Reflection: John 3: 16

Here’s a thoughtful reflection inspired by John 3:16.  It was written by Roddy Hamilton.

A Story of Love

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son….” John 3:16

gather round
I have a story to tell
of one who reached inside himself
and took a handful of love
like a pile of stardust
and said: this is for you
it is all you need
it is all you will ever need
there is enough here
to change the whole world
take it

many laughed at him
mocked him
and ignored the invitation

but some dared to take it
and those who did
noticed something about this love
they found they could do what the gift-giver could do
they could stand with the lost
welcome the traveler
eat with the hungry
they found themselves doing what the man first did to them
give something of themselves to others
they became like the man
offering themselves
and as they offered themselves
others took the invitation
and many still do
and many still trust
it is enough to change the whole world

~ written by Roddy Hamilton, and posted on Listening to the Stones. http://newkilpatrickblog.typepad.com/nk-blogging/mucky-paws/  

A Prayer for Good Friday: Now We Know

Here’s a prayer of thanksgiving for Good Friday (or even Easter Sunday). It was written by Christine Jerrett and posted on her blog (see link below).

Prayer for Good Friday

Now we know:

all is grace

all is gift.

You give us all good things:

life and love;

daily bread and water that quenches our thirst;

friends and faith.

Most of all, in your Son, Jesus,

you meet us with a love that will never let us go;

you utter words of mercy and forgiveness

that override the hurts,

and heal our brokenness;

you offer new beginnings

where we had expected only dead ends.

We give you thanks and praise

for the mystery of your suffering love

that gives us life.

We give you thanks and praise

that you know our weakness

and hear our prayers.

We give you thanks and praise

that all our dying and living

is held in your good keeping.

Now we know:

all is grace

all is gift.

We give you thanks and praise.

~ posted on Christine Jerrett. https://christinejerrett.wordpress.com/

Invitation to the Table: Holy Week

Here is an invitation to the Table on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday (depending on your practice). It was written by Ann Siddall and posted on the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre website.

Invitation to the Table

This was just a cup filled with wine

(gesture towards the cup)

this was just ordinary bread, baked for guests

(gesture towards the bread)

until Jesus took them

took and drank from the cup,

even though it was his cup of pain,

filled with the agony of the world;

took and broke the bread –

even though his body

was too young to be broken.

This (gesture towards self),

and these (gesture to the community)

would be ordinary lives

unless the bread, unless the wine,

is poured into them:

and the mystery of grace takes place.

Come, not because you fully understand,

but because you need to reach out

and receive the life that is offered to you.

~ written by Ann Siddall, and posted on the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre and Faith Community website. http://stillpointsa.org.au/prayer/prayers-and-liturgies/

Good Friday Confession

Here’s a responsive prayer of confession from The Reverend Erica Wimber Avena in Hartford, Connecticut. She adapted it from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison.

Litany of Confession

We can truly share only in a limited measure in the suffering of others.

We are not Christ,

but if we want to be Christians

it means that we are to take part in Christ’s greatness of heart,

in the responsible action

that in freedom seizes the hour and faces the danger,

and in the true sympathy that springs forth not from fear

but from Christ’s freeing and redeeming love for all who suffer.

Inactive waiting and dully looking on are not Christian responses.

Christians are called to action and sympathy

not through their own firsthand experiences

but by the immediate experience of [others]

for whose sake Christ suffered.

It is infinitely easier to suffer in obedience to a human command

than in the freedom of one’s very own responsible action.

It is infinitely easier to suffer in community with others,

than in solitude.

It is infinitely easier to suffer publicly and with honor,

than in the shadow and in dishonor.

It is infinitely easier to suffer through putting one’s bodily life at stake

than to suffer through the spirit.

Christ suffered:

In freedom,

in solitude,

in the shadow and in dishonor,

in body and in spirit.

Since then, many Christians have suffered with him.

We confess that we have chosen ease over the cost of discipleship,

indolence over action,

we have turned away from injustice,

all the while knowing that Christ’s hands and feet are our own.

Lord, have mercy on us.

Scripture reading: John 18:25-27

Sung response: Jesus,Remember Me (from the Taize Community)

~ written by The Reverend Erica Wimber Avena, serving at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, CT.

Source: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison: After Ten Years: An Account at the Turn of the Year 1942-1943, translated by Barbara and Martin Rumscheidt, pp. 28