Saturday, 28 April 2012

Redemption through the Cross

For Christians, the cross is a symbol of hope and a sure sign of God's love for mankind. The Crucifix helps us focus on the agonizing suffering Christ undertook on our behalf, his sacrifice that redeemed us from the bondage of sin and death. The empty Cross, for Christians, is a reminder of the Resurrection of Jesus. It is through the Resurrection that mankind has been united to Christ and that he has opened for all believers everlasting life with God the Father in Heaven.




This crucifix hangs on the wall in the living room of my home, as a reminder to our family of all that God has done, is doing, and will do for each of us.





Christ Pantocrator - Icon.
A gift from a friend, the icon has found its place on the wall of my bedroom.



"The word Pantocrator is of Greek origin meaning "ruler of all". Christ Pantocrator is an icon of Christ represented full or half-length and full-faced. He holds the book of the Gospels in his left hand and blesses with his right hand.

The icon portrays Christ as the Righteous Judge and the Lover of Mankind, both at the same time. The Gospel is the book by which we are judged, and the blessing proclaims God's loving kindness toward us, showing us that he is giving us his forgiveness."

Information Site Link: http://orthodoxwiki.org/Pantocrator


The following information, prayers, meditations and scripture quotes, comes from the book, Journey For A Soul by George Appleton. It is a book of prayers and meditations . It was published in 1974 by Fontana Books.
Printed by: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd, Glasgow.



"51. REDEMPTION THROUGH THE CROSS 

We Christians often use the words ‘Christ died to save us from our sins.’ He shows us the limitless measure of God’s love and that draws our hearts to him. He makes known to us God’s forgiveness, not only in his teaching, but by the fact of his own forgiveness of those who brought him to the cross. There is something more which it is difficult to describe – he works within us, assuring us of God’s forgiveness, changing our hearts towards sin and selfishness, and sharing his risen life so that sin, though it may attack us, need find no entry.


INSIGHTS FROM SCRIPTURE

Conditions of redemptive vocation
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:12

The condition of spiritual harvest
Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24

The drawing power of the cross and the ascension
I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.
John 12:32

The cost of redemption
You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
1 Peter 1:18-19

OTHER INSIGHTS

Undeserving but accepted
Justification is the establishment of a permanent relationship between a gracious God and those who are desperately in need of his grace. It is that act in which God declares himself to be unalterably favourably to one who is totally undeserving of his favour. It is that act in which a man who knows himself to be a sinner abandons every claim on God and every attempt to establish hos own righteousness, and declares his intention to rest for ever and only on the forgiveness of God declared and made real to him in Jesus Christ.
Stephen Neill in an unpublished manuscript

The redemptive force of love
For the creative Charity of God, as experienced by man, is a redemptive force. It comes into human life in Christ, his Spirit, his Church, his sacraments, and his saints, not to inform but to transform; to rescue from the downward pull which is felt throughout the natural order, to reform, energize, and at last sanctify the souls of men, making those rescued souls in their turn part of the redeeming organism through which the salvation of the world shall be achieved.
Evelyn Underhill

Continuing redemption
No baseness or cruelty of treason so deep or so tragic shall enter our human world, that the loyal love shall be able in due time to oppose to just that deed of treason its fitting deed of atonement. The deed of atonement shall be so wise and so rich in its efficacy that the spiritual world, after the atoning deed, shall be better, richer, more triumphant amid all its irrevocable tragedies, than it was before the traitor’s deed was done.
Josiah Royce

PRAYERS

Without Jesus Christ
O Lord Jesus Christ, without you I would not have known the limitless love of God. Without you I would not have known the extent of God’s forgiveness or seen it in operation on the cross. Without your rescue I would still be submerged in weakness and sin. Without you I would not have the divine grace to transform my life. Without you I would not have known the Kingdom of God or our Father’s plan to unite humanity in righteousness and love. I can never thank you enough, or love you enough, my Redeemer and the Saviour of the world.

Mindful of the love
            Lord God, in return for thy great love I would bring an offering, but there is only one worthy offering, the perfect obedience of thy Son even unto death.
Lord God, I remember that offering, I plead it before thee.
And though it be all-sufficient I add to it the offering of myself, body, mind, and spirit, mind, heart, and will, all that I have, all that I am, all that by thy grace I can become.
Accept, O Lord God, this unworthy sacrifice and cleanse and sanctify and use it in thy service of thy Kingdom for his dear sake.


