From: Bass Mitchell
<bassm@va.tds.net>
To: homilies
<homilies@egroups.com>
Subject: [homilies] Good
Friday April 21 Sermon Starters
Sermon Starters
Good Friday
April 9, 2004
#1
Topic: Stations of the Cross
Friends, I have found one
of the most meaningful ways to observe Good Friday is to use the Stations of
the Cross. Included in the materials for this Sunday you will find four
resources you can use for this:
Stations1: A wonderful
presentation by a high school student (why not get your teens to plan and lead
this one?)
Stations2: A presentation I
put together based on the passion story in Mark.
Startions3: A shorter and
simpler version of the Stations.
What I have done is set up
the stations inside the church and/or outside. I get leaders to lead groups of
8 to 10 persons through the stations using the materials above.
This is a service that does
not require a sermon. It ids also one in which whole families can participate
in a very meaningful way. In fact, I give them one of the ceremonies to use at
home with their family if they are unable to attend. "Walk with
Jesus" by Henri Nouwen is also another good source for home use.
#2
Topic: Tenebrae Service
In place of the Stations of
the Cross, you could do a tenebrae service. I am sending one that I have used
based on one in the United Methodist Book of Worship. It is a very meaningful
service.
#3
Topic: The Two Basins
Text: Gospel Lesson
From: David Robinson
robinson@WANTREE.COM.AU
It is possible that everyone
who reads this has already made use of the show and tell method for a Good
Friday meditation. I have no idea where what follows originates but please make
use of it should it be useful to you. And please modify and adapt and change in
whatever way seems appropriate.
At the front of the Church
on Good Friday I placed two basins of water and two towels and then standing
close to each in turn commented:
Two basins of water feature
in the Easter story - one use by Jesus on the night before his death to wash
the feet of his disciples, and one use by Pontius Pilate as a way of absolving
himself of any responsibility for the death of Jesus. Two basins of water - two
very ordinary things - but they stand for two totally different attitudes to
life.
The first basin is symbolic
of the attitude of Jesus throughout his whole life - the servant of all who was
prepared to play the role the household slave. Such willingness on the part of
one who can rightly be called the Son of God goes so far beyond anything that our
human minds can grasp that it can only be expressed in the language of poetry.
In the letter to the
Philippians Paul cries
out:- "Have this mind among yourselves which you have in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing
to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in
the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and
became obedient to death, even death on a cross".
Jesus said that he came not
to be served but to serve and in the action of washing the disciples feet he
gave them, and us, an example to follow. "If I then, your Lord and teacher
have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have
given you an example, that you also do as I have done to you".
To take up our cross and
follow Christ is to be willing to become a servant - not seeking status or
power, not seeing ourselves as being in any way superior to other people, but
being willing to serve in whatever way we can and finding our greatest joy in
losing ourselves in that service. All of that and more is symbolizes in this
first basin of water.
The second basin stands for
the one used by Pontius Pilate to show that even though he disagree with those
who accused Jesus he wasn't going to risk his own position by defying the crowd
and setting Jesus free. In John's account of Pilate's actions the accusers of
Jesus told him that he was no friend of Caesar if he set Jesus free - a
frightening thought to one whose position depended upon the favour of the Roman
Emperor. And so he washes his hands of the whole matter - he refuses to take
the risk of going against the crowd and his hand washing is a way of stating
that the responsibility no longer belongs to him.
And so this second basin of
water stands for all who refuse to become involved in the hurts, the suffering,
the injustices of this world - unlike the servant who takes the risk of being
abused, looked down upon, treated as being an inferior person, given no status
and little reward - those who wash their hands seek to avoid all such risks.
This basin stands for ears and eyes closed to human need and mouths that refuse
to speak the word of love, compassion and accepting understanding.
Two basins of water and we
have to make a choice as to which one we use - will it be the one that
symbolizes the caring and giving involved servant or the one which symbolizes
the aloof uncaring abdication of responsibility ? We know which one Jesus chose
and we also know which one he wants us to chose. But the choice is still ours -
not just once but over and over again as us the life that God has given to us.
Dave Robinson
Uniting Church in Australia
Perth, Western Australia
#4
Topic: Meditations of the
Passion Story in John
From: Robin Walker
robin@compusmart.ab.ca
This year on Good Friday,
we will read the entire St. John Passion, but in sections, with brief
meditations and periods of silence between each. Following is a draft of the
meditations.
