I personally do not feel prepared for Good Friday -- it is like the period of Lent was disrupted.

That is about me.......I own it.   Things didn't go as planned or anticipated over the last month...in church...on the cafe....in family ...or at work.

yet, maybe that is part of Good Friday.

It isn't about things going as planned....for the cross was not generally something would plan...but when things go wrong, you can run & hide, or face what is going on, and figure out a way to get through it.

so....how are you ready for Good Friday

is it the way you thought it would be....and where will tomorrow find you?

I'm going to be doing some yard work, removing snow tires, taking my daughter to the local park so she can play with her friends, and if I can fit it in, I'll jump on my bike and get in my first road ride of the year.

It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend for being outdoors.  If the end of the weekend is cold or rainy, there's always stripping wallpaper as I renovate this old house.

This is about me too.  I'm struggling this year.

Normally I would go to church service.  I won't be today - I'm not even sure I'll go on Sunday.

I'm exhausted and weary.  Too much going on.  Too many things rambling around in the head.  Frankly not focusing on any.

Today I'm going to try for some serious down time.  A walk in the woods.  A rearrangement of furniture.  Maybe curl up with a book if I can regain some focus.

Tomorrow I'll put on the happy face for family.  Cook the dinner.  Chat.  Hopefully laugh.  Regain some perspective.

Maybe that is  what Good Friday is about - disruption and deep weariness.

Here's hoping for a resurrection of spirit for all.

Man gets tired
spirit don't
Man surrenders
spirit won't
Man crawls
spirit flies
Spirit lives
when man dies

Man seems
spirit is
Man dreams
the spirit lives
Man is tethered
spirit free
What spirit
is man can be
 

     The Waterboys, Spirit

Through Lent I've been through a heavy load to see someone I love with diagnosed with a serious illness.  That has been the main focus at the back of our minds, as we all have struggled to live each day as it comes and maintain our normal lives.  I've facilitated a Bible study of the gospel of John through Lent.  It's become a personal study for me as well as something I've shared with some of you on the Cafe. 

Last evening, Mr. Seeler and I attended a Seder meal at our church where we reinacted the last supper Jesus spent with his disciples, and ate bitter herbs dipped in salt, flat bread, a hard boiled egg, and other symbolic foods along with our dinner. 

This morning I will attend the Good Friday service.  It will be a quiet contemplative time.    Afterwards, depending upon my mood I may go to my usual seniors' bowling. 

Saturday I will be preparing my home for the joy of Easter.  Hiding easter eggs for the children.  Cleaning, cooking and preparing for the family and friends who will join us for dinner.  (I'm planning to attend both the sunrise and regular worship services this year - so Sunday will be a busy day.)  But filled with Joy.

I just sort of woke up in the morning and it was there.

No.

I see the "story" as being actual historic events. I believe that Christ's death on the cross was the highlight of his ministry on Earth. It was the crowning point. He died for us all, that we all might live.

We are going to a special Good Friday worship service this morning. In it I will be reading Isaiah 53. After the service we will be having a potluck lunch.

No.

I don't participate in extra services during Holy Week any longer.  As I travel an hour to go to church, I try and limit my carbon footprint for that journey to once a week.  My church will be thinking about shattered dreams today and sharing of burdens.

I am actually taking a day off from work, though, Pinga!!  I'm relaxing at home and will go for a hike through one of our local conservation areas this afternoon with friends and at least 2 of my kids.

LB, I think that is why Good Friday service is important this year.  Maybe being in this head space will shed a new light on the story.  

Seeler, thanks for your presence on this thread, you remind me of the great burdens being carried by folks, and also the hope of spring, the hope of Easter

be well, friends.

Today, I will see the movie The Passion of the Christ and I will go to good friday service tonight.

I will be attending the Good Friday service then going to visit Musicdad in the hospital.

Good friday - many things whirling - I want to be centered but it is not happening.. Too many things have happened - here in the cafe and the questioning that I  find my self doing in my faith life. I am glad that Easter Sunday is coming with a new  resurrection for myself and those around me.

And why is it called "Good" Friday

Isn't sad friday more appropraite?

I attended a Good Friday service and breakfast this morning.  It has been a bit of a tradition in our church to have this time of sharing. Breakfast was an assortment of delicious stratas, fruit, muffins, hot-cross buns, and juice, tea and coffee.  There were about 30 people in attendance.

Breakfast was followed by a short service.

At the beginning of the service our minister passed around a basket with spikes.

Following the Meditation, we were invited to come forward and drop our spikes into a basket at the foot of the cross - the spike being a symbol of some of the heaviness in our lives we would like to let go of.  It was quite effective.

