Good day everyone,

I hope you are all finding peace and comfort in this Holy Week.

I wish to invite you to join me in a Good Friday meditation this coming Friday. I will take time to read from scripture on the trial and crucifixion of Jesus along with prayer, focusing this year on the Gospel of Mark.  I intend to begin this Good Friday service at 11 a.m., using Facebook Live from Grace United’s Facebook page.

I would also remind you that we will gather on Facebook Live on Sunday morning for our Easter worship, including Communion. Please provide your own bread and juice.

Traditionally this week is the most significant in the Christian calendar. It is a time when we reflect on ways God comes to us, loves us and how far God goes to offer us grace and compassion. It also offers us a chance to reflect on how we as a society often react to those who challenge the status quo and call for a world of justice and love.

Maundy Thursday speaks of Jesus demonstrating that love through the service of washing his disciples’ feet. But it also offers the foreshadowing of betrayal. It is a story of love, but one grounded in the reality of the world Jesus lives in. However, as dark as the story of Good Friday might be it also includes Jesus calling for forgiveness, even as he dies on a cross.

As we reflect upon and pray about these passages of scripture; stories of service, betrayal, love, pain and forgiveness, let us reflect on what they tell us in this moment. Can we hold up qualities of love, service, justice and forgiveness.

Thanks be to God.