THE PASSION ACCORDING TO
JOHN
The Arrest (18:1-12)
His hour has come, and
Jesus asks "Am I not to drink the cup that my Father has given me?"
A whole cohort of Roman
soldiers comes to take him away. Those who could not arrest him before now
seize him without opposition, for his hour has come. Even the help of Peter and
his sword is denied. His hour has come, and he goes willingly, almost without
drama. There are no tears and sighs, no Gethsemane prayer in this Gospel. His
hour has come. He knows what God has sent him to do. He goes to do it.
It is given to very few
people to know "their hour." Would we want to? Perhaps not. But it is
given to many more to know their mission. This also we may not want to know,
for like Jesus, we may be called to give our lives to God in ways that we would
not choose.
The hour has come, with
Jesus, to go with him, to give our lives in God’s service as God calls us. This
is Jesus’ hour. And it is ours.
Jesus Before Annas
(18:13-27)
The "trial" is a
sham, because they have decided his fate already. Annas is not even the
"official" high priest, but is the real religious power in the land.
It is not Jesus on trial here: the real trial is going on outside, as Peter’s
faith is tested and found wanting.
Three times the one who
would have taken up his sword for Jesus denies even knowing his Lord.
It is not Jesus on trial
here: it is us. It is we who follow, we who try to use the world’s ways to save
ourselves, when God’s way lies before us.
It is we who fall away, and
deny our heritage when things get too tough.
It is we who live in fear
in a world that often seems beyond our control.
Jesus Before Pilate
(18:28-19:16)
Pilate! What a man! Running
back and forth between his calm and dignified prisoner, and the leaders of the
nation outside. Trying to find a way to save himself. Wanting to do the right
thing? Who knows? It is known that Pilate was a particularly brutal governor.
He does get one thing right: he gets the Jewish religious leaders to confess
their real faith. "We have no king but the emperor." It is Passover,
the feast of deliverance from a foreign king, and they embrace another!
No fault is found in Jesus.
No fault can be found.
Once again, it is not Jesus
on trial, but the powers and authorities of this world.
The political leaders, who
cling to their power and privilege at all cost.
The religious leaders, who
saviour their cosy relationship with political power.
The economic leaders, whose
comfortable life might be threatened.
And it is found expedient
to "kill the truth" in order to protect the established order.
How often do we "kill
the truth" to protect our own comfort?
The Crucifixion (19:17-30)
As "the way, the truth
and the life" is put to death, he remains fully in control.
He commends his mother to
his most beloved disciple.
He brings the intention of
Judaism to its completion, acting and speaking so
as to fulfill Scripture.
And finally, He gives up
his own spirit.
Not put to death, but
actively, serenely, and victoriously, dying.
Truly, his hour has come.
He has accomplished his
mission.
He has finished the task.
When our hour comes, will
our mission be accomplished?
The Burial (19:31-42)
No play-acting here. The
details tell us surely that Jesus was dead.
Dead. It’s a tough word.
But on this day, we are
confronted with death in all its intensity and
inevitability.
Dead. We all will end up
that way, just like Jesus.
In his death, he takes all
of our deaths to himself.
And now we enter into the
second day, the day of emptiness and "real
absence."
It is a day of waiting—for
what, we don’t know. Jesus has been laid in the tomb, and he is dead. What will
our futures hold, now that he is gone? Today and tomorrow are days of grief,
for ourselves;
for all the things we cling
to which make our lives comfortable and secure;
for the world which kills
the truth.
As we gather at the foot of
the cross:
Let us acknowledge and
embrace our grief.
Let us wait and pray.
And let us hope.
For something else is to
come—this is only the end of a chapter.
Surely the disciples had no
idea what the future held when they saw the body taken from the cross.
Surely Nicodemus and Joseph
had no idea what the future held when they laid him in the tomb.
Surely, no-one could have
known, or could have expected, what the third day was to bring.
His new hour will come, and
so will ours.
The Venerable Robin Walker
Rector, St.
Augustine's-Parkland Anglican Church
Archdeacon of Yellowhead
and Edmonton West
Spruce Grove, Alberta T7X
3A5 Canada
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Bass Mitchell, Hot Springs,
VA
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