Canon John Roff, a cathedral clergyman, wonders how deep the pit was Jesus fell into.
Lent has moved into another gear now that we are in these last two weeks of Passiontide.
I have a useful prayer that helps me as I try to be in the right frame of mind before leading worship in this season:
Lord Jesus Christ, accept our songs of praise as you journey to your cross, and enable us both to grieve at its necessity, and to be renewed by its power.
It is a strange mood we are caught up in - sorrow which is full of gratitude.
I think our chief difficulty understanding what this crucifixion is really all about is that we can think about it now only with very distant emotions, partly because we have a notion as to where it is leading.
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But this dulling of emotions wouldn't have been possible then.
The disciples did not understand that this brutal crucifixion of their leader might be for their good.
They could only see it as pain and abandonment. Mary was thinking she had cruelly lost her son.
The crowd felt themselves pulled one way (Hosanna!) and then another (Crucify him!).
And a lot of what I read makes me think that Jesus was in a huge turmoil of emotion as it was all happening too.
I don't see anything to suggest he knew there was nothing to be anxious about - that he was just going through a programme of predetermined events.
Quite the reverse - one gospeller has him calling out, feeling abandoned - why God have you forsaken me?
My God, My God, why
A hollow pit
Yawns in answer. The
Air thickens, grows
Dense and thorny.
Panic stretches and
Tumbles through His
Mind. I'm
Losing You. I'm
Losing Myself.
Where are You?'
God unwinds Himself from the
Wood,
Peels Himself away
Strip by strip. He
Empties Himself of
Himself, spilling
Blood and Water.
Nobody else knows He is
Gone, as Jesus
Climbs into the moment,
Not knowing if He will ever
Arrive, - ever be able to
Die without God, or
Live again with God.
Hermione Roff March 2008. From 'The Seven Last Words'
I reckon there is something about the honesty and openness of the Lenten journey that requires us to fall with Jesus into the 'hollow pit'.
It should enable us to celebrate Easter the better - but much more than that, it brings to us a much better perspective for living in the light of the resurrection now.
Posted by: simplysimon, burnley on 1:33pm Tue 11 Mar 08
Dear John,
There is no greater hollow pit knowable by Man than the hollow pit of an empty Heart. everything that happens is a chuckle compared to the hollowness of that.
[bold]The message to the Christians. -[/bold]
I am not here to tell you what you are missing. I am here to remind you what you have.
Within you, you have the thirst, and within you, you have the well, and within you runs the water.
Within you are the questions and within you all the answers have been placed.
Within you is the need for Joy, and within you is the Joy.
Within you is the desire to be Fulfilled, and within you is the Fulfillment.
Within you is the want to Know. And within you is the desire for Knowledge. The Desire 'To Know' - To connect with that simplicity, to connect with that Beauty that is inside of you.
[bold]That Perfection you seek is within you.[/bold]
[italic]This message is Eternal.[/italic]
Dear John,
There is no greater hollow pit knowable by Man than the hollow pit of an empty Heart. everything that happens is a chuckle compared to the hollowness of that.
The message to the Christians. -
I am not here to tell you what you are missing. I am here to remind you what you have.
Within you, you have the thirst, and within you, you have the well, and within you runs the water.
Within you are the questions and within you all the answers have been placed.
Within you is the need for Joy, and within you is the Joy.
Within you is the desire to be Fulfilled, and within you is the Fulfillment.
Within you is the want to Know. And within you is the desire for Knowledge. The Desire 'To Know' - To connect with that simplicity, to connect with that Beauty that is inside of you.
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