Good Friday, April 2, 2021, God’s Story: Self-Guided Meditation

Good Friday, April 2, 2021, God’s Story: Self-Guided Meditation

Good Friday is a challenging day in the life of the church; it’s a day that reminds us of the dark things of this world, of death and sorrow, of evil and brokenness. This day has a place in God’s larger story, actually quite an important place. Through the images of Jesus’ death on the cross we can see more clearly the light of God’s love and the lengths to which God will go to love us. God’s whole story is about love . . . that story includes all of creation, including you. In the following pages, may you experience the story of God’s love and hear God’s invitation to move more deeply into that love.

First Station

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. (Genesis 1.1-8)

In love, God brings all that is into being and meets the darkness with light. While God does not remove the darkness, God’s light transforms, endures and is steadfast from age to age. God thought of you at the beginning of creation and continues to make a way for each of us to be a part of God’s story.

Second Station

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. (Genesis 17:1-4)

God’s relationship with creation has unfolded over time as our awareness of God and our theology has evolved. God meets us in every season, whether we are embracing God, forgetting God, pushing against God or discovering God’s love in new ways. In the Hebrew Bible God marks new beginnings with God’s people by making covenants: sacred agreements that assure us that no matter what, no matter where our story takes us, God will be faithful.

Third Station

Comfort, O comfort my people,

   says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

   and cry to her

that she has served her term,

   that her penalty is paid,

that she has received from the Lord’s hand

   double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:

‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,

   make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be lifted up,

   and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level,

   and the rough places a plain.

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

   and all people shall see it together,

   for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

A voice says, ‘Cry out!’

   And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’

All people are grass,

   their constancy is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades,

   when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;

   surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades;

   but the word of our God will stand for ever.

Get you up to a high mountain,

   O Zion, herald of good tidings;

lift up your voice with strength,

   O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,

   lift it up, do not fear;

say to the cities of Judah,

   ‘Here is your God!’

See, the Lord God comes with might,

   and his arm rules for him;

his reward is with him,

   and his recompense before him.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd;

   he will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom,

   and gently lead the mother sheep.

God’s love for us is fierce and never ending. God wants nothing more than relationship with us. When we turn away, shut God out and put ourselves on a path of darkness, God remains with us along the way, as God does with the Israelites. When the darkness we create becomes too much for us, we find God with us. The hope of God’s promise is with us and we can begin to integrate again God’s story with our own.

God’s relationship with creation has unfolded over time as our awareness of God and our theology has evolved. God meets us in every season, whether we are embracing God, forgetting God, pushing against God or discovering God’s love in new ways. In the Hebrew Bible God marks new beginnings with God’s people by making covenants: sacred agreements that assure us that no matter what, no matter where our story takes us, God will be faithful.

Fourth Station

In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14)

God’s story is not bound by the physical world, rather bridges from the liminal. God’s story has many layers and threads and possibilities that are both clear and manifest in the world and shrouded in mystery. Both our eyes and heart perceive them God’s creation around us, and God’s particular manifestation within us. In the person of Jesus we see the liminal and physical come together in a clear way, in a teacher and healer whose purpose is to teach the world about God’s story of love.

Fifth Station

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.  (Matthew 3:16-17)

As Jesus enters ministry, in one moment he experiences God’s blessing and in the next encounters firsthand the darkness in the world. It tries to manipulate him by offering things to harden his heart and twist his mind. The devil tries to get Jesus to test God and call God into question. This manifestation of darkness is the most intense and concrete Jesus will encounter until his death; it gives him a gift of knowing the darkness that weaves its way into God’s story so that along the way he can see it, name it, and call it out for what it is. He can free people from the grip of darkness and teach others how to do the same.

Sixth Station

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” The woman said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. “Woman, great is your faith! (Matthew 15:21-28)

There are unexpected turns in every story, even God’s story. Jesus travelled to many Jewish communities, curing skin diseases, paralysis, blindness and even death. The healing Jesus offers affects not only bodies but restores people’s relationships with their communities. When a non-Israelite woman asks Jesus to heal her daughter, he has to reconcile his understanding of his call to serve children of Israel with God’s love which has no bounds. She challenges him to see deeper into God’s love and respond in kind. Jesus heals her daughter and leaves the interaction with a new understanding of how big God’s story really is.

