Good Friday

We gather for worship on this Good Friday at 7:00pm. It's a somber, reflective service, remembering Jesus' death on the cross at the hands of the religious and political authorities of the day. It propels us forward to the Easter vigil tomorrow and worship on Easter morning, too. (Thank God we know what happens on the third day...)
Last night, at the conclusion of our time of prayer on Maundy Thursday, the altar was stripped, and all the furnishings for the evening's prayer stations were removed from the worship space. It is bare in there now, a striking visual image.
As the altar was stripped, we heard Courtney sing this song by Michael Card. It's good food for thought and reflection on this Good Friday.

Maundy Thursday "Dinner Church" and Prayer Center

Today is Maundy Thursday. The word "Maundy" comes from the Latin mandatum, which means "to command" - Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment on this night of his Last Supper - that they love one another as he loved them.

Tonight, after our worship in the social hall during a simple, family-style meal (dinner is provided by the CtK Fellowship Team - just come and enjoy CtK’s first experiment with “Dinner Church”) we will be moving to the sanctuary for a time of prayer.
Here are the prayer stations we are using (with a hat tip to Rev. Marci Glass):

1. The Journey

As Jesus journeys to the Cross, we, too, are on a journey. The labyrinth is a path to walk (or in this case, to trace with your finger) that is about a journey, too. You are invited to trace the path of the labyrinth and pray about your journey. Breathe deeply. Relax. Don’t rush. As you move toward the center, confess and let go of things that hinder your relationship with God. Shed images of yourself, so that you can be real with God. Let go of what you don’t need to take with you on the journey. Often we journey on the open road. Sometimes we have to navigate crossroads and difficult paths. Sometimes we have companions on the journey. Sometimes we seem to be alone. Who are your traveling companions? Who stops to help you when the road gets tough? Whom do you help when you see them in distress on the side of the road? And here is the paradox of our faith: We seek God. We travel toward God as pilgrims. But God is with us, to guide us, to be our companion. So, as you journey toward the Cross, remember that you are not alone. God is your companion on the journey.

2. The Last Supper

Maundy Thursday is the night we remember Jesus’ last meal with his friends and disciples. What is a meal you remember? What made it special? This plate will become a communion plate. (There will be a ceramic plate and some ceramic markers on the table). You are invited to write a word or draw a picture that signifies that meal you remember. You may write a longer story or a bigger picture on the table cloth. Offer a prayer that you will have eyes open to remember those special moments as they happen. While Jesus may have known what was to come, it seems unlikely that the disciples fully grasped that it would be their last meal together with Jesus. Give thanks for the gifts of those meals to remember.

3. Footwashing/Handwashing

At the Last Supper, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. He instructed them to love one another as he had loved them—sacrificially and with a servant’s heart. You are invited to wash someone’s hands or feet. If nobody else is near this station, feel free to go and ask someone if you can wash their feet or hands. Is it uncomfortable to put yourself in that position? Possibly so. That’s okay. Live with that discomfort for a few minutes. And then go wash someone’s feet. Jesus showed us how to do it. (Note—realize that someone might ask you if they can wash your hands or feet too. Think of what it would mean to them for you to accept that gift.) Susan Briehl describes tonight this way: “Setting aside our shoes, our reluctance to serve, and our objections to being served, we take up the towel and fill the basin. Washing and being washed, we enact the love we pray to embody every day.” (Worship Guidebook for Lent and the Three Days [Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2009], 93).

4. Anointing

Before Jesus headed to Jerusalem, a woman washed his feet with her hair and then anointed him with costly perfume. After his burial, the women head to the tomb to anoint his body as well. This was a sign of love and extravagance. You are invited to anoint your own hands or feet, or the feet or hands of someone else. There is spikenard available. It is quite fragrant, you’ll want to use it sparingly. Should the scent be too much for you, you are welcome to use the lotion. How often do you allow others to do something generous for you? How often do you allow yourself to be generous for you? While there are many good reasons to be generous to others, it is equally important to allow people to be generous to you and to care for yourself. Is that hard for you to do? Why? Offer a prayer that you will live generously and allow others to be generous to you as well.

