Prayer Practice
Breath Prayer – Take 2-3 minutes today to pray a simple breath prayer. Get somewhere quiet and relaxing. Breathe in deeply, and then breathe out fully. As you breathe in, ask God to fill you with His presence, grace, love, peace, etc. Consider using the list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. As you breathe out, offer to God the things you need Him to take from you – sin, doubt, shame, anxiety, fear, etc. Pray this way for just a few minutes, trusting God to work, and then begin reading today’s Scripture.
DAILY READING
REFLECTION
The Crucifixion
by Kelsey Bacon
Today, I sit awestruck at this passage. Often, in writing these blog posts, I read and reread the passage, thinking about what part of the story I should focus on, asking God to guide me to a specific teaching or lesson threaded throughout the text. But as I read this passage today, thinking about Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and all that we reflect on in these coming days, all I can do is just sit there awestruck at what Jesus endured. Take a moment, read the passage again, and mark in your mind each time Jesus endured physical, emotional, or psychological ridicule or pain.
When I was in high school, I was part of our church's Tetelestai production. Tetelestai, for those who don't know, is a passion musical that tells the story of Jesus' last week on earth, put on by high schoolers at UALC. My freshmen year, I played one of the weeping women, crying out to Jesus, watching as he carried his cross up the aisle to the stage, was "crucified," and mocked by the crowd. I lay at the foot of the cross, wailing, calling out to God. But we were acting, and because we had rehearsed it so many times, it was often difficult to muster up real tears in the moment. I remember at our last performance, I prayed and asked Jesus to let me truly feel it. I wanted to understand the suffering he'd endured, I wanted to weep for him in earnest. That night on stage, my eyes were completely dry. I acted my heart out, watching what I'd watched a hundred times. But as we walked offstage, as the scene ended and Jesus was alone on the cross, surrounded by darkness, I felt it all begin to overwhelm me. I was overcome by the tears I'd begged to come on stage and in that quiet moment, alone backstage, I was awestruck by what he endured. I wept for him, for the pain he suffered. For the ridicule he did not deserve. For the unimaginable death that is crucifixion.
That is what this passage does for us. It causes us to weep alongside the daughters of Jerusalem.
As we approach Good Friday, here's a reminder--something that one of my brilliant and insightful middle schoolers said the other day: Good Friday is a remembrance of darkness. It is good and right to take time to mourn Jesus' suffering, to feel for him. Although we always have the joy of the resurrection in our hearts, life doesn't always feel like the happiness of Easter. Take your mourning to Jesus these next few days. Lament his suffering, his persecution, his ridicule. And praise him that joy comes in the morning.