Crucified with Christ
O God our Father, help us to nail to the cross of thy dear Son the whole body of our death, the wrong desires of the heart, the sinful devisings of the mind, the corrupt apprehensions of the eyes, the cruel words of the tongue, the ill employment of hands and feet; that the old man being crucified and done away, the new man may live and grow into the glorious likeness of the same thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.
Eric Milner-White

Blessed be thou, O Lord Christ, who didst die not to save us from punishment, but to save us from our sins and to raise us to new life."






George Appleton graduated Selwyn College, Cambridge. Ordained in 1925, he worked in East London for two years. From there he moved on to spend over twenty years as priest in Burma and India. Next, he spent seven years in the City of London. In 1963 he became Archbishop of Western Australia. From 1968 through 1974 he was Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and the Middle East. He died in 1993.

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

The Second Sunday After Easter. A Sermon.

A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Easter
"The Good Shepherd"
By Dr. Robert Crouse


"The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing." (Psalm 23.1)
In the scriptures of the Old Testament, the image of the shepherd is a symbol of divine government, and of human government, too, as an imitation of the divine. Thus, God is addressed as shepherd: "Hear, 0 thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep." (Psalm 80.1) And David, the shepherd boy, divinely anointed, becomes the shepherd King of Israel. And when Isaiah prophesies the coming deliverer, he too speaks of a shepherd: "He shall lead his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs unto his bosom." (Isaiah 40.1) And when Jesus, offspring of the House of David, calls himself the "good shepherd," his hearers would certainly have all this background in mind.
The image of the shepherd is a natural symbol of government. Not only in ancient Israel, but also in ancient Greece, it served this purpose. From the time of Homer on, the Greeks spoke of kingship in terms of shepherding - a human office, no doubt, but also a reflection or imitation of the divine government of the universe. The image of the shepherd is a natural and universal symbol of divine and human government.
But there is a certain difficulty about the symbol. In the first book of Plato's dialogue called the Republic, there is a conversation, where Socrates is engaged in an argument with a Sophist called Thrasymachus, on the subject of justice. At this particular point in the argument, they are discussing the art of government, and the idea of the shepherd is introduced. Thrasymachus accuses Socrates of naive foolishness. "You imagine," he says,
..that a shepherd studies the interests of his flocks, tending them and fattening them up with some other end in view than his master's profit or his own; and so you don't see that, in politics, the genuine ruler regards his subjects exactly like sheep, and thinks of nothing else, night and day, but the good he can get out of them for himself.
The gist of Socrates' reply is that although there may indeed be false shepherds, it is the sole concern of the shepherd's art, as such, to do the best for the charges put under its care. Its own best interest is sufficiently provided for, so long as it does not fall short of all that shepherding should imply. On that principle, it follows, he says, that any kind of authority must, in its character of authority, consider solely what is best for those under its care.
Thus, Jesus, in today's Gospel lesson, draws a distinction between the good shepherd, who cares for the sheep, and the hireling, who is in the business for what he can get out of it for himself. "I am the good shepherd," says Jesus. "The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." Jesus' authority as shepherd, as governor of our lives, is established in his act of sacrifice: "I lay down my life for the sheep." And his shepherding is good indeed. His Resurrection - our Easter joy - is our foretaste of the green pastures and still waters of eternal life. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me." (Psalm 23.4)
The idea of Jesus as the good shepherd is certainly a very attractive image, and it has inspired centuries of Christian devotion, and I suppose there is no passage in the whole of scripture better-known or more loved than the twenty-third Psalm, with its picture of divine shepherding. The image is almost too pretty. One can be sentimentally attached to the image, and altogether overlook the deeper levels of meaning it implies. It is fundamentally an image of the divine governing of the universe, the good shepherding of all things by God's wisdom and power.
In the earliest expressions of Christian art, the paintings which adorn the walls of the catacombs - those narrow labyrinthine tunnels which served as burial places in the early Christian centuries - a favorite theme is Jesus as the good shepherd. It is natural and obvious enough, of course, that the Risen Lord should be represented as shepherd of the dead. But it's not just that. Jesus is represented there as shepherd of the stars - the universal, cosmic shepherd: the Son of God. He is shown as "the power of God and the wisdom of God," (1 Corinthians 1.24) that is, the good governorof all that is, shepherding all things to their appointed end.
The image of the good shepherd is fundamentally an image of divine government, an image of the universal providence of God in Christ. "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they should hear my voice; and there should be one flock, and one shepherd." It is a shepherding which includes the whole creation. As St. Paul puts it in his letter to the Romans, "the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God . . . because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay, and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Romans 8.19,21)
The world has lots of hirelings, of course, who seem to be in it, as Thrasymachus says, for what they can get out of it; and it is easy enough to become cynical and doubtful about the divine government of things. But, really, we need have no doubts on that score. God governs all things for the best. Jesus' Resurrection is the ultimate witness of good shepherding: it witnesses to God's power to bring the highest good out of the worst evil. No doubt we have considerable capacities for wickedness, but it's just foolish presumption to suppose that our wickedness can have the last word. In the end, God's will is surely done.
That is the witness of the Resurrection, and that is the promise of the Resurrection. And that is the witness and promise of this sacrament we celebrate. Out of body broken and blood shed, the grace of God brings new and eternal life. "The wolf cometh, and the hireling fleeth," but "the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." That is good shepherding, and with such shepherding, we lack nothing.
Amen. +