5.Offering

Judas betrayed Jesus. According to some traditions, it was for a bag of 30 pieces of silver. According to some traditions, it was with a kiss. To redeem those 30 pieces of silver, you are invited to offer your own pieces of silver (or other coins, cash, or checks) to be offered to victims of betrayal in our community. Unless marked as “general offering,” or with some other designation, this offering will be given to HAVEN, Bozeman’s support and referral nonprofit for survivors of domestic violence in the Bozeman area. HAVEN services include a 24-hour confidential crisis line, 15-bed emergency shelter, legal advocacy, support groups, individual counseling, referrals and community education. All services are free of charge and confidential. HAVEN also engages in prevention education by teaching local middle and high school children about dating, healthy relationships and respect. If you do not have coins to offer tonight, there are also slips of paper on the table. You are invited to write down how you will share your gifts and talents to help people who have been broken by betrayal. You could also write a prayer for a victim of betrayal, and place that in the offering plate.

6. Pulpit

The Holy Week scriptures are printed out and are on the pulpit. You are invited to read one or more of those scriptures. You may read them silently to yourself. Or you can speak into the microphone, and offer a phrase or section of scripture to the rest of the people gathered. There is a Bible on the pulpit, too. You may also read and share your favorite passage, even if it isn’t a Holy Week text. As you read, trust that God has some-thing to say to you. Be listening for what God has to offer you tonight from God’s word.

7. Hurts and Betrayals
The world is broken in so many ways—our relationships with others, God, the planet, and ourselves. As Paul said in Romans 7, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Peter denied Jesus, even though he tried not to. Judas betrayed Jesus. How have you been betrayed? What hurtful things have been said to you? How have you betrayed someone? What hurtful things have you done? Write some words or a symbol to describe some of those hurts and betrayals. Look at your symbols. Do you want to take them with you? Or do you want to let them go? Jesus said if you let go of the hurtful things people do to you, so God will also let go of the hurtful things you do. This is forgiveness. Are you willing to “let go”? If so, throw them into the trashcan. Let go of them as God lets go of your betrayals and hurts. You are loved. You are free. You are forgiven.

8. Death

Death is a part of life. And as we remember Jesus’ death, who else are you mourning? On the butcher paper, you are invited to add the names of people who have died in the past year. It’s okay if a name is written more than once. As we pause to mourn their deaths, we also celebrate the sure and certain hope of their resurrection. You are invited to light a candle, signifying your remembrance of one who has died, and your trust in God’s promise of new life.

9. New Life

You are invited to take a seed and hold it in your hand. This little seed contains all of the information needed to reproduce. Plant the seed in the soil. As you do, feel the moist earthiness of the soil. Think of the darkness the seed experiences before it can spring to life—on the brink of creation, there is darkness. The seed has to die for the plant to be born. The Cross event is darkness and death as well. But new life emerges from the darkness of the tomb on Easter. As you prepare for Easter, consider new life. What part of your life could use some new life now? How could you be a part of bringing new life to your community? What might need to “die” in you in order for something new to spring forth? 

At the conclusion of our service, all will be invited to help strip the altar and remove prayer station items. Paraments, hanging fabric, altar furnishings will be removed to the sacristy. Prayer station items will be removed to the big table in the narthex. We move slowly and purposefully, reflecting on the humiliation of our Lord.

10. Altar, Chancel, Sanctuary

It is a tradition in many Christian communities to strip the table on Maundy Thursday. The practice dates from the seventh century and originally served the practical purpose of cleaning the sanctuary in preparation for Easter. In time, however, the practice became ceremonial in its own right. In silence and in shadows, communion vessels, table cloths, pulpit and lectern hangings, banners, candles, and all other decorative and liturgical objects are sensitively removed, thus dramatizing the desolation, abandonment, and darkness of the passion and death of our Lord. The sanctuary remains bare until the beginnings of the Easter celebration. Symbolically, Christ, stripped of his power and glory, is now in the hands of his captors. During a musical solo, you will be invited to remove something from the Communion table or sanctuary and to carry it out to the sacristy or the table in the narthex. It is the work of the people to prepare for Easter. By carrying something out, you join with others, making big tasks manageable. When else have you experienced the relief that comes from having other people working with you, instead of having to work alone?

Psalm 22

We will read Psalm 22 together, and depart in silence, gathering again tomorrow evening at 7:00pm for Good Friday, and on Saturday at 7:00pm for the Easter Vigil.