It is a beautiful day here.  My plan is to clean out my bluebird nesting boxes this afternoon.

I have seen bluebirds in the area, and so a good time to get the boxes ready for nesting in preparation for the new life that will follow.

Good Friday is a somewhat solemn day, and especially so today because a dear friend and long-time member of our congregation passed away very suddenly last week.  This morning we were remembering him in our hearts.

HAPPY EASTER everyone, and may your spirits be uplifted during the next few days as we experience the joy of resurrection, new life and new beginnings.

 Our town has a multi-church Good Friday Service at the Multiplex.  We won't be going because our little fella is a MUCUS MONSTER right now. Snuffle snort cough. And I'm pretty  tired from it keeping us up at night.  My eldest daughter's Birthday Party is tomorrow so I have a cake to bake and preparations to do.   I am thinking of putting on The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe later and watching it and describing the parallels to the girls so they know what Good Friday is about. The Passion of the Christ would be a bit much for their 6 and nearly-nine year old eyes.

Meanwhile, Return of the Jedi is almost over.  Luke just told Leia they were siblings.  

I am getting ready for tonight's presentation "WHY MEDITATE?  Because your life depends on it!"

Although this is advertised as a wonderCafe-live! presentation, it is also a Good Friday service of sorts.

For those of you who are interested, I'll post it on wondercafeBlog.

Tabitha, I was quite surprised to see an image that wished a "Happy Good Friday".

I am home from the walk of the cross, and the combined service.

As we  walked, we were asked to remember those who still seek justice in the world today...

gecko,at the end of the service, we too dropped our nails into a bucket.  it was interesting listening and being aware for those who it was a very solemn time, of deep quiet, and for those, it was a time to have shared the story and remember and discuss the service and the message.  we each have our own way of processing, and at times, they clash..

Greetings!

Last night I went to the Maundy Thursday service at our church which was a re-enactment by all who attended of the Last Supper and the time in the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus' arrest.  There were 17 of us and we gathered around the table and shared a finger food supper and juice and bread was passed around - not an official communion, no words spoken, just we all partook.

We went into the foyer as Jesus prayed.

We went into the sanctuary after the arrest in the garden for the trials.

I was one of the servants who took Jesus before the Jewish officials - not the one who had his ear cut off, but another servant.

This has somewhat prepared me for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Right now I am cleaning my house and preparing to decorate it for Easter tomorrow.  As I clean I am listening to Good Friday music and on Sunday I will listen to Easter/Ressurection music.

Some of you have posted that you are not "into" it this year.  I understand, as that is the  way it was for my family last Easter as we had a family member in the hospital that was in the latter stages of cancer.  It was a sad, emotionally exhausting time for all of us.  I didn't go to the Good Friday service, nor the Easter Sunday service, as we accommodated family and had our Easter Sunday supper at noon and I was the cook.  But that was okay, because I am one of those who for the most part believes I am a Ressurection People everyday.  Although I do understand the significance of walkign through the rest of Holy Week and all that it entails.

I am trying to read through all the scriptures in all four gospels, but I'm still at the garden in all of them - today I should be at the crucifixtion, but I will get there sometime.

Hope, peace, joy, love . . .

Our Good Friday service is at 7:00 p.m. and my plan is to go to that.

Oh yes, and I always try and watch "Jesus Christ Superstar" - so perhaps I will watch that tonight.

Arminius, I hope your service goes well, if I were there I would attend.  I would like to see it posted.

Pinga, LB, Seeler, CH, and many others who are tired, weary, struggling, questioning . . . may you find rest and peace.  Don't worry about "keeping up" with the "Jones" or more specifically with those who are passionately, sorrowfully, and joyfully celebrating all the aspects of Easter.  You are doing and giving and being and participating in what you are able to and want to at this moment . . .  Just rest, or walk, or be with loved ones, or whatever, in God, and let God restore, rejuvenate, and heal.

I bought an artifical Easter lily yesterday.  Today I am taking it to my parents' grave.  I am going to say a few words and have my own, private memorial service.  I have not played my musical instruments since the day of my mother's funeral so I am going to do some solos out at the graveyeard as well.

Then I will come home and probably have a nap.   I tried to get a shift today but was unable to.  I am working Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Hi Beloved:

I just posted it here on Blog. It is not overtly Christian, but then it is designed for the secular audience that frequents our wonderCafe-live! It is, however, decidedly spiritual, and implicitly points to the necessity of the death of the old self and the birth of a new and divine self, and at meditation as a way to get there.

