And God came down,
said he would appear when we least expected.
And God came here,
slipping in behind a door left open.
Appearing like an angel bearing gifts.
And we were too fearful
to believe,
too blind to see,
restless for peace,
too anxious to trust the darkness
easing,
shifting its dark wings,
its swirling skirts.
As we,
locked into a corner,
felt the great crevice of separateness widening,
opening underneath.
Yes, into this God appeared,
timed his arriving to when
we might be most in need,
most lost,
in all the ways we had failed to live,
and save ourselves.
And like with Lazarus,
God drew in,
first crying for the knowledge of
our losses,
and then turning to the business at hand,
of raising the dead,
of placing us upon our feet
again
hope-filled, and
expectant.
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
March 2020
by Lisa DeRosa
This year, Holy Humour Sunday is April 19th (the first Sunday after Easter)! It is a great reminder that we must have fun in our lives, even if we have to schedule it to make the time for it. Let’s keep the Spirit of Easter alive this coming Sunday as we enjoy a little fun and laughter!
One great way to celebrate is by signing up for The Gift of Wonder Retreat! Clint Baldwin, the Executive Director/CEO of Word Made Flesh, told us recently that:
As times grow bleaker the gift of wonder (and The Gift of Wonder) takes on increasing poignancy. It feels a bit odd to suggest this because I also think that, really, the gift of wonder is always vital. But I see the gift of wonder as being part of that light that shines in the darkness that the darkness cannot overcome. May the Lord grace us with the ability to consciously choose to pursue the gift of wonder during these times and, in the midst of our difficulties, may we continue to be delighted at the presents and Presence of the Lord all around us.
We are so grateful for the participation so far and look forward to the webinars for those currently enrolled in the retreat. We will provide special, private webinars for study groups or book groups of 10 or more people. Have your group leader contact us for details. Check out the link below for the free preview and to sign up!
For other fun ideas for Holy Humour Sunday, see our post from last year: What Did We Do With Holy Humour Sunday?
by Christine Sine
Easter Sunday is over but the Easter season is just beginning, and and I love the psalms that mark the praise and rejoicing of this season. In fact I jumped ahead a bit and have been meditating on some of them quite a bit over the last few weeks as spring has burst forth in all its glory around us. You might say Easter resurrection has been in the air with its hope and promise for several weeks now.
Celtic tree of life cross
So today I pulled out what I call my resurrection cross and spent time meditating on it. I love to trace its braiding and the pattern of the tree bursting out with life from this instrument of torture. It’s message is so profound and so startling, and it fills me with hope.
As for many of us, Easter has held fresh meaning for me this year. The contrast between the despair of Good Friday and the hope of Easter Sunday is reflected in the despair that has filled many of us over the last few weeks. Yet there is hope and I look out now on a world that is so much living with vibrant new life that I cannot imagine that the despair is forever. We live today in anticipation of this new hope and new life and God’s beautiful creation seems to be leading the way.
A Cosmic Chorus of Praise
Spring garden
Psalm 148 is one of my favourite resurrection psalms and I love the incredible sense of cosmic rejoicing that is expressed especially in The Passion Translation. And today as I read it I was reminded that Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey surrounded by a ragtag band of rejoicing followers but these followers now are joined by the whole cosmos – how magnificent, how majestic, how amazing.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Let the skies be filled with praise
and the highest heavens with the shouts of glory!
2 Go ahead—praise him, all you his messengers!
Praise him some more, all you heavenly hosts!
3 Keep it up, sun and moon!
Don’t stop now, all you twinkling stars of light!
4 Take it up even higher—up to the highest heavens,
until the cosmic chorus thunders his praise![a]
5 Let the entire universe erupt with praise to God.
From nothing to something he spoke and created it all.
6 He established the cosmos to last forever,
and he stands behind his commands
so his orders will never be revoked.
7 Let the earth join in with this parade of praise!
You mighty creatures of the ocean’s depths,
echo in exaltation!
8 Lightning, hail, snow, and clouds,
and the stormy winds that fulfill his word.
9 Bring your melody, O mountains and hills;
trees of the forest and field, harmonize your praise!