Individual Confession & Forgiveness

Calling All Sinners! (yes, that includes you)

As the ELW (that’s our hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship) says,
Washed in water and marked with the cross, the baptized children of God are united with Christ and, through him, with other believers who together form a living community of faith. Although we are set free to live in love and faithfulness, we continue to turn away from God and from one another. Confessing our sin involves a continuing return to our baptism where our sinful self is drowned and dies; in the gift of forgiveness God raises us up again and again to new life in Jesus Christ.

Individual Confession and Forgiveness is a ministry of the church through which a person may confess sin and receive the assurance of God’s forgiveness. There is a confidential nature to this order, in keeping with the discipline and practice of the Lutheran church.

Do you HAVE to come for Individual Confession and Forgiveness? No. But at different times in your life, you might find it a great comfort and blessing to do so.

While we practice Corporate Confession and Forgiveness during worship most Sundays, and confess our sins to God all together in general (and specifically during the time of silence), sometimes an individual’s particular life circumstances, and yes, sinful action or inaction, make more personal, individual confession desirable. It can be easy to gloss over the “hard stuff” on Sunday morning, or to think that the words of forgiveness “don’t apply to me.” Just about every pastor I know has had the experience of someone saying, “Oh pastor, if you REALLY knew me, you wouldn’t say that God loves and forgives me.”

If that could be YOU, then maybe the time is right for Individual Confession and Forgiveness. Pastor Grant and I are offering three opportunities for Individual Confession and Forgiveness during Holy Week: Tuesday, March 31, 5:00-7:00pm; Wednesday, April 1, 7:00-9:00am and Thursday, April 2, 11:00am-1:00pm. We will meet with individuals in the sanctuary. When you arrive, if the sanctuary doors are open, come on in. If they are closed, please wait.

In The Large Catechism, Martin Luther wrote, “Note, then, as I have often said, that confession consists of two parts. The first is our work and act, when I lament my sin and desire comfort and restoration for my soul. The second is a work that God does, when he absolves me of my sins through the Word placed on the lips of another person. This is the surpassingly grand and noble thing that makes confession so wonderful and comforting.”

Sometimes we each need to hear the words of God’s mercy and forgiveness spoken directly to us. It is our privilege to proclaim them to you.

If you do not wish to make personal confession, but would like to come and pray with a pastor, or have one of us pray for you, that is just fine, too.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9

Therefore confess your sins to one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Good Friday

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

By your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Holy Week and Easter Schedule

Holy Week at CtK

It's Holy Week - the week many Christians spend way more time in worship and prayer than they do the rest of the year - as we hear again of Jesus' love and sacrifice for the whole human family, and indeed all of creation.
We began the week with Palm Sunday, a celebration of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and then heard the passion account in the Gospel according to Luke.
We backtrack a bit during the week, to look and reflect more closely on the events of Jesus' last days. Worship will be at 7pm each night for Maundy Thursday (3/28), Good Friday (3/29) and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday (3/30).
Have you ever wondered about Holy Week and what all those services are about? Here's a great video from Busted Halo that describes them all, and in only a couple of minutes. The explanations come from a Roman Catholic perspective, but are still quite helpful.
See you in worship!

Good Friday

Today he who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Cross

He who is King of the angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns.

He who wraps the heaven in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.

He who in Jordan set Adam free receives blows upon his face.

The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails.

The Son of the Virgin is pierced with a spear.

We venerate thy Passion, O Christ.

Show us also thy glorious Resurrection.

Hymn for Good Friday, Orthodox

Maundy Thursday Thought

It's always easier to follow Jesus in our heads than it is to follow him with our feet on the Via Dolorosa (way of suffering).
- Rev. Robert H. Herhold

Holy Week & Easter Services

The Tale of The Three Trees

The children and youth of CtK have been hard at work during this season of Lent, rehearsing an adaptation of The Tale of the Three Trees.
Their final rehearsal will be this Saturday, March 31st, from 10-11am.
They will perform the musical on Sunday, April 1st, at 9:30am. If you enjoyed their fabulous Christmas program, you're going to love this! Invite your friends and family to join you for the musical, and then to stay for worship. This week is Palm/Passion Sunday. Worshipers will gather in the social hall for the procession with palms, and then hear the Passion story from the Gospel according to Mark. There will be hymns and other great music as well.
See you in worship as we begin Holy Week!

(Looking for an opportunity to pray and reflect as we begin Holy Week? The Gallatin Valley Interfaith Association is offering a Labyrinth Walk, hosted at CtK, on Saturday, March 31st, from 11am-4pm. Come and check it out!)