We did not attend the Maundy Thurs seder dinner and service or the Good Friday service this morning. We are having a quiet day - had hoped to get into the yard/garden but we are having a rain/wind storm here so may just be snuggling in for the day with a pot of herbal tea. We will likely chat with mystchild about what Good Friday and Easter symbolize in the Christian faith - as we generally do - so chocolate and searching for eggs aren't the main focus of the weekend. We plan to attend the Easter Sunday morning service.

A few years back a friend, my Yobo, and I attended a Maundy Thursday dinner at a local United Church.

The dinner was excellent, and the service from what I recall, pretty meaningful.

It would have been a near perfect night but for the fact that the church advertised a free dinner, and then charged people when they actually got to the front of the line to enter the church hall where the food was being served.

Although I am not Roman Catholic, two years during Lent when I lived in Europe, I went to an abbey out in the French countryside to participate in the stations of the cross with a group of about 20 others. It was truly moving to contemplate on that journey, and our own journeys of darkness. The abbey was near the top of a hill with the stations of the cross were located all along the path leading upwards, culminating in the crucifixion at the top with the resurrection station in the small church located there. A simple soup, homemade buns and locally made cheese were served for lunch following -- those memories are revisited every year as I remember my participation and the symbolism that the stations portray for me.

Today, I need to stay home...but there is a service at our church...

That's a beautiful idea Serena - I bet your music will also touch the spirits of others who may be visiting the cemetary.

I went to church this morning ... it was a meaningful service of music & readings & contemplation, which I enjoyed.  I haven't done any lenten study this year, so just spending some quiet time was a good thing.

Now I'm home & have prepared the house for a visit from my brother & his family this afternoon - looking forward to seeing everyone & sitting outside in the enlivening sunshine.  I've done a little tour of my garden ... lots of new growth is emerging, in the spirit of Easter, and many crocus & other early bulbs are blooming gloriously in the sunshine.  

Tabitha - somebody asked me that question at church today too ... and I didn't know the answer, so we went together & asked our minister.  His reply was that, although the events of the day were not "good", as in happy or satisfying,  without them the resurrection would not have been possible, hence the "good" label.   

Well, I got a call from my dad this week. He needed to tell me that my mom has an atypical type of cancer that is proliferative and not treatable. She's in hospital this weekend, is taking morphine to manage pain, is also nauseated and unable to eat. So I'm very sad this Easter and not much into it at all.

Sorry for being a drag.

Audrey, sorry to hear about your mother-- will keep you and your family in thoughts and prayers.  Please let us know if we can do anything.

I spent the morning at a Good Friday service, including breakfast.  Took an 'unscheduled power nap' earlier this afternoon, and and now finalizing plans for 2 services on Sunday, and a funeral on Monday.

I haven't been to church since my mom's funeral.  Today I am preparing myself for the first family gathering since she died.  In some ways it might be easier because it is at my step mother's and mom didn't attend, still, I'm sad.  This will be the first Easter since I came back to NS 12 years ago that we are not getting together as a family.  I'm sad about that too.  Also I decided to finally start shedding some of the stuff I collected while trying to be a woman.  I started in the bathroom and threw out all the nail polish, and make-up.  All the skin and hair products that were collecting dust, my hair clips and curling iron.  It is hard because I still want to want to be a woman, but that isn't who I am.  It is also hard because it is something that I didn't feel like I could do while my mom was alive.

Thankful that my mother's diagnosis ending up being:

1.  Doctor:  "I've never seen this before in my life."

2.  My mother:  "It's happy cancer."

Instead of the misdiagnosis of "1-2 years, tops" cancer.

Getting ready for my new career (and looking forward to having letters after my name--who says vanity can't be fun?).

Just a Self-writing poem,

InannaWhimsey

I have been journaling this Lenten season. My assignment was to journal one selection from each week's lection. I found myself actually journaling on each.

Today, we visited a church where a friend is the minister. Then, we came home and sat outside for a good while (it is gorgeous outside)... then we straightened up the house as we have company coming.

Arminius, I have been devoted this Lent to doing 40 days of centering prayer/contemplative prayer/meditation. I was pondering a small group. Let me know how it goes.

Hi Stevie: Good for you!

I would like to see Lent become a universal Christian Vision Quest, similar to Jesus' 40 Days in the Desert, with some fasting, contemplation, meditation and centering or meditative prayer, either in solitude or in groups, with retreats and get-togethers organized for this very purpose.

Two women from our centering prayer group organized a day long Prayer Vigil for us today, with different stations for different kinds of prayer -  meditative, intercessory, creative - even a bread kneading prayer.  I just came from a few hours and am going back this evening.