10–12 Praise him, all beasts and birds, mice and men,
kings, queens, princes, and princesses,
young men and maidens, children and babes,
old and young alike, everyone everywhere!
13 Let them all join in with this orchestra of praise.
For the name of the Lord is the only name we raise!
His stunning splendor ascends higher than the heavens.
14 He anoints his people with strength and authority,
showing his great favor to all his godly lovers,
even to his princely people, Israel,
who are so close to his heart.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Read through this psalm several times and imagine the rejoicing of the whole creation that is going on around you. What is your response to the Easter story this year? How do you enter into that rejoicing? What wells up inside you as you consider the parade of praise that you are a part of? What could you do to encourage others to join the parade?
Magnolia in bloom
As I contemplate this over the weekend and then walked around the neighbourhood where daffodils, tulips, magnolias, cherry blossoms and many others are singing their joyous praise to God, the following prayer/poem welled up within me:
Creator God
Majestic maker of all things,
Sculptor and architect of the entire universe,
We sit in awe and wonder of your love.
We listen to the breath of earth and song of heaven,
And join with the Son of God and child of earth,
To add our human voices to creation’s song.
Let the skies sing for joy,
And the earth join the chorus.
Listen to the oceans thunder,
And watch the fields echo with ecstatic praise.
Let the weeds in pavement cracks shout out,
Until every swaying tree of forest,
And city street join in,
And together we lift our songs,
Of joyous praise to God.
(Inspired by Psalm 96 and 148)
by Carol Dixon
While I have been confined to the house in the recent weeks, I have thought a lot about gardens. I am a terrible gardener, yet I love visiting gardens and reading about gardens. It is wonderful that one of the earliest stories in the Bible is about a garden.
‘The Eternal God planted a garden in the east in Eden—a place of utter delight—and placed the man whom He had sculpted there. In this garden, He made the ground full of glorious life—bursting forth with nourishing food and luxuriant beauty. He created trees, and in the centre of this garden of delights stood the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river meandered through Eden to irrigate the garden, and from there it separated into four smaller rivers that flowed out from it.’
I like to imagine Adam and Eve waking and seeing the garden for the first time. What did they notice first I wonder? And when the first night came after the glory of daylight, were they afraid and thought the light had gone forever What relief and joy they must have felt when the light dawned again.
The spiritual writer Margaret Silf in her book Landscapes of Light has this to say about Gardens:
What I wonder does a garden mean for you? Summer days enjoying the scent of new-mown grass and the fragrance of flowers? Birdsong? Vegetables and herbs that travel only the distance between your kitchen garden and your table? Or maybe hard work, an aching back, an invincible army of weeds.
Would it surprise you to discover that God is to be found in the labour as well as the love, in the heart’s aching as well as in the heart’s desire? The word ‘paradise’ in its ancient Persian, Hebrew and Greek forms, originally meant ‘a sacred enclosure’. Your heart is a garden, the place you go to meet God in prayer and the place where God meets you to help you tend the sacredness you share.
What kind of garden are you in today I wonder – a garden of hope and joy, or a garden of suffering?
If it is the latter, I find that a hymn that helps me is the beautiful ‘When my love for Christ grows weak’
The poet Samuel Longfellow added an extra verse:
And I praise will firmer faith
Christ who vanquished pain and death
And to Christ enthroned above
Raise my song of selfless love.
In times of darkness, let us remember that the light will return. After our times of isolation, we will walk in the garden again. Meanwhile in our times of confinement let’s remember the warmth of the sun, the softness of the rain on our faces, the gentleness of the grass beneath our feet, the return of the dawn. And in all let us never forget the life-giving love of God that surrounds us.
Easter Garden
Lord we have seen you walking
The garden at dewy dawning;
Lord we have heard you talking
As birdsongs greet the morning;
And Lord we have met you living
Where once we thought you dead;
And we rejoice to find yo-u
Blessing the broken bread.
Lord we have seen you caring
For those who were filled with sorrow;
Lord we have heard you sharing
Your hope for a new tomorrow;
And Lord we have felt you filling
Our lives with your love divine,
And we receive your new life
As we sha-re bread and wine.
