Author: Jana

In our current times where social justice issues are bubbling to the surface and accountability is being demanded, the need for communal penance is becoming more common. As we as groups and leaders to acknowledge wrongs in society: residential schools, sexual abuse within churches, corrupt power, mismanaged companies, etc. Pople are demanding, we are demanding for communal penance of wrongs that have been committed whether by our hand or our ancestors. This acknowledgment and penance, hopefully redirects us to a better way of living together. Today, on Maundy Thursday, I would encourage you to attend a service, a seder supper, a communal meeting of some sort. During this time reflect on how as a group you have failed, and what you may have done better. The early Christians failed Jesus, leading him to be die. While Jesus was human, he must inevitably died, as we all will, but it could have been different. He could have lived longer, he could have taught more, healed more, loved more. However, our religious ancestors cut that all short. Today, we must remember that, and pause to imagine how we could have done things differently, and how we may do things differently today.

In the Garden

By C. Austin Miles

I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known
He speaks and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known
I’d stay in the garden with Him
‘Tho the night around me be falling
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling
And He walks with me
And He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

From the Celtic Christian tradition, a prayer adapted from the fifth/sixth century.

You are the wind that breathes upon the sea,

You are the wave on the ocean,

You are the murmur of leaves rustiling,

You are the rays of the sun,

You are the beam of the moon and the stars,

You are the power of trees growing,

You are the bud breaking into blossom,

You are the movement of the salmon swimming,

You are the courage of the wild board fighting,

You are the speed of the stag running,

You are the strength of the ox pulling the plough,

You are the size of the mighty oak tree,

You are the thoughts of all people,

Who praise your beauty and grace.

As Jesus is placed in the tomb, we take the time to question what areas of our lives have become entombed? Did you have a hope or dream that did not be one a reality , but you still cling to? Is there something from your past that is holding  you back? Now is the time to acknowledge and remove this obstacle from your life.  If there is something that is representative of this that you can part with I encourage you to do this. Whether it is parting with a kitchen table thaf is too small for your family that you can pass on to someone who can use it. Or if it is more emotional I invite you to pick up a stone, pausing to hold onto it and sensing the weight. Then with resolution through it away, perhaps into a river or a lake. No longer constrained we are ready to be resurrected, and find new life.

Today we are going to examine the scriptures for the event of Jesus being taken down from the cross.

In Matthew we find:

Matthew 27: 57-61 (NRSV)

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

Mark 15: 42-47 (NRSV)

When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some times. When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

Luke 23: 50-56

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.

John 19: 38-42 (NRSV)

After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. Now there was a l garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.