Seventh Station

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion, see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt” (John 12.13-14.)

At the beginning of holy week Jesus comes into Jerusalem, greeted by a crowd of people who are filled with hope at his presence. They have been promised a king to save the people from suffering, a king to rule over Israel, like David who conquered the city of Jerusalem and defended it from their enemies. The people will soon discover that God’s story moves forward, not backward, and God has for them this time a different kind of king with allegiance to a different kind of kingdom.

Eighth Station

When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:14-20).

These familiar words cut through into the liminal space of God’s story; they transcend space and time and bring us to the table with Jesus. Do this, he says, and remember me. Do this and remember the love of God that is poured out for you and unites you with Christ in all of creation. Along the way we need to re-member (to bring together again) the truth of our oneness with Christ.

Ninth Station

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate asked him, ‘What is truth?’ (John 18:33-38).

Some suffering is of our own making and some is not. Some just happens in the course of life, some is a result of our choices, and some is the result of darkness at work in the world. Jesus knows the darkness of the world and sees it coming from far off. He has prayed to God to remove this cup from him if it is possible . . . but he knows what he has to offer God’s story and will not turn away. He will not turn away from those who betray him or those who torture him or condemn him. Jesus speaks openly even to those who exert earthly power over him and shares his truth.

Tenth Station

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:32-34, 39-43).

The cross dramatically raises up the problem of ignorant hatred for all to see, hoping to inoculate us against doing the same thing and projecting our violence onward into God’s story (Richard Rohr). The crucifixion is what human sin has done; this is what hardness of heart has done. Even condemned on the cross Jesus absorbs their violence, hatred, indifference, resistance to change, addiction to judgment, and fear of the Other.  “Father forgive them,” Jesus prays . . . they do not know what they do. One day they will understand . .  . for now, forgive them.

Eleventh Station

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things (Luke 23:44-49).

God made a world that didn’t remove darkness, rather includes darkness in an ongoing process of renewal. Death is a part of this process . . . watching death can be excruciating, particularly an unjust death. It can traumatize us and leave a lifelong wound. Death invites us into an often-chaotic process of tumbling emotions and vast nothingness. We look around our lives and feel lost . . . grief does not process quickly; it takes time to make room for something new . . . death and wounding are not the end of the story.

Twelfth Station

Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath, they rested according to the commandment. (Luke 23:50-55).

Our traditions tell us what to do with death. In the Jewish tradition, the body must be wrapped and anointed. In the Christian tradition, we gather and remember the gifts of this life, the impact this life had on others and how they participated in God’s story. We honour the life and put the body in the ground. Practices are so important to grief; they help us process and feel a sense of closure and completion. They bring us comfort and peace in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. God remains with us through the following Holy season of Holy Saturday, in the days of nothingness, in the waiting for the holy ground of grief to become fertile again. God is full of patience and compassion, and when the time is ripe, invites us onward in the story.

Thirteenth Station

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. (John 20:1-10)

 

Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate example of God confounding human understanding and expectations to reveal new life in its fullness. God reaches deep into death, deep into suffering and sorrow, deep into despair . . . and offers grace. God absorbs violence and sin and transforms them into grace. God reveals in Jesus the power of God’s love, the breadth and depth of God’s love. New life is not something we can create on our own and it’s not something we can control but is freely offered as grace. We know it’s grace because it shows up in a way we couldn’t possibly imagine. The truth of God’s grace and renewal is written everywhere in creation; each day is a new resurrection, as is every spring. Our lives are punctuated by endings and beginnings, and when we find ourselves in the long season of Holy Saturday, we are held in God’s hands, within the promise of new life to come.

Fourteenth Station

Here and now.

The stories we hear are not simply stories in a book written long ago; they are living stories of people who like us, who sought to live in relationship with God. They are stories of people who found God speaking through creation and breaking into their lives. They found God in the midst of their own stories and realized they were actually a part of something much larger. Throughout the story, God calls the world to God’s self, to know the love we cannot fully comprehend but are called to live and offer to those we meet. God’s story is an invitation to participate in its unfolding, to participate in love and liberation, truth and compassion. How is God speaking into your life this week? Through this season of Lent, what have you noticed is ending? What are you still processing; in what ways are you waiting in Holy Saturday? What is emerging, how is grace manifesting? How is God’s story weaving with your own?