© Carol Dixon (Tune Silent witness Handel)
As a child, I loved having a new outfit for Easter. Not only would I have a new dress, but also a new hat and “spring coat,” and matching purse and shoes. As a teenager, I would make a special shopping trip to Downtown Pittsburgh with Mother for our outfits, and as a young mother I made sure our girls were appropriately dressed for the important day. Granted, this tradition included a fair measure of vanity, as illustrated by the old song, “Easter Parade.” (You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.”) Still, I see some value in dressing to honor a celebration, and what greater cause for celebration than the Resurrection?
The tradition of new outfits for Easter has faded in recent years, aside from frilly dresses for the youngest celebrants. This year, most celebrations may take place virtually. No one will know if we’re wearing a designer outfit or our pajamas! This compels us to look more closely at our spiritual clothing—the garments of genuine and lasting significance.
But before we look at what we should put on, we need to think about what we take off. Have you ever dreamed that you showed up to class in your fuzzy slippers? I have! Yet not once have I forgotten to take off my pajamas before donning my Easter outfit! In the same way, in spiritual dressing, we first need to properly unclothe ourselves.
Colossians 3 offers specific directions for both undressing and redressing. Verse 5 begins with a list of things that we need to take off: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed. We may feel these extreme characteristics do not apply to us. But the list gets more personal: anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying. Can any of us say none of these have ever applied to us? Paul tells us to take off these parts of our old self.
Once we’ve gotten undressed, we’re ready to put on our new selves. These clothes include compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, forgiveness, and love. And to complete the outfit, we allow Christ’s peace to rule in our hearts and are thankful as we teach and admonish one another, all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Easter, with its promise of new and eternal life, provides a good occasion to check our spiritual clothing. During Lent, we review aspects of our old natures that we need to take off. Once properly undressed, we look at the list of things we can put on. What do you want to emphasize this Easter? A renewed desire to focus on kindness or compassion? God’s help in being more patient with others?
This season provides a special opportunity to let the peace of God rule in our hearts (v. 15). With COVID-19 dominating every news cycle and every conversation, we need inner peace more than ever. The verse does not tell us to be peaceful—something we have to work at—but to let God’s peace rule. This act of submission allows God’s peace to flow into our lives.
May you find peace and share joy as you dress up for Easter this year!
By Mary Harwell Sayler —
As our Bible Study group proceeds through scripture each week, we’re often reminded of how a very, very thick curtain separated God’s people from the “Holy of Holies” – a place so holy that even the high priest could not enter but once a year. Inside that sacred space stood the Ark of the Covenant – a gold-covered box containing the stone tablets of the Ten Commandment that God had given to Moses. But, on the cross many centuries later, “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed His last breath, and the curtain of the Holy of Holies was ripped in two from top to bottom,” Mark 15:37-38. Only God Himself could have torn that thick curtain from top to bottom! And only God could invite all believers in Christ to enter.
Good Friday
A sword
slashes the sky.
The gash thunders.
Inside the Temple,
the veil in front of
the Holy of Holies
rips apart.
My heart enters.
So we are home this Good Friday…watching and waiting and sheltering in place. Here is a devotional you can follow on your own or with your family or housemates. And it also can be done another time if you’re not able to do it on Good Friday itself.
You will need some props to pray with:
A candle to light as you begin, A piece of paper with a cross outline drawn on it, the handout (GOOD FRIDAY thinplace), a pen, a band aid/bandage, a jar/can of spices ( like cloves, cinnamon, rosemary or basil) i like cloves, but make sure you are not allergic because you will rub this spice in your hands, the curtain print out or a small piece of cloth to tear in two.
GOOD FRIDAY AT HOME
LIGHT A CANDLE AS YOU BEGIN
and LISTEN or READ one or both of these gospel passages MATTHEW 27 and JOHN 19
Bible Gateway has several audio versions of the bible you can use to listen to the passages.
AFTER READING… You can discuss these questions with your family, housemates or journal from them.
WHAT DO YOU NOTICE? What does the Holy Spirit highlight for you?
