Tonight, we had a Good Friday Service with the churches from our region of the district. Our service was held at Minnie’s Chapel Wesleyan Church and here are some pre-service pictures. Apparently, I was moving a little fast as I am the blur on the right side of the bottom picture. I thought it was good that six of the seven churches from our region (or cluster) were represented by their pastor. It was good to finally meet together. It’s important to remember that (as pastors and as churches) that we are not in this thing alone. We have others that we can lean on and dialog with for support.
As I prepared the worship, I really tried to focus us on the cross. The service is about as traditional as I get, music wise. Each pastor had a part in the service. The message was one of the highlights of the evening and we finished singing with “The Wonderful Cross.” I thought the service was thought provoking, even though it wasn’t your traditional Good Friday Service.
I really hope that we do more of this in the future. I love getting together with other pastors and other churches and worshiping together.
Here we are Good Friday. John outlines the events overnight. Since I last posted; Jesus and his disciples went to the garden to pray; Jesus was betrayed by Judas and arrested and stood before a hastily arranged court; Peter denied Jesus three times. Let me share the passage from Isaiah with you this morning.
1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? 2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows[d] that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.
7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.[e]
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.[f]
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.
10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. 11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
Today, our focus is on the cross and only the cross. The disciples had no hope of a resurrection. They even went and hid. Today we remember the turning point in humankind. Jesus took the sins of the whole world as he went to the cross. He was forsaken by his Father and then Jesus died.
