me.\u00a0 <\/span>I wish he had just stopped loving me for one bitter moment.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps it would be easier for me now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Peter tells his story: Luke 22: 54-62<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            How could I have done it?\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI\u2019m your man, Jesus.\u00a0 <\/span>You can count on me!\u00a0 <\/span>Maybe not on anybody else, but you can count on good old Peter the Rock\u201d That\u2019s what I said to him, not 24 hours ago.\u00a0 <\/span>And I meant every word of it.\u00a0 <\/span>I was so sure that nothing could ever make me let him down.\u00a0 <\/span>And then look what I did- told those men and that serving girl, three times in arrow, that I never even knew him!<\/strong><\/p>\n

            Never knew him!\u00a0 <\/span>I knew him as I\u2019ve never known anyone in my life.\u00a0 <\/span>To think that I was the one who realised on the mountain top that here was no mere mortal, but God living with us.\u00a0 <\/span>I was the one who blurted it out: \u201cJesus, you\u2019re the Christ, the son of the living God!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

            And now I\u2019ve denied him.\u00a0 <\/span>And without any doubt those murdered will have his life.\u00a0 <\/span>My last chance to say I\u2019m sorry, or to do anything to help him.\u00a0 <\/span>If only there could be another chance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Pilate tells his story: Matthew 27: 11-31<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Why, oh why, did I have to become governor of a God-forsaken little province like this?\u00a0 <\/span>A bunch of lunatics-that\u2019s what these people are!\u00a0 <\/span>Coming to me with their petty little disputes, threatening an insurrection if I don\u2019t do exactly what they want.<\/strong><\/p>\n

              This was the last straw, this Jesus business.\u00a0 <\/span>Why, they didn\u2019t have a case against him at all.\u00a0 <\/span>Sheer jealousy, that\u2019s all it was.\u00a0 <\/span>And he stood head and shoulders over every one of them who were after his blood.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve never seen such courage.\u00a0 <\/span>He took his flogging, and all the jeering and spitting without ever flinching.<\/strong><\/p>\n

              I wish there\u2019d been some way of saving him.\u00a0 <\/span>I really do!\u00a0 <\/span>I tried\u2026God knows I tried.\u00a0 <\/span>But what can you do with a howling mob like that?\u00a0 <\/span>If there\u2019d been a riot, and Caesar had heard about it\u2026well, at least, nobody can hold me responsible for his death.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve washed my hands of the whole thing.\u00a0 <\/span>Still, I wish there\u2019d been some way\u2026I just can\u2019t forget the way he looked at me.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t think I ever will.<\/strong><\/p>\n

              Poem: The Four<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

              (written by a member of a previous congregation):<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \u2018Peter, Judas, Pilate\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

              What shame surrounds the three.<\/strong><\/p>\n

              But shame on shame,<\/strong><\/p>\n

              a hundred shames on me!<\/strong><\/p>\n

              My Lord I slayed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

              For I betrayed, and I denied and crucified<\/strong><\/p>\n

              the One who so loved me.<\/strong><\/p>\n

              I did the same, yet laid the blame<\/strong><\/p>\n

              on them, those other three.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

                \n
              1. The criminal tells his story: John 19: 16-18, Luke 23: 39-43<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                It\u2019s all over for him. For me, a few more hours of this unspeakable pain, and then it\u2019s over for me too.\u00a0 <\/span>I never expected to die like this.\u00a0 <\/span>Oh I knew I\u2019d die a criminal\u2019s death one way or another, but I always thought it would be with cursing and shrieking defiance to the end.\u00a0 <\/span>But then, who\u2019d ever have thought I\u2019d die beside a person like this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                Person?\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, and yet more than that, I\u2019m certain.\u00a0 <\/span>Now for the first time, I\u2019m suddenly at peace, and just because of him.\u00a0 <\/span>Imagine!\u00a0 <\/span>Hanging on a cross, blind with pain, and I can say everything\u2019s all right!\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m a whole person.\u00a0 <\/span>God, thank you for letting me die here.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                Hymn 730: \u2018Jesus, remember me\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

                \u2018Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom\u2026\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

