Reading: John 18:1-19:42 (Click to read text)
Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: Last year, this day seemed to resonate more deeply than most Good Fridays in memory. We were just three weeks into a global pandemic, new and scary and utterly unfamiliar. For the first time in a decade, I had been unable to attend the Good Friday service shared by my local ministerium. Zoom had not taken off, and there was little to fill the gaping hole of lost social and congregational gatherings. With shock, we heard that no sunrise service could be sanctioned by the church. Dark times, indeed. Scary. I’m going to dare to say that this pandemic has been good for us. Good for the church. I’m not for a moment glossing over the lives lost, the heartache of loved ones falling ill, or the lasting symptoms for those recovering. But there are some distinct benefits that have resulted from our foundering and subsequent rising to the challenges presented by physical distancing and masking. For one, there is a vibrant and growing presence of faith and good will on social media. The small congregation to which I belong is up to 178 members on Facebook, with weekly Bible readings posted by a member being shared across the globe (literally: to Germany and Liberia). Last Sunday, when I couldn’t attend church (I’m sick), I watched the service on TV, even standing in my bathrobe for the gospel reading and humming along with the organ during the hymns. God’s call to action with closed schools and hungry families has fueled our outreach to the community with a partner church. Volunteers throughout the community have joined to sew facemasks for first responders, and I cannot remember a time in my 50 years when grocery workers, teachers, gas station attendants, food delivery drivers, hairdressers, and the hard-working hourly employees of our nation have gotten so much deserved – and overdue – respect. I venture to offer that even the rising awareness (and acknowledgment) of our worst societal failures this year may be in part the result of the time and focus this pandemic has brought to those marginalized for too long. When Jesus was betrayed by two of his closest friends, when he was rejected by the crowds who days before had heralded his coming, beaten by the authorities, publicly executed as an example to those who would challenge the status quo, and finally left to be properly buried after the Sabbath observance, none of his disciples could see the good in the moment. Yet we know now it was the single greatest act of love ever bestowed on mankind. Out of the darkest, scariest, and least familiar times, opportunity to rise and be good beckons. --Heather LeBlanc
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