Welcome to the 2009 Journey

Thank you for joining us today.   You are about to embark on a
journey that invites you to enter into reflection and meditation
that aims to bring the ancient story of Christ's passion into a
personal experience in the life of the seeker today. 

We have designed today’s experience for you to go on a journey
into the life of Christ.  We have designed a series of “thresholds”
(the starting point for a new state or experience; the smallest detectable
sensation; the entrance, the space through which you enter). You are
invited to step across the threshold to another time, another place.
Using all of your senses, you are encouraged to participate fully
in each one. Each Threshold has a scripture reference and many
have other things like poems, lyrics, or other wording.

In the book “Hinds Feet on High Places” by Hannah Hurnard, the
main character travels on a Journey with the Good Shepherd.
At each place that she learns a life lesson, she picks up a stone
and puts it in her pouch to help her remember what she learned.
As a theme, stones will be a thread throughout today's vigil.

Each threshold of the physical vigil will be presented in a
separate post on this blog. Be sure to continue to the 
"older posts" to see all of the thresholds.

Feel free to “journal” your experience.  We encourage you
to share any special thoughts you may have and leave it
n a comment for those who come after you to read.
Throughout the day we will add notes from the physical
vigil to the virtual vigil and vice versa. At the end of the
day, we will have a service in the church sanctuary
beginning at 7:30 p.m.  At that time we will read aloud
any comments that have been left.   

 
If you are near Brimfield, please join us on Easter Sunday
Morning for a Sunrise Service beginning at 6:15 a.m. at
100 Tower Hill Road, followed by a pancake breakfast at
the church.  Easter Service of Celebration will begin at
10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary.  

Our regular Sunday Worship Services are at 10:30 a.m.  

For more information about the church call 413-245-7162.  

Prayer Wall

As you begin the journey, take a moment to focus and center yourself. If you have a concern for yourself (please no requests for others without their permission) to lift to God write as a comment to leave it on the prayer wall. We will pray for these concerns at the Vespers Service at 7:30.

Desert Temptations

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: " 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

Matthew 4:1-11

We all have desert moments in our lives: when it seems as if “ anything that can go wrong, does”….times when we feel as though God has deserted us or doesn’t care anymore. It is in these desert moments that we are the most vulnerable to temptation. What are your temptations? How do you handle them when they come? Do you give in or do you tell the tempter to leave you alone? When you walk with Christ, he makes a clear path through the desert for you.

Angels

As you move out of the desert and up the stairs…. Contemplate the verse in Matthew that follows the temptation of Jesus:

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4:11

Send your temptations away, give them over to God and allow the angels to attend to you.

The Stones Cry Out

After saying these things, Jesus headed straight up to Jerusalem. When he got near Bethphage and Bethany at the mountain called Olives, he sent off two of the disciples with instructions: "Go to the village across from you. As soon as you enter, you'll find a colt tethered, one that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says anything, asks, 'What are you doing?' say, 'His Master needs him.' " The two left and found it just as he said. As they were untying the colt, its owners said, "What are you doing untying the colt?" They said, "His Master needs him." They brought the colt to Jesus. Then, throwing their coats on its back, they helped Jesus get on. As he rode, the people gave him a grand welcome, throwing their coats on the street. Right at the crest, where Mount Olives begins its descent, the whole crowd of disciples burst into enthusiastic praise over all the mighty works they had witnessed:
Blessed is he who comes, the king in God's name! All's well in heaven! Glory in the high places!

Some Pharisees from the crowd told him, "Teacher, get your disciples under control!" But he said, "If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise."

Luke 19:28-40

Have you ever walked down a street days after a parade? What does what is left behind say about what happened? What would it have been like to have been in the crowd on Palm Sunday? If the stones did cry out what would they say?

Pilate's Choice

Then Pilate called in the high priests, rulers, and the others and said, "You brought this man to me as a disturber of the peace. I examined him in front of all of you and found there was nothing to your charge. And neither did Herod, for he has sent him back here with a clean bill of health. It's clear that he's done nothing wrong, let alone anything deserving death. I'm going to warn him to watch his step and let him go."