                (-Jacques Berthier)<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Mary tells her story: John 19: 25b-27<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  There were so many things I wondered about.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes I think we should have demanded more obedience from him.\u00a0 <\/span>It wasn\u2019t that he was a bad boy.\u00a0 <\/span>Not at all.\u00a0 <\/span>If anything he was too kind, too generous, too involved, too interested in God.\u00a0 <\/span>We told him to be careful, to choose his words carefully.\u00a0 <\/span>I pleaded with him not to make the leaders angry.\u00a0 <\/span>I used to beg him not to make a spectacle of himself even though once I completely contradicted myself and almost made a spectacle of him at a wedding at Cana.\u00a0 <\/span>Imagine asking him to do something about the wine shortage as if he were some kind of cheap magician!\u00a0 <\/span>Thank God only the servants knew what happened.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  I was so terrified when crowds started following him.\u00a0 <\/span>Foe every person that loved him I knew there were several who hated him.\u00a0 <\/span>I couldn\u2019t bear their hatred for him.\u00a0 <\/span>I wanted to take him away and protect him from them.\u00a0 <\/span>He once got angry with me because of that.\u00a0 <\/span>He said I was asking him to deny his calling.\u00a0 <\/span>I probably was.\u00a0 <\/span>But I knew where it would lead.\u00a0 <\/span>I knew the end would be heartbreak-my heartbreak.\u00a0 <\/span>Oh, how I wish I could have protected him from this cruel ending.\u00a0 <\/span>How I wanted him to stop his teaching, stop his healing, stop his loving of every heart-broken creature he met.\u00a0 <\/span>But in my heart of hearts, I knew that would be asking him to deny who he was and who God had called him to be.\u00a0 <\/span>No parent has the right to ask their child to deny their very soul.\u00a0 <\/span>In the end all I could do was to be with him, love him, love the people that love him and join them in their grief.\u00a0 <\/span>My son.\u00a0 <\/span>My son.\u00a0 <\/span>Did your faithfulness have to bring you to this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. A contemporary Christian: John 19: 38-42<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Was I there? That\u2019s a rather odd question to ask someone who is living in 2020!\u00a0 <\/span>20 centuries after the event!\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

                    Well, I\u2019ve got some questions of my own.\u00a0 <\/span>Tell me, why did it have to happen?\u00a0 <\/span>Why did God let Jesus die like that?\u00a0 <\/span>Why did anyone want<\/i> to put him to death?\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ll never understand it.\u00a0 <\/span>And yet, I wonder\u2026would it have been any different if it had happened today?\u00a0 <\/span>Society is pretty good at putting goodness and love to death.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    We know that peace is better than war, yet we wage war in spite of ourselves.\u00a0 <\/span>We know that the starving two-thirds of the world could be fed, but we hang on to our standard of living.\u00a0 <\/span>We know that Jesus\u2019 Sermon on the Mount could revolutionise human life, but we reject both him and his teaching.\u00a0 <\/span>We know we are caretakers of God\u2019s creation, but we continue to pollute its waters, earth and sky.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    Was I there?\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, I\u2019d have to say I was, along with Peter and Judas and the others.\u00a0 <\/span>Things aren\u2019t so different today than on that first grim Good Friday, except for one thing; we know about Easter Sunday.\u00a0 <\/span>The cross doesn\u2019t just mean death, it also means victory, new life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    Hymn 345: \u2018Were you there when they crucified my Lord?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. Where you there when they crucified my Lord?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      Were you there when they crucified my Lord?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                      O sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                      Were you there when they crucified my Lord?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                        \n
                      1. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?…<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                          \n
                        1. Were you there when the sun refused to shine?…<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                          5. Were you there when he rose from out the tomb?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          (-African-American spiritual)<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          The story of the cross:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          I am the most familiar, most despised and yet the most loved symbol of Easter.\u00a0 <\/span>Once I was a fine young tree.\u00a0 <\/span>As I grew, I dreamed of what was in store for me.\u00a0 <\/span>I heard the older trees talking about how the woodsman would come and cut us down, how we would be used to build homes, furniture or even a ship.\u00a0 <\/span>I often dreamed of the time when I too would be taken down and made into something useful.\u00a0 <\/span>I rather hoped that I would become a part of a ship and sail off to see the wonders of the world.\u00a0 <\/span>How differently my dream turned out!<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          One day the woodsmen came and cut me down.\u00a0 <\/span>I was once proud, yet sad-sad to be leaving my fellow trees.\u00a0 <\/span>The man took me to the courtyard of a workshop where they began to shape and hew me.\u00a0 <\/span>They were good men and loved the touch of fine wood.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThis is a beautiful wood,\u201d one of them said.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cI wish I could make it into a chest for my wife.\u201d But when they had finished, they threw me on top of a pile of other rough cut logs.\u00a0 <\/span>A man came in all in a rush, looked about, spied me, ad said, \u201cThis one will do\u201d, as he hailed me out of the pile.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          \u201cAt last,\u201d I thought, \u201cmy time has come.\u00a0 <\/span>I wonder what I am to become?\u201d The man did not seem to take pride in his work.\u00a0 <\/span>He was only bent on getting the job done as quickly as possible, as if it were a job he didn\u2019t want to be doing.\u00a0 <\/span>When he had finished, he called to another workman to help carry me.\u00a0 <\/span>I didn\u2019t seem to be anything, just two pieces of wood.\u00a0 <\/span>Perhaps there were other pieces that needed to be fitted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          The carpenter carried me to a courtyard, where an officer, after glancing at me, said \u201cIt will do.\u201d He ordered two other guards to carry me through the streets, pushing through the crowd that had grown in the square, until they stood in front of a Man-beaten and bent in pain.\u00a0 <\/span>The guards thrust me at him but another called out, \u201cNo! We barely got him this far.\u00a0 <\/span>He\u2019ll never be able to carry this.\u00a0 <\/span>We\u2019ll be here all day.\u00a0 <\/span>You, hey, you, pick this up and carry it.\u00a0 <\/span>By order of the Emperor.\u201d The man from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene they called him, picked me up and began to carry me, followed by the jeering crowd, out of the city to a place called Golgotha.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Then and only then did I realise the \u201cuseful\u201d thing I had become.\u00a0 <\/span>They laid me on the ground and after laying the tired and beaten Man upon me, they hammered nails into his hands and feet.\u00a0 <\/span>The guards groaned as they hoisted me up and set me into a freshly dug hole.\u00a0 <\/span>I was the cross.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Loving God,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          we thank you for Jesus<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          and that he would stop at nothing,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          not even death on a cross,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          to show that you love us,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          that you seek to forgive us,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          and that you promise to be with us always.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          May we always remember the depth of that love!<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Jesus, you carried our sins in your own body on the tree<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          so that we might have life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Let us go out to keep our vigil at the cross,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          at your feet,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          in your name<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                          Hymn 342: \u2018When I survey the wondrous cross\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

