Friday, April 6, 2012

All you Need is Love


Good Friday: a day about love and sacrifice.  God so loved the world he gave his only son Jesus Christ, Jesus so loved us he gave us his life.  Tonight I took my parents (who just got into Belfast today) to the Good Friday service at Fortwilliam.  The service was a mixture of scripture, all from Mark, call and response prayer to the scripture, and singing.  It’s a rare for a service that truly hits me but this one did (just what a minister wants to hear right Lesley?) probably more then anyone else sitting in that half circle although I truly hope those of you reading this who were there got as much out of it as I did. 
I was really surprised to walk in and see only about 20 people there and further surprised to see chairs around the communion table rather then people being in pews.  Its rare that a service at Fortwilliam would surprise me, mainly because I’m always in charge of putting things together for them, but I’m glad I wasn’t in charge of anything for this service.  I had no idea what to expect.  For once, I had no idea who was reading or what they were reading or where it was all going to go and I didn’t really try to look ahead in the program I was handed.  I sat and listened to Jesus’ sacrifice and unending love for me, and for all the people around me, all the people around me who I have truly grown to love.  I knew every single person in the circle all quite well.  They were some of the people I have gotten to know best in my time at Fortwilliam and sharing such an important day with them and with my family was indescribable for me. 
 I shared it with a mentor who has helped me grow and challenged me in ways she’ll never know, with a coworker who appreciates and shares in all of my small and large victories, a roommate who has become more like a sister then a friend, with women who always worry about me, care about me and pry into my life in ways only family would do, with a captain who is impossible not to love, respect, and enjoy but who also worries about you too much to let you walk anywhere alone at night, with friends who mock you relentlessly, introduce you to new things, and support you even when they don’t even realize what they’ve done has made all the difference in your day and your life, and with many more.   In the time of silence after the reading describing Jesus taking his final breaths, I sat and closed my eyes.   I didn’t pray, but I felt it.  I had one of those moments when you feel that your part of something bigger.  Love.  The love of God, of Jesus, of the people around me, and my love for all of them.
 Good Friday is about Jesus’ sacrifice and I appreciate it more today then I think I have ever before, but really its about how much Jesus loved us, how he wanted us to love in the same way.  Tonight I got that, really got it. Tonight I felt the love of God through the people in that circle.  Tonight I am humbled before my God and his sacrifices and his gift to me. Tonight and for many nights to come, I am grateful. 

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