A Good Friday Evening Reflection

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday have felt very different for me this year, and I think it’s because the reality of them has hit home to me as never before.

On Maundy Thursday we shared Communion sitting around a long table together in church.  It was set up at the last minute, the tune wasn’t right for one of the hymns and in many ways it felt to me that it wasn’t quite the sacred experience I’d hoped to provide..... and yet it felt so real.

It hit me as it never had before that the institution of Holy Communion took place on the last night of Jesus on earth, before his death and Resurrection.  It hit me that he chose to spend that evening with his friends, sharing a meal with them, washing their feet, giving them some more teaching and praying for them.  His last evening was spent giving of himself to others.

We call it The Last Supper and spiritually the reality of that really hit me for the first time.  I left the church feeling very emotional.

This morning I lead a simple service of prayers, hymns and readings at a different church.  There was no sermon - I simply read from Mark’s gospel the account of Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion.

We started off in the Memorial Gardens near the church, singing “There is a Green Hill Far Away” and hearing part of Psalm 22.  Then we walked in procession to the church, with me leading carrying quiteva heavy wooden cross.  The Cross was heavy and as we walked along I thought of Jesus struggling under the weight of the instrument of his death, and of the ordeal he had already bern through when Roman soldiers mocked him and flogged him.

Then in church I read from Mark’s gospel, interspersed with prayers and hymns, the cross I’d been carrying hanging on the wall behind me.  I read the reading as a drama, and stunned myself as I shouted the words, “Crucify, crucify” and sad the shock on the faces of some in the congregation.

Then the crucifixion and I could barely get the words out as I read them, feeling myself transported to the events I was relating, wondering how Jesus must have felt as the crowds jeered at him and mocked him; people he was giving his life for, people he had already forgiven.

It hit me with fresh and powerful spiritual force just what Jesus went through that day out of love for each human being who has ever lived and whoever will live.

Then we sang our final hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and I was totally lost in the moment, forgetting I was leading worship, simply gazing up at the wooden cross behind me as I sang those wonderful words.

Something within me changed spiritually today......... I can’t wait to find out what that means and where it takes me.