                            \n
                          1. When I survey the wondrous cross<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                            On which the Prince of glory died,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                            My richest gain I count but loss,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                            And pour contempt on all my pride.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                              \n
                            1. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                              Save in the death of Christ my God;<\/strong><\/p>\n

                              All the vain things that charm me most,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                              I sacrifice them to his blood.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                \n
                              1. See from his head, his hands, his feet,<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                Sorrow and love flow mingled down;<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                Did e\u2019er such love and sorrow meet,<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                Or thorns compose so rich a crown?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  \n
                                1. Were the whole realm of nature mine,<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                                  That were a present far too small<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  Love so amazing, so divine<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  Demands my soul, my life, my all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  (-Isaac Watts)<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  To close with the story of the lily:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  I am the lily.\u00a0 <\/span>Once long ago I bloomed in a garden belonging to Joseph of Arimathea.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a quiet evening when they came.\u00a0 <\/span>Joseph and some women, weeping women, came with a cart carrying the body of a dead Man.\u00a0 <\/span>Joseph himself tenderly carefully wrapped the linen sheet about the body and carried it into the tomb, a cave he had just carved right into the hillside.\u00a0 <\/span>As he rolled a rock over the entrance, Pilate\u2019s guard arrived insisting that a seal be placed on the entrance and a guard posted.\u00a0 <\/span>With the guard in place, the others quickly left.\u00a0 <\/span>Silence returned.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  But I am not a symbol of sadness; I am a symbol of hope.\u00a0 <\/span>Because you see, the story is not yet over.\u00a0 <\/span>There is more to come.\u00a0 <\/span>And I will wait here by the entrance to the tomb to greet my Lord on Easter morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  Rev Barbara Allen<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  Good Friday<\/i>, 10.4.20<\/strong><\/p>\n