+ + + + + + + + +
Site Link:  http://www.stpeter.org/crouse/sermons/easter_2.htm


The Reverend Dr. Robert Crouse.








Shepherding the Flock.


I have been lucky enough to have been able to make two trips to the Holy Land so far in my life. Once was when I enrolled in a 17 day course at St. George's College called 'the Palestine of Jesus'. During that course, out in the Judean Desert between Jerusalem and Jericho, I remember our guide/instructor pointing out the herds of goats and helping us distinguish at a distance whether the flock was sheep or goats (sheep keep their tails down, whilst goats have their tails up). He made the point about the shepherds of the flock. He said that we often get the mental image of the shepherd gently leading his flock, staff in hand, at the head of the flock. His point was that the reality was that oftentimes the shepherd leads from the rear of the flock. He does this sometimes using rocks thrown near the feet of the sheep in the lead, to drive them forward. He was pointing out the inherent stubbornness that resides within each of us. Even though the shepherd is there with us, and protects and guides us, we are often resistent to his lead and urgings. Sometimes it is only when we are driven by circumstances (rocks) in our lives, that we take the path of direction and fulfil God's vision for us.



Photo Site Link:  http://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/2011_12_18_archive.html

A Walk with Jesus

Here is a poem which inspires meditation, prayer, and praise. It is a much quoted poem, and for good reason, that speaks volumes about the love God has for us, His creatures.



Footprints.


One night I had a dream--
I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord
and across the sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints,
one belonged to me and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that many times along the path of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life.
This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you would walk with me all the way,
but I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life
there is only one set of footprints.
"I don't understand why in times when I needed you most,
you should leave me."
The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child,
I love you and I would never, never leave you
during your times of trial and suffering.
"When you saw only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."

...Mary Stevenson









 

Here are some prayers to be useed for the first few weeks after Easter leading up to Pentecost (WhitSunday). They are from the following book:

The Prayer Manual. For Private Devotions or for Public Use on Divers Occasions.

By: Canon F.B. Macnut

Published by A.R. Mowbray & Co. Limited, Oxford, 1951.



Pour upon us, O Lord, Thy Heavenly benediction, that we may be armed with the faith of the Resurrection not to fear any army of men set against us.
Archbishop Parker



O Christ, the light of men, Who on the third day didst arise from the grave and shed Thy bright beams upon the darkness of the world; grant, we beseech Thee, that, enlightened by Thy presence, we may walk as children of the day, to the glory of Thy Name Who livest and reignest, world without end.



 
O Thou, Who didst manifest Thyself in the breaking of bread to Thy disciples at Emmaus, grant us ever through the same blessed Sacrament of Thy Presence to know Thee, and to love Thee more and more with all our hearts. Abide with us that we may ever dwell in Thee, O good Jesu, Thou God of our salvation.
Edward Bouverie Pusey


 

We give Thee thanks, Almighty Father, Who hast delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of Thy Son: grant, we beseech Thee, that as by His death He has restored to us hope and peace, He may raise us up with Him to life eternal; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.



O God, Who by Thine only-begotten Son hast destroyed the reign of death, and hast made us partakers of the kingdom of Thy love: grant, we beseech Thee, that as Thou has begotten us again unto a living hope by His Resurrection, so also we may be kept by His power through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in Him, where He reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.
Frederick B. Macnut


 
O Risen Lord, Who after Thy passion didst show Thyself alive unto Thine Apostles by many infallible proofs, and didst speak unto them the things that concern the kingdom of God: speak unto us also who wait upon Thee, and fill us with joy and peace in believing; that we may abound in hope, and knowing Thy will may faithfully perform it, even unto the end; through Thy grace, Who livest and reignest, Lord of the dead and of the living.




Tuesday, 10 April 2012

The Emmaus Road.


'Christ' by Roy Henry Vickers.






