Easter Services 2019
Monday – Lent 34 – I Still Pray by Kasey Chambers
Today’s Jesus track is by the artists Kasey Chambers and Paul Kelly, it’s a song that reflects on Jesus as a baby, perhaps as we’ve travelled through Lent you’ve forgotten that only a few months ago we gathered and celebrated his birth…
I still cry for Baby Jesus
And I still pray when I’m alone
And when I’m lost
He’ll come to find me
Because he died to save my soul
When I can’t walk he’s there to carry
When I speak he hears my words
When I wake and I have nothing
He sends me gold, frankincense and myrrh
When I cry my tears of sorrow
When my heart will only ache
And if I’m troubled when I’m sleeping
He will hold me until I wake
Ponder:
How does this image affect you, or speak to you as we enter Holy Week?
Friday – Lent 32 – Masai Christ by Robert Lentz
“The images in this picture bring together the Jesus of the North and of the South. The Masai Christ of Africa is enthroned in a setting of spheres and squares, with Greek symbols of time and eternity; and surrounded by the traditional emblems of the four evangelists. Black theologians would however also stress the image of Jesus as warrior, an icon of liberation through struggle, and the Black Christ as victor, who has overcome and will do so again.” – The Christ We Share
The Masai Creed
We believe in the one High God of love who created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created man and wanted man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe in the world. We have known this God in darkness, and we now know God in the light. God promised in his book the Bible that he would save the world and all the nations and tribes.
We believe that God made good on his promise by sending his son, Jesus Christ, a man by the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left his home and was always on safari, doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing that the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day he rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is lord.
We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry about their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live by the rules of love and share the bread together, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen
– Source
Ponder:
How does this image of Christ speak to you?
If you were to write your own creed, or draw your own image, what would it look like?
Saturday – Lent 33 – Personal Reflection by Ian Bartholomew
Over Lent we’ve invited a number of people from our community to share their response to to the question “Who do you say I am?”
In today’s reflection Ian shares his own thoughts using the images of my Lamb, my Lion and my Shepherd.
Jesus Christ: My Lamb, my Lion and my Shepherd
For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ Revelation 7:17 (NIV)
Introduction
You may be familiar with a Bible passage that mentions a lamb, a lion or a shepherd. Perhaps you recall the Passover lamb sacrificed as the enslaved Hebrew people prepared to leave Egypt, or the story of Daniel in the den of lions, or the psalm “The Lord is my Shepherd”. There is even a passage containing a mention of all three, when David the shepherd boy describes rescuing sheep from lions.
In responding to the question Jesus poses “Who do you say I am?”, one approach I find meaningful is to consider His attributes as my Lamb, my Lion and my Shepherd.
My Lamb
Just like the first Passover lamb, Jesus is the sacrifice for God’s people as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” He died on the cross in our place and by His blood we are cleansed of all our sin if we follow Him.
My Lion
Jesus is our “Lion of Judah”. He is the conqueror of death, the Mighty Saviour and has authority over all creation past, present and future. Just as the wise men did when He was a very young child, we worship him as Messiah and King of Heaven.
My Shepherd
In His own words, Jesus tells us that He is the good shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. Jesus also is a constant present who tends us, guides us through life and brings us to the shelter of God’s presence. He leads us home.
Reflection
Extract from “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C. S. Lewis:
But between them and the foot of the sky there was something so white on the green grass that even with their eagles’ eyes they could hardly look at it. They came on and saw that it was a Lamb.
…
“Please Lamb,” said Lucy, “is this the way to Aslan’s country?”
“Not for you,” said the Lamb. “For you the door into Aslan’s country is from your own world.”
“What!” said Edmund. “Is there a way into Aslan’s country from our world too?”
“There is a way into my country from all the worlds,” said the Lamb; but as he spoke, his snowy white flushed into tawny gold and his size changed and he was Aslan himself, towering above them and scattering light from his [lion’s] mane.
[Ian Bartholomew, 1 March 2019]