                                  — <\/span><\/strong>
                                  \nThis email has been checked for viruses by AVG.<\/span><\/strong>
                                  \nhttps:\/\/www.avg.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                  Hello Jesus’ followers, As we enter into the solemn mood on this the holiest of our holy days, we kneel at the feet of the cross, crying for our loved one who has died.\u00a0 We were not his followers then, but we are his followers now. A few weeks ago, I wrote about haiku, Japanese poetry enshrined within 17 syllables. My morning dog walks are slow…Harry is middle aged, blind, and has been off colour the past few days.\u00a0 The walk allows me to wake up properly, pray, and sometimes, through the silence, bits of haiku start to form.\u00a0 Today, this Good Friday one came into being: Mary on her cross. Heart shredded by grief’s talons. “My son, my son, why…” Blessings as you mourn, and wait through Holy Saturday. Sometimes we are not good at waiting, impatient in this society of 2 minute noodles, drive-through food etc, though these weeks in lock down may have made us a little more patient.\u00a0 When we slow down, when we wait…well, we see things we haven’t noticed before, we become mindful. In the darkness, remember…you are loved. In Jesus’ darkest time, he remembered and cared for others, right to the end: ‘When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. ‘(John 19: 26-27) Barbara Good Friday Service: Leighmoor Uniting Church, 2020. If you have a cross, of any kind, I invite you to have it in front of you, or wear it, during this service at home, and to have as a focus for the rest of the day. I would have used other symbols for the Good Friday service, having them as the \u2018voices\u2019, but instead I have chosen to put together a service that is easier to follow on your own, or with a small family group. Introduction On this Good Friday we hear the Bible Readings, and are invited to enter the story, through some of the key characters. When we hear their stories we may ask ourselves: Am I like Peter?\u00a0 Do I deny Jesus? Do I grieve like Mary?\u00a0 Each of the stories (some of them adapted from Whole People of God material) is linked with Bible readings, if you want to look them up. I was going to include them as well, but it would be many more pages!\u00a0 I have included prayers, parts of hymns, and a poem.\u00a0 You may enter into all of it, or part of it.\u00a0 You may even choose to focus on a hymn, or a reading, instead.\u00a0 Prayer From the depth of his agony, Jesus cried out: \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d In this question he identified himself with all who suffer pain, rejection, and death. We are invited to experience God\u2019s presence, even in our darkest hours. This is the darkest of all Christian days, yet we worship God. In our grief, we seek God\u2019s caring presence. Amen. Hymn 339: O sacred head sore wounded. O sacred head sore wounded, with grief and shame weighed down; O kingly head surrounded with thorns your only crown; death\u2019s shadows rise before you, the glow of life decays; yet hosts of heaven adore you and tremble as they gaze. What language shall I borrow to praise you, heavenly friend, for this your dying sorrow, your mercy without end? Such agony and dying! Such love to sinners free! O Christ, all grace supplying, turn now your face on me. In this your bitter Passion, good Shepherd, think of me, look on me with compassion, unworthy though I be: beneath your cross abiding forever would I rest, in your dead love confiding, and with your presence blessed. (-Paul Gerhardt) Reflections Judas Iscariot tells his story: (Luke 22:39-51) Was I there?\u00a0 Yes, I, Judas Iscariot was there all right.\u00a0 I don\u2019t suppose you\u2019ll ever understand why I acted as I did.\u00a0 But if you had known Jesus as I knew him, perhaps you wouldn\u2019t be quite so harsh in your condemnation. Why, he had everything going for him!\u00a0 He could make the crowds hang on his words.\u00a0 There were hundreds-no thousands-who would have done anything he asked them to do.\u00a0 He was the perfect leader for our people.\u00a0 And then he threw it all away.\u00a0 It would have been child\u2019s play for him to get the whole nation behind him and throw those detested Romans clear out of the country.\u00a0 I was sure that\u2019s what he was leading up to, with all his fine talk about a kingdom.\u00a0 And then he blew it.\u00a0 \u201cMy kingdom is not of this world\u201d-indeed! I tell you I\u2019ve never been more disappointed in my life.\u00a0 Someone who lets people down like that ought to be betrayed.\u00a0 And yet\u2026O God\u2026I wish I could forget those eyes that seemed to see right into me.\u00a0 I wish he had just stopped loving me for one bitter moment.\u00a0 Perhaps it would be easier for me now. Peter tells his story: Luke 22: 54-62 How could I have done it?\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m your man, Jesus.\u00a0 You can count on me!\u00a0 Maybe not on anybody else, but you can count on good old Peter the Rock\u201d That\u2019s what I said to him, not 24 hours ago.\u00a0 And I meant every word of it.\u00a0 I was so sure that nothing could ever make me let him down.\u00a0 And then look what I did- told those men and that serving girl, three times in arrow, that I never even knew him! Never knew him!\u00a0 I knew him as I\u2019ve never known anyone in my life.\u00a0 To think that I was the one who realised on the mountain top that here was no mere mortal, but God living with us.\u00a0 I was the one who blurted it out: \u201cJesus, you\u2019re the Christ, the son of the living<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Leighmoor.Master","author_link":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/author\/leighmoor-master"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Sermons<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Hello Jesus’ followers, As we enter into the solemn mood on this the holiest of our holy days, we kneel at the feet of the cross, crying for our loved one who has died.\u00a0 We were not his followers then, but we are his followers now. A few weeks ago, I wrote about haiku, Japanese…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3243,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3234\/revisions\/3243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}