Four of our team travelled to the the annual Pioneer leadership conference which took place in Manchester in early March. 4 keynote talks and 7 workshops are now available via Youtube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhcdeFmcNPwJZUnkBKt2pIlnG_tZF-emr
They are all good but we especially recommend Andy Hawthorne, Rachel Gardner, Roger Sutton, Trevor Hutton and Ness Wilson.
My peace I leave with you was on Jesus lips 3 times in John 20. This is just one of the many times peace and prayer are connected in the life and ministry of Jesus. Peace is rooted in the word Shalom which has multiple layers of meaning including welfare, wholeness and calm and abundance. In this core teaching for us a congregation Dave Roberts notes that the gospel is rooted in the notion of the gospel of peace. Our forgiveness, flowing from Jesus death and resurrection, is the start of our embrace of the Kingdom of God and a belief in the restoration of all things. What do Jesus prayers of peace tell us about mission, prayer, justice and the relational nurture that God desires?
Ray Whitby looks at the gospel patterns that help us to understand poverty and the Christian response. Jesus talks often of the poor and takes practical steps to support them.
Les and Judith lead us through an overview of key principles regarding Jesus as the personification of Justice and his desire to ensure justice for all. They note how this impacts our understanding of racism and remind us how justice finds expression through the local church
Sunday (Matthew 28v1-20)
The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
Do you get the impression that Mary Magdalene was awake all night, ready for the first glimmer of evidence that dawn had arrived? Like an athlete in the starting blocks, she was off, probably gathering the other women on the way. They came expecting to embalm a corpse, they found a very alive Jesus, more alive than he had been up till now, because now he was in his heavenly state. He appears to the disciples in the upper room, to Thomas, to two on the walk to Emmaus, who did not recognise him till he stops with them to eat and blesses the bread. Maybe, as he raised the bread, his sleeve fell back, revealing his scars? Whatever it was, they ran all the way back to Jerusalem in their excitement, all was joy, confusion and bewilderment.
There will be times in our lives when God seems especially near and real, perhaps at special celebrations, at communion. We need to remember these moments, maybe note them in a journal, because there will also be times when God seems distant, difficulties may obscure our spiritual senses.
Whatever today brings or feels like, from the moment Jesus came out of the tomb, the cosmos changed forever. The way to God is open to everyone, sin is dealt with once and for all because:
Jesus is Alive: Selah!
Saturday (Luke 23v55-56)
The followers of Jesus were devout Jews and even though it might have been tempting to just go and stay at the tomb, they went home and kept the Passover rest. Many everyday activities like walking long distances, cooking, normal work, were forbidden on this day, like on the normal Sabbath. The intention was not to make life difficult, but to ensure the people rested.
In some churches, on the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, a vigil is kept. Churches that have a lamp burning all year, extinguish it on Good Friday. On Saturday the people gather to renew baptismal vows. In some, at midnight the lamp is re-lit and a candle is lit from the lamp, the light is passed round the congregation. Sometimes it is good to give ourselves space for renewing our promises to God and each other, to re-light our individual and collective light and to rest. Many people who are involved in the leading and directing of their congregation have to designate a day of rest, because Sundays are often their most busy day.
Selah: Rest is important, so is taking time to review our lives in the light of Easter. Are you ready for whatever God may be calling you to?
Friday (Luke 22v54-71, 23v1-56)
This is where it is useful to have a map/diagram of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. Although we are looking at these events through the narrative of Luke, all the gospel writers describe these events. Jesus has been arrested In Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, now he is hustled to the house of Caiaphas the high priest. While here, Peter, on his own and under pressure denies that he even knows Jesus and just as quickly regrets it. Jesus is then taken to the fortress of Antonia to get Pilates permission to have Jesus executed, because Israel was under Roman occupation. Pilate tries to pass the buck by sending Jesus to Herod, who is responsible for Galilee, where Jesus was from. Herod mocks Jesus, then sends him back to Pilate.
Pilate can see no reason to execute Jesus, so he tries to have him released. At Passover it was the custom to release a prisoner, Barabbas was in prison for murder and revolt. By this time a crowd has gathered and Pilate gives the crowd the choice of who to release, Jesus or Barabbas. Whipped up by voices planted amongst them, the crowd shout for Barabbas. Pilate washes his hands of the situation, has Jesus beaten and sends him off with a detachment of Roman soldiers for crucifixion. From arrest in Gethsemane to crucifixion at Golgotha, Jesus has walked around three miles, being beaten and ill-treated along the way and just before being crucified, receives the thirty-nine lashes. His last food and drink was at the Passover meal the night before, and we are now at about nine in the morning. Jesus will to finish the task was kept alive by the love he has for us.
Two criminals were crucified on either side of Jesus and to one of these, Jesus offers a place in paradise. Even in such extreme circumstances, Jesus offers salvation to the undeserving. Soon after this, Jesus dies and at that moment, the curtain in the Temple, separating the most holy place, is ripped in half from top to bottom. This meant that the way to God was symbolically and actually open, no sacrifices, no keeping rules anymore, no divisions.
The women and the disciples take Jesus from the cross and place him in a tomb given by a man named Joseph, from Arimathea.
Selah: We can never appreciate all that Jesus suffered in order to deal with sin and we often underestimate the seriousness of sin. We can however, accept Jesus gift of salvation and rejoice that sin, death and hell are defeated and the way to heaven is open to all.