At that, the crowd went wild: "Kill him! Give us Barabbas!" (Barabbas had been thrown in prison for starting a riot in the city and for murder.)

Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go, and so spoke out again.

But they kept shouting back, "Crucify! Crucify him!"

He tried a third time. "But for what crime? I've found nothing in him deserving death. I'm going to warn him to watch his step and let him go."

But they kept at it, a shouting mob, demanding that he be crucified. And finally they shouted him down. Pilate caved in and gave them what they wanted. He released the man thrown in prison for rioting and murder, and gave them Jesus to do whatever they wanted.

Luke 23:13-25

Watch this video. This song speaks of potential and choices. As children we may boast of riding a bike with no handlebars, but what sorts of choices do we make later in life that are meant to draw attention to ourselves. We are presented with many choices to do good or harm with what power we have. Pilate chose to serve himself and his interests, not the ultimate or greater good. What are the consequences of your choices?

Handlebars
(c) 2005 James A. Laurie

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars No handlebars
Look at me look at me
hands in the air like it’s good to be
ALIVE
and I’m a famous rapper
even when the paths’re all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to “De Colores”
And “I’m Proud to be an American”
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cause look
I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome No metronome
I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone On the telephone
Look at me Look at me
Just called to say that it’s good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can raise funds open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can change the nation with a microphone
With a microphone With a microphone
I can split on atom of a molecule
Of a molecule Of a molecule
Look at me Look at me
Driving and I won’t stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global My tower secure
My cause is noble My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let’em all die in exasperation
Have’em all grilled leavin lacerations
Have’em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don’t like’em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite By satellite
I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope Through a telescope
I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust In a holocaust
In a holocaust In a holocaust
In a holocaust In a holocaust
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars No handlebars
I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars no handlebars

Woman at the Well

When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples ha am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true." "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

John 4:3-30

Jesus knew everything there was to know about this woman….and yet he reached out to her. In his world, she was unclean, an undesirable, an outcast of society….and yet he reached out to her. Jesus knows everything there is to know about you….and yet he reaches out to you. You are unclean, a sinner, undeserving… and yet he reaches out to you. He is offering you a drink. Will you accept the Living Water? Your soul is thirsty and you try to quench that thirst with many things that satisfy for awhile, but eventually you always get thirsty again. The only thing that can truly quench the thirst of the spirit is the living water, Jesus Christ. Without Him the soul will eventually die.

Burdens

As they led him off, they made Simon, a man from Cyrene who happened to be coming in from the countryside, carry the cross behind Jesus. A huge crowd of people followed, along with women weeping and carrying on. At one point Jesus turned to the women and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, don't cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when they'll say, 'Lucky the women who never conceived! Lucky the wombs that never gave birth! Lucky the breasts that never gave milk!' Then they'll start calling to the mountains, 'Fall down on us!' calling to the hills, 'Cover us up!' If people do these things to a live, green tree, can you imagine what they'll do with deadwood?"

Luke 23:26-31

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Matt 11:28-30

Let the rocks symbolize your burdens, your sins, your worries. Name them, attach them to a rock and leave it at the cross.

BURDEN VISION

I was holding an immense amount of bags in both hands and I was aware of how much my shoulders, neck and back hurt from carrying the large and heavy packages. Yet I hung onto them and would not put them down. Before me stood Jesus at the foot of a huge cross. He was beckoning me to come to him; gently calling me to come and lay my burdens down before the cross. The following is the conversation we had:

C: Come to me, lay your burdens down

M: I can't they are too heavy, too many

C: Come

M: I can't, you can't really remove them because they are too complicated. They are so many.

C: Come to me. I will take them

M: I can't, I don’t know how to, they are who I am, I don't know how to be without them

C: I will show you who you can be

M: I'm afraid, what will happen to me if I lay them down? What if I can't feel anymore?

C: Don’t be afraid, I will be with you

M: I'm afraid I won't feel YOU anymore if I lay them down

C: Come lay them down… let me show you how it can be

M: But I have carried them so long that I am in great physical pain, I can't even move to bring them to you, it's no use

C: Let me carry them for you

M: No, there are so many more people whose burdens are so much greater than mine. What right do I have to even ask you for help, You should be helping them.