At one point I found myself all alone in the church, so I spent some time at the grand piano in the sanctuary, playing and singing hymns from More Voices, which was very comforting.  For me, today is a time for offering my "stuff" up to God - to try to let go of fear & anger, and also the guilt for feeling the anger.   Not  a magic bullet for peace of mind, but helpful.

I don't feel like going to church this Easter, either.  The worship never matches my understanding of the Easter story and I usually end up feeling kind of displaced;  there is an outdoor sunrise service at a park here, and I may brave the weather and do that instead.

I attended the Good Friday service at my church this morning, and it was very meaningful.  The readers (I was one of them) held up various symbols from the crucifixion story as they read - - rope, crown of thorns, flask of vinegar, and so on.  It was a good way to read the story.  The choir sang a short cantata.  Following the service, we took a meditative walk through the church cemetary.

I think I might attend this mega church for the first time. Maybe a huge mistake on Easter

Good Friday marks  life as we live it 

and want it to be no longer to be

 the long winter that presses down

mortgage foreclosures and failed marriages

a collective hitting of the wall

doing unto others before they do unto you

knowing and perpetuating scarcity, fear and self defeat

and all the things we know about ourselves

but don't want to live with

Good Friday is about packing up the garbage

so we can kick it to the curb

I mark Good Friday by going out into the world

to let it show me how good it is

and how things were meant to be 

getting up early to walk the river banks

to see the deer and survey the reawakening land.

I did indeed get a little yard work done in the morning, and then took my family to the park.  In lieu of a bike ride, I ran a few laps of the park until my knees collapsed.

Later, I changed 8 tires from winter to summer rubber and washed the winter tires before storing them.  It was mid-tire change when the local Catholic church did their long, slow march past with what had to be three different statues of Jesus on the cross with people on loudspeakers explaining exactly how and why Jesus died for them, a number of crosses that were apparently missing a Jesus, and hundreds of arthritic parishoners shuffling past as slowly as people can possibly move without being declared dead.  The policemen leading and trailing the procession on mountain bikes had to weave back and forth or do loops so they didn't fall off due to lack of momentum or extreme boredom.

The whole thing probably took 20 minutes or so to go by.  This completely shuts down our street, so if you have to leave your house for any reason, you're trapped.  I didn't have to leave, but I did have work to do.  Noisy work at that, because I use an electric impact gun to change my tires.  Needless to say, my impact gun sounded more like a machine gun, integrating nicely with the demoralizing groveling coming over the loudspeakers.

Maybe next year, they'll move the parade route.  God willing.

thanks Qwerty...

Sg, Arminius, diane...i had led a lenten study, using Joyce Rupp's cup of our life... I originally was leading a different one..but,  stepped in last minute  to cover the program.   Some of you may know the book, which has a daily reading, journalling, time of reflection and a weekly gathering.  There were shifts over the course of Lent, as people's lives required them to adjust, or emergencies occurred.  It was to end with Maundy Thursday service; however, the service was cancelled due to a   medical leave of our minister.  In addition, there was a family medical emergency which resulted in another person not being there.  We found a small group on the last session, being very aware of those who were hurting in our midst and in deep need of healing and facing significant unkowns.     It had been a long Lent.

we had worship service this morning, wow, the church was packed and teh worship was mind blowing, all iw anted was to colse my eyes and get lost it heh singing and prasing.  We have a wonderfull full worship band .

then we when home had lunch and went house hunting, what a beautiful day.

Hi Stevie:

My one-and-a-half hour Good Friday meditation presentation followed by half an hour of guided meditation was well attended and received. Thirty-two people attended—a fair number considering the small size of our village and our congregation—and six of them signed up for a meditation group. Once I advertise the group in the local press and announce it to our congregation, I'll get more.

Some emerged from the guided meditation in tears. They had never meditated before; it affected them profoundly.

What good results you are getting in your small town Arminius.

There is no organised meditation group in my small town.  I have been told that the UC ministers and a few membersof the congregation get together for this purpose occesioanlly.  I tried to find out when they met and was told it wasn't very organised, just happened once in a while.  Would someone like to let me know when they were getting together again?  No.

I meditate alone - none of the UC group attended when I invited them.

Hi kaythecurler:

Actually, seven people signed up for a meditation group, five of whom from our congregation. Once we offcially announce the group, to the outside and to the congregation, there will be more.

The group meditations we are planning on will be regular weekly get-togethers, consisting half an hour of meditation (guided or not) followed by half an hour of sharing. Because the sharing component is always intimate and sometimes therapeutic, we will observe strict confidentiality. Also, I would like to find a meditation leader experienced in meditation as psychotherapy to lead our group.

If not, I'm willing to give it a try. There is nothing like learning on the go, eh? I've done it all my life.