Food for Thought

Saturday: Matthew 27:57-66
What needs resurrecting in your life? What makes it hard to turn this over to God and trust that God will bring you, too, through death to new life?
Prayer: Lord God, remind us of your presence with us when we stumble, suffer, or are afraid in any way. Give us strength, courage, and peace, and help us to be an encouragement and sign of life to others. Amen.

Food for Thought

Friday: Matthew 27:32-56
Q: How does Jesus' death tell the truth about our lives and world? How does it give us hope? Where do you see God still at work to redeem and preserve creation? Where do you long to see God?
Prayer: Lord God, on the cross you suffered the very depths of our human life, even to the point of death. When we see the cross, let us remember that you become one of us and endured all elements of life to show us your great love and to give us hope. Amen.

Food for Thought

Thursday: Matthew 27:1-31
Q: Where do you see the struggle for power and the easy resort to defamation and violence in our world today? In what ways does fear poison our relationships at home and at work as well as in the larger world? What one thing would you ask God to change about your life or the world? How can you contribute to making that happen?
Prayer: Use us, Lord God, as instruments of peace in world too often broken by violence and a thirst for power. Amen.

The Cup of Forgiveness

When Jesus holds up the cup and offers what is in it as the fluid of forgiveness, he is not talking to people with a short list of minor sins. He is talking to people who will turn him in, who will scatter to the four winds at the first sign of trouble, and who will swear they never knew him. He is talking to people who should have been his best friends on earth, who will turn out not to have a loyal bone in their bodies, and he is forgiving them ahead of time.  -- Barbara Brown Taylor

You are invited. Invite your friends!

Food for thought

Wednesday: Matthew 26: 47-75
Q: What strengthens us to keep faith with those we care about? What tempts us to abandon them? Where have you felt abandoned? Where do you need the support of good friends? Who needs you?
Prayer: Lord God, protect and preserve us in this world that we might keep faith with the promises and responsibilities we have undertaken, and when we feel alone remind us that you understand and are with us. Amen.

The day between

Holy Saturday is a strange day. Not much happens in many congregations today (though if a congregation has an Easter vigil, there's A LOT happening). At this point we do not have a tradition of the Easter vigil, so apart from a dedicated crew setting up the worship space for tomorrow morning, and a couple of folks reading for Cover-to-Cover (our congregation's attempt to read the whole Bible during Lent - we didn't quite finish - good thing Easter lasts for 50 days!) there hasn't really been a lot of activity here.

Grant and I ran by Costco to get bagels (our donation for tomorrow morning's brunch) and there was TONS of activity there.

Consider this latest edition of Cafe - the zine for the younger Women of the ELCA crowd. (Yes, you can still read it, even if you don't fit into that "younger woman" demographic.) It begins with some wondering together about Holy Saturday, and continues with how art can be a sign of rebirth to new life. Let me know what you think.

My favorite week of the year

I love this week in the church year. You don’t see many “Maundy Thursday servant towel sales” or advertisements for a “Good Friday Beer Bash.”

Since I was a boy, I’ve grown up with a thought filled observation of what God has done for us in Jesus during this week marking the events of Christ’s passion.

I remember as a child attending Palm Sunday worship where I marched into the worship space with other kids, waving our palm branches and singing “Hosanna!”

I remember sitting in a pew at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Long Beach, CA listening to Dolores sing “Were You There?” with a haunting voice on Good Friday. Our pastor, Ted Conter, stayed at the altar knelt in prayer, long after the service ended.

I remember attending my first Easter Vigil Service in Erie, PA in 1989 with my brother Jon, who was serving a rural parish at the time. I never heard of the Easter Vigil service until that time. It is a part of the three day “Triduum”-the days leading up to Easter.
The elements of that service, from the “new fire” burning in a fire pit outside of the church to the twelve readings from the Bible, to the unveiling of the altar close to midnight to celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the tomb, have stayed with me over the years.

I remember as a teenager, rehearsing musical fanfares to be played at the Easter sunrise service. My brother Kurt and I left a spring break vacation in Los Angeles to make the two hour drive home to San Diego for the rehearsals.

Growing up, the practice of attending Holy Week worship services and being a participant in those services brought depth and meaning to my Christian faith. I became a part of "the salvation story."

I hope you find depth and meaning in worship this week, as we reflect on our Lord’s passion.