Tag Archives: Holy Week

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

Dayenu

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This year, the Jewish Passover runs from April 5-13, which also coincides with the Christian Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday. The timing is perfect to learn a new Hebrew word: Dayenu.

Dayenu is a song of gratitude that is sung during the Passover Seder meal. It rehearses all the things God did for the Israelites during their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Here are a few of the 14 verses.

If He had smitten their first-born, and had not given us their wealth,
Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had given us their wealth, and had not split the sea for us,
Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had split the sea for us, and had not taken us through it on dry land,
Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had taken us through the sea on dry land, and had not drowned our oppressors in it,
Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had drowned our oppressors in it, and had not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years,
Dayenu, it would have been enough!

If He had supplied our needs in the desert for forty years, and had not fed us the manna, 
Dayenu, it would have been enough!

You get the idea.
Dayenu means
“It would have been enough!”

During this Holy Week,
I’m singing my own version of Dayenu, with a twist.

If He had sweat drops of blood in the Garden, but had not taken the cup,
it wouldn’t have been enough.

If He had taken the cup, but had not allowed the soldiers to arrest Him,
it wouldn’t have been enough.

If He had allowed the soldiers to arrest Him, but had not worn the crown of thorns,
it wouldn’t have been enough.

If He had worn the crown of thorns, but had not endured the whipping,
it wouldn’t have been enough.

If He had endured the whipping, but had not been nailed to the tree,
it wouldn’t have been enough.

If He had been nailed to the tree, but had not bled and died,
it wouldn’t have been enough.

If He had bled and died, but had not risen on the third day,
it wouldn’t have been enough.


But,
He wore the crown,
He drank the cup,
Death took Him down,
God raised Him up.
And it is more than enough.
Dayenu!