THE GOSPEL. St Luke 24. 13.
BEHOLD, two of his disciples went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that while they communed together, and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden, that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have with one another, as ye walk? And they stood still, looking sorrowful. But one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word, before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; and when they found not his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said; but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, Foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village whither they went; and he made as though he would have gone further: but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of the bread.



"Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?"

We also are Christians on our own walk of faith. We have heard the Word preached, we have seen men living it to the best of their ability, but we are unsure about its impact on our own lives. Our hearts do not yet "burn" with the Words of Christ. We, like Thomas, seek personal proof. We look for the nail holes in the hands, and the thrust of the spear into the side. Christ has given us a living example for our own lives. More than that, He has presented us with the opportunity to believe on Him and to be saved through Faith. He also comes to us at the 'breaking of the bread'. He feeds us spiritually the 'bread of life'. His blood 'washes away our sins'. Let us be partakers in Christ.


"O Christ, the light of men, Who on the third day didst arise from the grave and shed Thy bright beams upon the darkness of the world; grant, we beseech Thee, that, enlightened by Thy presence, we may walk as children of the day, to the glory of Thy Name Who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen."

(From: The Prayer Manual. For Private Devotions or for Public Use on Divers Occasions.
By: F.B. MacNutt.  A.R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd.  page 115)



Monday, 9 April 2012

The Garden Tomb.

The Garden Tomb provides pilgrims with a glimpse of what the first-century scene might have looked like for the followers of Jesus on that three-day journey from Good Friday through Easter Sunday. The Garden Tomb site contains a garden that has some olive trees. There is a first-century industrial site that has been alternately called a 'wine-press' or an 'olive-press' depending upon the source. There is also a first-century tomb there. It is located very near to a site that was first noticed by Lord Byron, who said that the rock formation correlated closely to what he called a skull (Golgotha).

Many Christians find this spot to be a useful place to go and find peace and tranquility. It has become a place of prayer and a site where Christians meet and hold services to commemorate our Lord, Jesus Christ.


PHOTOS OF THE GARDEN TOMB AREA.



The Garden Tomb.






Inside the Garden Tomb.

(Google Images.)




The Garden Tomb complex.

(Google Images.)





Wine Press - Garden Tomb complex.





The shape of a skull? Golgotha?

(Google Images.)


The rocky cliff face that Lord Byron thought resembled what he imagined Golgotha might have looked like now backs on to the Jerusalem Bus Depot.




Easter Day Celebrations.

Jesus Christ is Risen.
He is Risen Indeed!


Easter celebrations take many forms the world over, but the central core of Christian celebrations focus on the Risen Christ. Just as the Cross is the symbol of Good Friday, the empty tomb symbolizes the new hope of Christians throughout the ages of eternal life brought through the atoning sacrifice and redemption bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. Through the Resurrection on that first Easter morn, the bondage of sin and the chains of death were broken and cast aside for all time, for all believers.

The Orthodox Easter for 2012 will be celebrated on Sunday, April 15th.


BBC Site Link: Orthodox Easter 2012 photos - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17723015



EASTER DAY CELEBRATIONS FROM THE BCP:
These Anthems shall be sung or said instead of Venite at Morning Prayer, and may be used at the Holy Communion except when the latter Service is combined with Morning Prayer.
CHRIST our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast;
Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness; / but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5. 7.
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; / death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, / but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6. 9.
Christ is risen from the dead, / and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, / by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, / even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15. 20.
GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son, / and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, / world without end. Amen.

(BCP)


Collect for Easter and the Easter Octave.

O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the resurrection from the dead of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we who celebrate this Paschal feats may die daily unto sin, and live with him evermore in the glory of his endless life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

BCP (Book of Common Prayer) Site Link:




Easter Day Celebrations from around the world:


Pope Benedict XVI, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City.



Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams at Canterbury Cathedral.




Iraqi Christians in an Armenian Church, Baghdad.




Malawi Christians at worship.



Pakistani Christian girl, Peshawar.



Syrian Antiochan Orthodox believers in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.



Above photos' Site Link:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17652049


More photos from around the world:



Faithful Christians in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City.




Bulgarian Catholics at worship.





Pakistani Christians, Lahore.




Belarus Catholics in procession.




Orthodox Christians in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.




Christians in Manila, Philippines.




An Ethiopian Orthodox Christian woman at the chapel of the Deir Sultan monastery.




Catholic procession. Madrid, Spain.




Jerusalem: An Orthodox Christian clergyman carries a branch of an olive tree as he enters the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.