C: I am strong enough to carry all burdens, let me take them for you

At this point he moved to my side to take the packages from me. I resist again and struggle with him,

M: No they are mine. I can handle it, really. I have no right to be free of them.

C: Let me help you, let me take them to the cross for you

M: No!

C: Fine…

He then goes to the cross and picks it up. He struggles because it is very heavy, but he carries the cross to me and sets it right before me and then says:

C: There! Now you may release them, your burdens are before the cross

M: But why? Why would you do this for me? I don't deserve to have you do this. I am an awful person. I yelled at people today, I said bad things, I swore and ranted and raved with someone I shouldn’t have, I was a bad example of your love. I have too many dark things that I am ashamed of.

C: I forgive you.

M: Why? Why would you do this? I don’t deserve this.

C: Because I love you. Because I want you to let me love you. (His hand gently touched mine on the packages)

C: Let go

At that, I released my grip and the packages dropped. I fell into his arms and he hugged me and held me and let me cry. I felt his tears on my face and my hair and I realized he was crying too. Not tears of sadness, but of relief, of Joy. Slowly, I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. He was smiling. The most amazing loving smile.

Suffering of Jesus

So Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. The soldiers, having braided a crown from thorns, set it on his head, threw a purple robe over him, and approached him with, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they greeted him with slaps in the face.

Jesus, seeing that everything had been completed so that the Scripture record might also be complete, then said, "I'm thirsty." A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth. After he took the wine, Jesus said, "It's done . . . complete." Bowing his head, he offered up his spirit.

John 19:1-3, 28-30

Jesus was mocked with a crown of thorns and purple cloak. His torturers flogged him and then paid mock homage to the bleeding king. On the cross he was offered sour wine for his thirst. You can smell and taste the bitter vinegar on the table.

The Last Supper

When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, "You've no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It's the last one I'll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God." Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, "Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I'll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives." Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory." He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you. "Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying me is at this moment on this table? It's true that the Son of Man is going down a path already marked out—no surprises there. But for the one who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man, this is doomsday." They immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to do this.

Luke 22:14-23

Join Jesus at the table, it has been prepared just for you. Take a piece of bread and dip it in the cup. As you cup your hand under the soaked bread you may catch a drop of the grape juice. Recall that Jesus proclaimed this to be his blood. What does it mean for you this Good Friday to have Jesus’ blood on your hands?

The Nails

Two others, both criminals, were taken along with him for execution. When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing."

Luke 23:32-34

Friday
I am imagining the soldier
who drove the nails,
clambering around or stretching
to reach the hands,
trying to avoid seeing
the face and the eyes,
ignoring the eternal life line
dividing the palms
from fingers down to wrists,
glimpsing the lips
moving silently,
mouthing words not meant 
for ears to hear.
And I'm wondering
how many keepers of reliquaries
claim to own those nails,
or perhaps even the letter home
written by the nailer
or some other soldier ordered
later to do his duty
and pull them out.
                     Warren L. Molton

Jesus could have called down angel armies to save himself, but he accepted death. Who killed Jesus? Didn't he allow the stinking rotten system created by human sin to kill him? Take the hammer in your hand and drive the nail for surely your participation (even through silence) in systemic evil nails Jesus to the cross still. As Woody Guthrie sang, “If Jesus preached today like he preached in Galilee, we'd lay Jesus Christ in his grave.”

The Tomb

After all this, Joseph of Arimathea (he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was intimidated by the Jews) petitioned Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission. So Joseph came and took the body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus at night, came now in broad daylight carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. They took Jesus' body and, following the Jewish burial custom, wrapped it in linen with the spices. There was a garden near the place he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. So, because it was Sabbath preparation for the Jews and the tomb was convenient, they placed Jesus in it.

