Category Archives: Lent

Were You There?

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Good Friday was quite an event in PB’s dad’s church. Seven pastors from local congregations gathered to preach on the seven last words of Jesus from the cross. Each speaker was allowed ten minutes. But if you know anything about pastors, you know ten minutes doesn’t cut it.

That service was a marathon—
a true experience of long-suffering.
It definitely was not the day to volunteer for nursery duty.

In between each message there was a hymn or special music. One year, a man with a deep baritone voice sang an old hymn with incredible depth of emotion.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh – Ooohhh – Oh.
Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

As his voice soared, my heart trembled.
For a moment, I was there.

I still find myself there, in the cast of characters that were eye-witnesses:
Malchus and Pilate and Barabbas;
Simon of Cyrene, the centurion, and the thief;
the Pharisees, Joseph of Arimathea, and Mary Magdalene.

As Holy Week approaches, I’m preparing a series of ten reflections called “Were You There?” I’ll post five of them here, from Monday, April 7 through Friday, April 11, and five more the following week, ending on Good Friday.

Come with me over the next two weeks
and see if you can’t find yourself there, too.

A Time to be Silent

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A very wise man once said,
“There is a time to be silent and a time to speak.”*
Wise words, indeed.

The story is told of Clement Attlee, who won the British General Election of 1945 in a landslide. Following the election, one of his opponents wrote him letter after letter, hounding Attlee with criticism on how he was doing his job. He attacked relentlessly, saying Attlee ought to resign. Finally, after having had enough of the constant harassment, Attlee wrote back saying, “A period of silence from you would now be most welcome.”**

There’s so much that can be said about Jesus’ final hours on earth. I’d love to compose finely crafted words that provide deeper understanding and appreciation for Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. But right now, words fall short. It is time to be silent.

It’s Holy Week.
Shhh.
Watch.
Listen.
Take it all in.
Absorb the bread and wine of Maundy Thursday.
Weep at the foot of the cross on Good Friday.
Wait patiently with the world on Holy Saturday.
Be still.

A period of silence from us right now might be most welcome.

*Ecclesiastes 3:7
**From Trusting God in the Darkness, by Christopher Ash

Photosynthesis

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Without trees, you’d be dead.
Within minutes of your first breath,
you’d get dizzy and nauseated and lose consciousness.
Poisonous gas would overtake you and kill you.
The whole human race would be extinct if it weren’t for trees.

Aren’t you thankful for them?

I love trees.
They have always been my favorite part of the natural world.
Now I know why.
They keep me alive.

In early elementary grades, the scientific process of photosynthesis is introduced.

The concept is expanded in advanced science classes,
but this is all you really need to know.
Tree leaves suck up the lethal carbon dioxide that humans exhale.
Sunlight turns the poison into life-giving oxygen that humans inhale.

Brilliant!

“The average human exhales about 2.3 pounds of carbon dioxide on an average day. Take this number and multiply by a population of 7 billion people, breathing away for 365.25 days per year, and you get an annual CO2 output of 2.94 billion tons.”*

Trees are hard workers.
They carry out their God-given purpose with no problem.
God bless them.

But beyond their scientific, ecological and atmospheric value,
trees do something else—they preach the gospel.

Jesus
hung on a tree,
soaked up my deadly sin,
poured out His light,
and transferred
His breath of life
into me.

I call this
photo-sin-thesis.

CO2 —> O2
Death —> Life
It’s the great exchange.
As we approach Holy Week,
let’s take our stand beneath the cross of Jesus
and breathe deep of the wonders of His redeeming love.

“Jesus offered Himself in exchange
for everyone held captive by sin,
to set them all free.”
1 Timothy 2:4-5

*Statistic from nrdc.org

Hours Before the Cross

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Join me for some thoughts as we approach Holy Week and the crucifixion of Christ, followed by Resurrection Sunday. I pray these short devotions will help us contemplate the hours that led to the cross.

Also airing on WCNP FM 89.5 at 8:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 5:30 p.m. (give or take a few minutes) and streaming at wcnpfm.org on Monday-Friday of this week and next week.