Jerusalem: Ethiopian Orthodox Christian children beat drums and sing at the Deir Sultan monastery.




Jammu, India: A Christian worshipper during prayers at St. Mary's Garrison church.



Above photos' Site Link: 




Saturday, 7 April 2012

Holy Saturday Services and Celebrations.

On the morning of Holy Saturday, many denominations celebrate the Liturgy of Jesus Christ in the Church Expectant. Later, after a quiet day of contemplation and prayer, Christians around the world get ready for Easter Vigil Services and the first Celebration of the Easter Holy Eucharist.



Holy Saturday Spirituality.



Site Link:  http://reddresstheology.com/


Meditation -

HOLY SATURDAY SPIRITUALITY

1. A Pregnant Pause

"The Christian Faith is essentially the Faith of the Resurrection:  those who knew Jesus as a man walking this earth would not have told and retold the events of his life, had they not been totally transformed by their encounter with the dead-now-risen Lord Jesus (Alison 1993, 5).  All that we know about Jesus is passed on to us by people who have experienced the Resurrection and know that the Life and Death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is not the end of the story.  We receive what has been passed on to us, just as the Apostle Paul has said, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).

In the Apostolic witness, the first Holy Saturday is remembered by its absence.  Some of the first disciples saw the body in the tomb late in the day immediately before the Sabbath, then some of his disciples saw the tomb without his body, early in the day immediately after the Sabbath.  The actual Sabbath day is missing in the narrative and we can only infer that the disciples proceeded with Sabbath observance as was customary.
So also, Holy Saturday is absent in the Paschal Triduum Liturgies.  “Holy Saturday is the truth of our lives, so close to where we are that it serves as the heart of the paschal liturgies but is itself, as the nature of the divine-human encounter, a mystery beyond even the power of liturgy to encode” (Farwell 2005, 69).  The Saturday Evening Vigil technically takes place on the Sunday (because Sabbath starts at sundown) and alludes to the waiting, the expectant hope of the Christian who already knows that Resurrection Day is coming.  It is this absence of word and action on Holy Saturday that distinguish it as day of liminality.If the activity, or lack thereof, on the Sabbath day can be inferred, so to can the affectual experience of the disciples.  All their hope had been placed in the man Jesus, and his execution essentially brought that to an end.  The disciples dispersed, Peter denied even knowing his Beloved Rabbi, Joseph of Arimathea looked after the necessary burial arrangements in secret, and the women seem to have done what needed to be done without comment.  It is impossible to imagine that they were not dejected.

Alan Lewis has noted that the pregnant pause in the middle of the Passion-Easter narrative acts as a boundary “which allows the mind and heart easy movement and a fertile cross-reference between the two.  For the first-time traveller, however, the boundary is a frontier-barrier obstructing forward progress” (Lewis 2001, 43).  For the first disciples, Holy Saturday was the end.  “So we have not really listened to the gospel story of the cross and grave until we have construed this cold, dark Sabbath as the day of atheism” (Lewis 2001, 56).  This distinction between the first disciples and all other believers who encounter Jesus through their testimony is significant for the present discussion of liminality.  Christians know Holy Saturday is not the end of the story because Jesus is encountered only as the Risen Lord.  For believers, liminality on Holy Saturday is not a natural consequence of reading the Jesus narrative, it is a result of getting lost.  We have the simple outline presented to us:  Jesus lived, died and rose again.  But then something in life brings us to our limits and we become disoriented.  We forget part, or all, of the story.  We cannot match the meaning of the story with the testimony of our own lives, the symbols have become detached from their meanings and cease to make sense.  If we lose our way, we regress to the testimony of those traversing of the story for the first time: a day of despair when God had not yet turned things upside down.

In his discussion on Resurrection, Rowan Williams describes how the experience of liminality is integral to encountering God in the dead-now-living Jesus on Easter.  Encountering Jesus who is ‘wholly other’ in the Resurrection draws us into a liminal moment in which we no longer fully understand life, death and where to locate God and ourselves.  “The resurrection can and should operate as a central symbol for the purification of desire and the de-centring of the ego, because the necessary first moment in the resurrection event is one of absence and loss” (Williams 1982, 77).  The pregnant pause in the narrative is a confrontation.  Do we read the dramatic placing of Christ in the grave as the end of the story?  Put the book down and descend ourselves into hopelessness?  Or do we choose to lie ourselves down in the tomb next to Jesus and trust, however blindly, that something mysterious, beyond our current capacity to describe or define, will bring about an ecstatic finale?  Imaginatively placing ourselves into the narrative as the first disciples illuminates the story for us, but it is not the way of discipleship.  We follow the way of Jesus when we choose to become his disciples, and this means we follow him through the grave.  This is Balthasar’s question:  how does the Christian accompany Jesus through the supreme solitude of Holy Saturday?  How do we share in “being dead with the dead God” (Balthasar 1990, 181)

