Entering Holy Week- Intro and part 1

This coming week in the Western Church (not the Eastern Orthodox) is Holy Week.  Starting today and going through Good Friday I will be posting reflections on the cross. Each is part of a Good Friday tenebrae service I helped write for Hope Lutheran Church in Toledo. I am sharing these here, as some folks who are reading this blog will not be able to attend Holy Week services.  It is my hope that God may work through these daily reflections to touch your heart and life.  Each day will have a scripture reading, a reflection and the words of a song.  May you have a blessed Holy Week~
Andrea

Scripture reading:  John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life,^* and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  (NRSV)

Reflection:  Love brought us here

In the beginning -  light, life…love.  God’s own word about reality,  the One whose life speaks to us about who God is… Jesus, The Word of God… hung on a cross. It was love that brought him here.  It is here that we see Holy love in its fullest-  love that is patient and kind, does not insist on its own way;  is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. On the cross we see love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Let us still our hearts and minds this week as we take time to look at the events of Good Friday through the eyes of love…God’s love.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross       Issac Watts 1707

When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Save in the death of Christ my God! All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.