Is there a word or phrase? Is there something you’ve never thought of before? Is there a question that is raised by this passage?
There is much pain and violence in the account of Jesus’s crucifixion, even before he is nailed to the cross, he is beaten and abused. Pray for people you know who are in pain today. People in your world, and in the world at large who are abused, suffering violence, and being falsely accused. Pray for these people and situations for God’s intervention.
PUT ON A BANDAID to remind you to pray for those in pain and those who are suffering and in need of healing and deliverance.
Who has helped you carry your cross this week? Who has helped you carry the burdens you bear in your life? Pray for these people. Thank Jesus for them. Who in your life needs help to carry their cross today? Ask Jesus to help you serve them. WRITE THEIR NAMES ON YOUR CROSS. 
NEXT, READ/Listen to, and Consider the WORDS of JESUS from the Cross
Read what Jesus said from the cross
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Luke 23:34
“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:43
“Woman, behold, your son!”… “Behold, your mother!”…
John 19:26-27
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”Mark 15:34
“I thirst.”
After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture, “I thirst.”
John 19:28
“It is finished”;
John 19:30
“Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”
Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!”
And having said this he breathed his last. Luke 23:46
What touches you today? Which of these sayings speaks to you?
What do you need to hear from Jesus today?
Do you need to be forgiven? Or do you need Jesus to help you forgive others?
Do you need to know that Jesus wants you to be with him, now and in the future?
Do you need certainty ?
Do you need to know you are not forgotten or abandoned like Mary and John?
Are you feeling forsaken?
What are you thirsty for today?
Do you need the reminder that Jesus is here in the midst of your suffering? That he finished it on the cross?
Are you in need of the reminder that you too are in the hands of the Father?
that you too have the Holy Spirit?
Talk to God about where you are today in the middle of this pandemic.
Ask Jesus to show you how he is here with you.
DRAW OUTLINE OF A CROSS or use the one provided.
Write down on the cross what you are feeling today.
What do you need to hear from Jesus today? Write that on the cross too.
Find a piece of cloth (3x 5 ) or use the curtain print out.
TEAR THE CURTAIN IN TWO
When Jesus died, he opened the way for us to have direct access to God.
The Curtain is Open
The curtain between you and God is now open…torn open by Jesus death on the cross..
You are invited into the Holy of Holies to BE with GOD!
You are no longer separated from God
The barriers are gone!
You are free to be with God!
Talk to God about this. How does this make you feel?
Thank Jesus for His Death and your new freedom and access to God.
TAKE HIS BODY TO THE TOMB
GET OUT YOUR SPICE JAR
They took Jesus’s body off the cross and buried him in a new tomb. (JOHN 19: 38-42)
Consider the scene.
The weeping of his friends and his mother.
The heaviness of the body being wrapped in shroud.
The smell of the spices wrapped in the cloth filling the tomb.
What are you weeping for today?
What are you mourning ?
What are you grieving? Write those things on your cross.
GIVE THEM TO JESUS TO CARRY FOR YOU!
Take some of your spices and sprinkle them in your hand. Rub the spices in your hand and smell their aroma. Let the smell of the spice remind you that Jesus is carrying your grief for you today. And he carries all the grief and the suffering of the world with him.
Let the smell of the spice fill your space.
You might keep an open bowl of this spice out til Easter to remind you of Jesus in the tomb.
BLOW OUT YOUR CANDLE…IT IS FINISHED. JESUS IS BURIED and we wait with his followers everywhere.
CLOSE IN PRAYER: LORD! Give us grace today to love as you love Help us love with extravagance.
Give us hope today for ourselves and others. Heal our hurts and our hearts today so we can serve and help those around us.
Help us to know that YOU are enough.
And help us live today and everyday in Thankfulness.
For all you’ve done and for all you bless us with. In the name of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. AMEN
ON EASTER SUNDAY…Some churches have the tradition of covering the empty cross with flowers on Easter Sunday morning as a symbol of resurrection and new life. Color the JOY CROSS and fill it with flowers. Place your flowered cross on top of the one you filled on Good Friday.
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
GOOD FRIDAY thinplace PDF TO PRINT OUT
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