2. Solidarity with Human Solitude

“In that same way that, upon the earth, he was in solidarity with the living, so, in the tomb, he is in solidarity with the dead” (Balthasar 1990, 149).  For von Balthasar, Jesus descent into death is the last leg of the Incarnation – the completion of Jesus’ human form and the key to understanding Holy Saturday.  There is one exegetically difficult text from 1 Peter 3:19 about Jesus being active in death – ‘preaching the gospel to those in prison’ – but by the fourth century there was enough speculation about his underworld experience for it to make it into the creeds with the line ‘He descended into Hell.’  Von Balthasar argues that whatever speculative suggestions we make about hell and Jesus ‘descent,’ we must not deny the completeness of his death.  “It  is a situation which signifies in the first place the abandonment of all spontaneous activity and so a passivity, a state in which, perhaps, the vital activity now brought to its end is mysteriously summed up” (Balthasar 1990, 149).  The result of Jesus’ death was the sure communication of the gospel to all humanity, across all time and space.  Von Balthasar expresses this poetically in this imaginary conversation between Christ and the human person:

“You leap down from a high cliff.  The leap is freely made, and yet, the moment you leap, gravity leaps upon you and you tumble exactly like a dead stone to the bottom of the gorge.  This is how I decided to give myself.  To give myself right out of my hand…. This was the plan; this was the will of the Father.  By fulfilling it through obedience (the fulfilment itself was obedience), I have filled the world from heaven down to hell…. Now I am all in all, and this is why the death which poured me out is victory.  My descent, my vertiginous collapse, my going under (under myself) into everything that was foreign and contrary to God – down into the underworld: this was the ascent of this world into me, into God….You are in God – at the price of my own Godhead.  You have love – I lost it to you….This was my victory.  In the Cross was Easter.” (Cited in Farwell 2005, 71)

Death has been a part of universal human experience since the first Adam, and hence death must be a part of the total solidarity with humanity by the second Adam.  This is why Christians are able to speak of the Cross as an act of love.  It is a radically self-giving commitment to remain in relationship with humanity, even to the extent of losing oneself totally.  Upon death Jesus the Divine-Human is entirely dependent upon God the Father for his Redemption.  Jesus, by virtue of his human nature, has become powerless.   This is the pathway forged for Jesus’ followers through the valley of death.  At the extreme of human limitation, the only way beyond comes not from ourselves, but by the Loving action of God whom is beyond.   “Holy Saturday is the day in which God has died ‘into’ our very own death and sanctified it, in all its stark, immovable threat” (Farwell 2005, 69). What then, does Paul mean when he urges us to be dead with the dead God?
“The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  (Romans 5:12-6:11)

In the liminal moment, when we at last grasp our own finiteness, we are forced with this choice:  do we continue to trust only in ourselves, to know only that which is available within our human limitations; or do we open ourselves to the possibility that we are not as superior in the universe as we have previously thought ourselves to be?  The ego must accept that it is powerless to project far enough into the world to make sense of all of life.  We must let go of the expectation that we are in complete control, that we are masters of our destiny, that we are autonomous beings who need no Other.  Jesus models this perfectly for us.  As Incarnated Being he submitted himself entirely to Father not only in obedience, but in existential dependence.  “Because the Descent is the final point reached by the Kenosis, and the Kenosis is the supreme expression of the inner-Trinitarian love, the Christ of Holy Saturday is the consummate icon of what God is like” (Nichols 1990, 8).  We stay in the moment, and wait for God to intervene, just as Jesus did.  All of which sheds a soft dawning light upon Jesus’ words, “For those who want to save their life will lose it.  And those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25-26)."

Site Link:  http://reddresstheology.com/




The Ceremony of the 'First Fire' on Holy Saturday.

From early morning Saturday, pilgrims and Christian worshippers begin to fill the inner area of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem near the site of the tomb of Jesus, in order to secure a spot to witness the ancient ceremony of the 'First Fire' (the Holy Fire). It takes place on the afternoon of Holy Saturday. For a detailed account and explanation of the ceremony, see the following:

'Holy Fire' Site Link: http://www.holyfire.org/eng/

Once the Holy Fire appears, the candles brought by worshippers nearest the tomb are ignited off the original flame. Within a matter of moments those with lighted candles pass on the light to those around them and the whole interior suddenly explodes with candlelight. Almost immediately there are shouts and chants of "Jesus Christ is Risen." "Al-MasiH qam!" (Arabic: Christ is risen!). As the crowd spilled out into the streets your heard the shouts answered by, "He is Risen Indeed!" "HAKAN QAM!!!" (HE is risen indeed!!!). It was a truely awe inspiring few minutes.