Thursday (Matthew 26v17-56)
Up till now, Jesus has been teaching in relatively public places. First in the Temple, walking to and from Bethany, in homes, which were mostly open to visitors. Now, an element of danger and secrecy enters the narrative. Jesus tells the disciples to follow a man carrying a water pot and he would lead them to the place where they would celebrate the Passover. How did they know they were following the right person? Carrying water was women’s work, so a man doing this work would be unusual.
It could also be that this man was one of a group called the Essenes, a male only society of strictly devout Jews. Jesus knew he was going to be betrayed and arrested, so this secrecy allowed him to share the Passover meal with his disciples, without interruption. This meal morphs into what we now call communion/Lord’s Supper/Eucharist. Jesus had perfectly fulfilled the requirements of the law and brought about a new relationship or covenant. From now on, all peoples from all nations throughout all history would be able to understand and share in this new relationship with God the Father, through Jesus.
Jesus then warns his disciple that they will run away that one of them will betray him and that Peter will deny knowing him. Now he goes to Gethsemane to prepare himself for what was to come, again, out in the public arena. The disciples accompany him, but sleep as Jesus prays.
Judas brings the soldiers to arrest Jesus, his disciples try to fight back, but Jesus tells them this is how it must be. He makes it clear that he can call on thousands of angels if he desired, but he has set his will to fulfil the law for us. Jesus is not the accidental victim of a series of random events. This was planned and purposed from the moment Adam and Eve chose to obey Satan rather than God.
Selah: We are not random spots of dust in an impersonal universe. God knows us and has purpose for us, that is why Jesus came.
Wednesday (Matthew 26v6-13)
Jesus was again at Bethany, at the house of Simon, called the leper. He had probably been healed by Jesus and the name had stuck even after healing. If he still had leprosy, he would be living in a community outside the village/town as a quarantine measure, not in his own house. As the meal was in progress a woman came and poured a flask of expensive oil over Jesus. There was a mixed reaction, embarrassment, jealousy, indignation at the perceived waste, and general incredulity.
Jesus commends the woman for her extravagant gift, essentially an act of worship and calls the anointing a preparation for the ordeal he is soon to undergo. Jesus promises that whenever this story is recounted, her act of worship would be remembered, and here we are doing so. Sometimes Christians do odd things when worshipping God. Taking shoes off, raising hands, singing in an unknown language, prostrating themselves on the floor, kneeling and if we are not used to this, we might react like the people in this story. God looks on our hearts and is OK with us being a bit odd at times!
Selah: If Jesus was with us today in the flesh, what gift would you like to give him?
Passover was the annual celebration of Israel’s freedom from slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh. Jewish people came to Jerusalem, from all over the known world, for this important festival. There would have been thousands upon thousands of people in and around Jerusalem, staying with friends or camping out in the surrounding countryside.
There is a map of Jerusalem and the temple at the time of Jesus, this will help you locate the events of this week.
Last words are important and generally, people who are about to leave this world, do not waste their breath on trivia. Jesus was no exception, in his last week he positively crammed his disciples and other listeners with teaching, parables, and examples.The gospels do not agree in every way on the timing of the events of the week, but they do agree that they really happened, are true and we can believe and trust in Jesus.
Each day will have a ‘Selah’, think about this, moment. No prayers have been suggested, so pray as each day’s notes inspire you.
Palm Sunday (Matthew 21v1-16)
This day when Jesus entered Jerusalem to much acclaim, became known as Palm Sunday, on account of the branches that were waved in celebration. If you can source a picture/map of Jerusalem and the Temple, identify the Golden Gate. This gate led from the Mount of Olives straight into the outer court of the Temple. This was the most likely route that Jesus took and it certainly makes sense of what happened next. This outer court was the place set aside for non Jews who wanted to pray. This area had been taken over by the equivalent of a combined boot fair/jumble sale/auction, with traders shouting out their best price for a sheep/goat/pigeon/dove.
Also, people who had travelled a long way, bringing their sacrificial animal with them, would have it checked by a priest to make sure it was fit for God. In most cases, it was rejected and the worshipper had to purchase another animal at a grossly inflated price or take the risk of being rejected by God. The religious leaders were responsible for this market and lined their pockets at the expense of the ordinary people. Jesus then commenced healing people who were unable to go any further into the Temple, because they were probably ritually unclean. Then the religious money makers complained that the children were calling Jesus Son of David, one of the names of the Messiah.
Selah: Jesus singled out three groups of people for his attention, what does that tell us about him and about us?
Monday (Mark 11v11)
The Temple in Jerusalem had been built by Herod the great 37BC-4AD (the one who ordered the death of children under two during Jesus childhood), with his fortress in the top left corner overlooking the Jewish religious services. This was a security measure because if trouble was going to begin, it would be from the Temple. Herod built this temple to curry favour with the Jewish religious leaders, because they controlled the people. This temple had some of the features of the original portable worship tent that Israel centred life on in their wilderness wanderings.
There was an altar for sacrifices, a washing basin for the priests to keep themselves ceremonially clean. A lamp stand with oil lamps, a table with special bread offerings and an altar for burning incense on. In the most holy place, separated from the rest of the temple by a very thick curtain, was the Ark of the Covenant. The main feature missing was the actual presence of God himself, which in the tabernacle was visible in a pillar of cloud and fire. Jesus would not have been able to enter the most holy place, so he would have been limited in what he could look at. What was he thinking, was he reflecting that in a few days, this temple and all the sacrifices would no longer be necessary, because he would have fulfilled all the sacrifices and requirements of the law?
Selah: Give thanks that Jesus is not only the one who has dealt with the requirements of the law, but is also a real presence with us.