Day 45 - The wooden cross

Let me tell you about a Good Friday service that I attended many years ago that has stayed with me.

It was a beautiful hot blue-sky day and the service was a reflective quiet afternoon service. The service was slow and sombre with lots of pauses for stillness and peaceful prayers. There was one problem - the house opposite the church had decided today was the day to work in the garden with an electric saw. With the windows of the church open for a breath of fresh air trying to concentrate on the events of Good Friday was almost impossible. I was getting more and more frustrated and angry by the noise ruining the service.

Then the Minister got up and said as we move into a time of prayer let’s pause as we remember how Jesus was dying on a wooden cross for us – just like we can hear a tree being cut down across the road.

Wow! In an instant I could not be frustrated anymore! It was an amazing illustration of the Easter story in such an unexpected way.

Let’s pray:

Be still and take a few minutes to listen to the noises around you

Thank God for them

Maybe it’s the ticking of a clock - thank God for time

Maybe it’s the birds singing - thank God for creation

Maybe it’s traffic noise - thank God for freedom of travel and mobility

Maybe it’s background chatter - thank God for fellowship friends and family

Maybe it’s a dog barking - thank God for his protection

Now take some time to concentrate on your breath - relax into your breathing and thank God for life - for your life, it’s joys and challenges. Then thank God for his life, his teaching, his parables, his miracles, his ability to love.

Thank God for Jesus as we remember his cruel death and his last breath - it is finished.

Amen

Yvonne Campbell