Christians inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the 'First Fire' Ceremony.




Easter Vigil.
"The Easter Vigil is a very beautiful service, rich with tradition and symbolism. It consists of four main parts: (1) The Lighting of the 'New Fire' and the Paschal Candle; (2) Four Readings from the Old Testament; (3) The Renewal of Baptismal Vows; and (4) The First Eucharist of Easter.

The Lighting of the 'New Fire'. In the darkened church, a fire is kindled, and the Pascal Candle is lit from the flame of this 'new fire'. As we see the light of the fire lighting up the darkness, we think of the Light of Christ, who rose from the dead. In His resurrection, Jesus showed that the powers of light are stronger than the powers of darkness, and that the powers of life are stronger than the powers of death. The Paschal Candle (a very large candle symbolic of Jesus and His resurrection) is carried up the aisle in a solemn procession, as the words are chanted - "The Light of Christ, Thanks be to God." Hand candles held by everyone present are lit from the flame of the Paschal Candle.

Old Testament Readings. In the darkened church, by the flickering of the light of many candles, Four Readings from the Old Testament help us to recall God's 'mighty acts' in ancient times. We listen to the Creation story. the story of the Poeple of Israel escaping from Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea to begin their journey to the Promised Land, and two other Old Testament readings.

The Renewal of Baptismal Vows. A procession to the font takes place while the Litany is sung. At the font, water is blessed, and all baptized Christian persons present are invited tp renew their baptismal vows. (Sometimes an actual baptism may take place). This reminds us of the ancient tradition of the early church, in which new converts to the Christian Faith were baptized and received into membership in the church on Easter Eve.

The First Eucharist of Easter. As the climax of the Easter Vigil Ceremonies, the Holy Eucharist is celebrated, and we rejoice in Jesus' Resurrection with hymns of joy. "Jesus Christ is risen today. Alleluia"."





(Taken and adapted from the brochure, 'Travel Through Holy Week With Christ' from the Cathedral Church of St. Peter, Charlottetown, PEI.)





Ethiopian ceremony atop the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Saturday night, April 18th, 1987.


Ethiopian Burial Service.

The Ethiopian 'Burial Ceremony' is performed as part of the Holy Week celebrations in their quarters on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Some people today ask how the Church of the Holy Sepulchre could possibly be the actual site of the death and resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ. The answer has been provided through a combination of oral history, some written records, and archaeological evidence. Over time, the landscape around the Calvary and tomb sites have changed. Some have been due to the intentional actions to save the sites for posterity, and some have been through the deliberate actions to obliterate these sites from human memory.

Below are a series of drawings which illustrate the changes that have been made to the surrounding landscape over the course of the past 2,000 years. The site link to these drawings, originally an Adobe Flash Player slideshow, has been provided:







 Site Link:  http://www.seetheholyland.net/church-of-the-holy-sepulchre/





The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

(From the Jerusalem Post)

"The Holy Sepulchre is more than just a large, ancient church, but is a holy site for Orthodox and Catholic Christians divided into many smaller chapels dedicated to different parts of the Easter story.


Also known as the Church of the Resurrection, the cavernous church commemorates the hill of crucifixion and the tomb of Christ's burial. It sits on the edge of the Christian Quarter in the Old City and is home to several Christian denominations: Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Orthodox and the (Latin) Roman Catholic are the larger denominations while the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syrian Orthodox also possess rights and properties in the building.


Originally built by Constantine’s mother in 330 A.D. on top of a pagan worship site, inside the church many first-century tombs hewn from rock were discovered there, one identified as that of Joseph of Arimathea, used for the body of Jesus after his resurrection.


The Church of the Holy Sepulcher has weathered many attacks during various periods of history in the Holy Land. Most of the present building is the result of 12th-century reconstruction by the crusaders. Since 1520, the keys of the church have been kept by a Muslim family rather than one of the Christian groups."


More from the Jerusalem Post article:

"The following is a description of the chapels and significant locations within the church, memorializing the death and resurrection of Christ.


