Virtual Vigil

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.

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.