John 19:38-42

In Jewish tradition it is counted as a mitzvah (good deed) to help in erecting someone's tomb. If you visit a grave after it has been done and the stone marker has been erected you can no longer assist in that. Thus it has become a tradition to place a stone on a grave marker as a symbol of participating in the mitzvah. Stones, of course, symbolize permanence. Jesus was laid in a stone tomb with a stone to cover the entrance. He left the tomb, proving that God's love is more permanent than death. Feel free to leave a stone in the tomb as you reflect on God's love.

Rock of Ages

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Matthew 26:36-46

Jesus prays “not my will, but your will be done” Do you pray and ask God for help with a situation only to be upset when things don’t turn out the way you want them done? What would it be like if instead you prayed as Jesus did “ not my way, God but yours?”

Spikenard Ointment

Six days before Passover, Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus' feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, "Why wasn't this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces." He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them. Jesus said, "Let her alone. She's anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don't always have me."

John 12:1-8

This alabaster jar is all I have of worth
I break it at your feet, Lord.
It's less than you deserve.
You are far more beautiful,
More precious than the oil,
The sum of my desires,
And the fullness of my heart...

the time that I have left
Is all I have of worth.
I lay it at your feet, Lord.
It's less than you deserve.
And though I've little strength,
and though my days are few,
You gave your life for me,
so I will live my life for you...

Smell the fragrant aroma of this exotic ointment.
Imagine the scene when Jesus was anointed with this precious gift. 

The Denial

While all this was going on, Peter was down in the courtyard. One of the Chief Priest's servant girls came in and, seeing Peter warming himself there, looked hard at him and said, "You were with the Nazarene, Jesus." He denied it: "I don't know what you're talking about." He went out on the porch. A rooster crowed. The girl spotted him and began telling the people standing around, "He's one of them." He denied it again. After a little while, the bystanders brought it up again. "You've got to be one of them. You've got 'Galilean' written all over you." Now Peter got really nervous and swore, "I never laid eyes on this man you're talking about." Just then the rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered how Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows twice, you'll deny me three times." He collapsed in tears.

Mark 14:66-72

There is no ignoring the crow of a rooster. How harshly does that sound grate your ears when it serves to remind you of the many ways you have denied Christ in your daily life?

Bowl of Light

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

"Each child born has at birth, a Bowl of perfect Light. If he tends his Light it will grow in strength and he can do all things - swim with the shark, fly with the birds, know and understand all things. If, however, he becomes envious or jealous, he drops a stone into his Bowl of Light and some of the Light goes out. Light and the stone cannot hold the same space. If he continues to put stones in the Bowl of Light, the Light will go out and he will become a stone. A stone does not grow, nor does it move. If at any time he tires of being a stone, all he needs to do is turn the bowl upside down and the stones will fall away and the Light will grow once more."
Christ is our everlasting light

Serenity Garden

You’ve been on a long soul searching journey….

Jesus says, “ come to me all who are weary
and heavy burdened and I will give you REST.”
Matthew 11:28

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds,
and to him who knocks it will be opened. 

Go now in PEACE  to the Garden of Serenity…..

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES…..

You have MET JESUS…..

You have WALKED with Him….

You have been NOURISHED …

You have let Him CARRY YOUR BURDENS….

You have SUFFERED and gone through the VALLEY OF THE SHADOW with Him by your side….

You have been ANOINTED and RESTED…..

NOW GO FORTH from this place…

FOREVER CHANGED …..

SERVING those whom He has CALLED YOU TO SERVE…

Knowing that this Jesus, Your COMPANION, Your FRIEND,

LOVES YOU MADLY….

And will BE WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF TIME……

At the beginning of this journey we told you about the character in “Hinds Feet on High Places” picking up “memory stones”. At the end of the story, the Good Shepherd asks her to show him the stones and to tell him what she had learned. He then took her stones and changed them into “the jewels in her crown”. If you wish, take some “Jewels” to help you remember that you walk away from here today “a changed person in Christ Jesus.”

Prayers of Joy

Now as your journey away from Friday toward Sunday, share your prayers of gratitude and joy. This also will be shared at our Vespers Service tonight.

Also please consider giving a donation today. Click here give to Heifer Project’s special matching grant project for the: China – Sichuan Earthquake Rebuilding Project

Thank you and have a blessed Easter.