The Tomb of Jesus


The tomb, also known as the edicule, is at the center of the Holy Sepulchre Church, and symbolically sits under the largest dome in the church. The tomb is used in turn by all of the denominations for daily mass. A rectangular, tall structure built of red granite and adorned with candlesticks outside the door, the edicule houses two small rooms - the Chapel of The Angel and the tomb itself. The Chapel of the Angel contains a stone, which represents part of the larger stone that was rolled away from Christ's tomb on the day of the resurrection, according to tradition. On this stone is an imprint of a hand believed to be that of one of the angels who waited in tomb to announce the resurrection. A Greek monk is always present in this room to guard the Tomb of Christ. The Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre contains the tomb of Christ, the 14th Station of the Cross and the holiest site in Christendom. A marble slab lies in the place where Jesus was laid.


Stone of Anointing


Upon entering the Holy Sepulchre from the spacious courtyard, the Stone of the Anointing or Unction, lies just beyond the iron doors. Tradition has it that this is the spot where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus was anointed and wrapped in a clean linen cloth according to the Jewish tradition of those days. The limestone slab dates to 1808 replacing the one destroyed in the 12th century. Opulent lamps hang above the stone. Many pilgrims stop here first to kiss the stone before moving on to the rest of the church.


Golgotha (or Calvary)


To the right of the stone is a staircase that leads to two chapels on the tip of Golgotha, where Jesus was nailed to the cross. The first room is a Catholic Franciscan Chapel with an altar dedicated to the Nailing of the Cross (Station 11 of the Via Dolorosa). The Greek Orthodox Calvary is the second room, with the actual Rock of Golgotha (Station 12 of the Via Dolorosa) that can be seen through glass. Pilgrims may touch the rock through a small opening in the glass.


The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene


This Franciscan chapel, to the north of the tomb, is believed to be where Mary Magdalene watched Jesus’ burial, as recounted in Mark 15:47, and also encountered Jesus after his resurrection. This is the Catholic area of the church.


The Prison of Christ


This small area is believed to be where Jesus was temporarily held with the two thieves before he was crucified.


The Chapel of the Division of the Robe


The Armenian chapel is the location at which it is believed the soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ robe according to John 19:24.


The Chapel of St. Longinus'


The Greek chapel is dedicated to Longinus, the Roman soldier who led the group of soldiers that escorted Jesus to Golgotha. According to Matthew 27:54, after the crucifixion the Roman centurion acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of God.


The Chapel of the Crowning of the Thorns


This Greek Orthodox chapel is located at the base of Golgotha and, as the name suggests, memorializes the abuse Jesus suffered at the hands of the Roman soldiers. According to John 19:2, the soldiers mocked Jesus and put on him a purple robe and crown of thorns. A small fragment of the column from the Prison of Christ is in this chapel.


The Catholicon


The main chapel facing the Tomb of Christ is a large rectangular area with a dome and is considered the “naval of the world” - the spiritual center of the earth (Ezekiel 38:12). Two thrones are on the altar, one for the Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and the other for the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. The ornate chapel is a large area used by the Greek Orthodox.


The Chapel of St. Helena/Chapel of St. Gregory


The Greeks consider this Helena’s Chapel while the Armenians call it the Chapel of St. Gregory. Located at the base of the stairs near the Crowning of the Thorns, there is a throne and an original mosaic from the church which has been preserved. Along the stairway small crosses carved by medieval pilgrims are etched into the wall. The chapel has two apses, one dedicated to the repentant thief and the other to St. Helena, mother of Constantine who searched for the true cross, according to tradition.


The Chapel of St. Vartan


This Armenian chapel, not often open to the public, is adjacent to St. Helena’s Chapel and was only discovered in the 1970s. Remnants of the wall date back to the 2nd century and one is etched with a merchant ship and an inscription which translates "Lord, we shall go."


The Chapel of the Finding of the Cross


According to tradition, St. Helen discovered Jesus’ cross here in 330 AD. She found three crosses - one for Jesus and the two thieves crucified with him. She brought a sick man to touch each cross and determined that the one at which the man was healed was the cross of Christ.


The Coptic Chapel


Located on the other side of the tomb, the small chapel has its own separate entrance.


The Syrian Chapel

For the Syrian Orthodox Christians, this chapel on the east end of the church was used for burials in Jesus’ time."

Story Link: http://www.jpost.com/Travel/Jerusalem/Article.aspx?id=216117



Inside the Chuch of the Holy Sepulchre:


( NOTE: For a good tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, complete with very good 
                photographs, go to the above link. )





This photograph shows the Ethiopian Burial Ceremony being performed on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchure, the Chapel of St. Helena, Jerusalem, Friday April 17th, 1987.