We continue this week in our Lenten worship series, Hope in Dying, by turning from reflection on the significance of Jesus’ death to wondering about the way Jesus imagined his own death in John 12.20-36 and the ways in which we imagine our own.
Fred Craddock, in Speaking of Dying: Recovering the Church’s Voice in the Face of Death, writes, If we as the church are to carry out our ministry to the dying and if we ourselves are to die well, we need solid support and rich resources because this ministry will test us. Such resources can only come from God’s love for us” (Kindle Locations 930-932). Our worship series will be rooted in the hope we find through God’s love for us as we reflect each week on a different theme related to grief, dying, and death.
HOPE IN DYING OUTLINE
February 18 7:00 am Ash Wednesday Worship
February 22 (Mark 1.9-15) Facing Death & Resurrection in Christian Tradition
March 1 (Mark 8.31-38) How Did Jesus Face Death?
March 8 (John 11.28-36) Grief & Becoming Wounded Healers
March 15 (John 3.14-21) Atonement: What Does Jesus’ Death Mean?
March 22 (John 12.20-36) Writing Our Own Deaths
March 29 (Mark 14.1-15) Dignity in Dying
April 2 6:00 pm Maundy Thursday Meal & Holy Conferencing
April 3 7:00 pm Good Friday Worship
April 5 (Mark 16.1-8) Hope & New Life in Christ
Read John 12.20-36. In this selection from John, Jesus shares with the people around him about the way he imagines dying. He then goes immediately to hide. These are very hard conversations. We are grateful to be in this together with you all.
Take time this week to journal your answers to these questions or consider talking your answers over with a trusted friend. What have you done so far to prepare for your own death? What preparations have you made regarding advanced directives for medical decisions and end of life care? What work have you completed in terms of your own estate planning and the care of your family upon your death?
Close in prayer by using this poem by John Henry Newman:
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the
shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and
the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is
over, and our work is done. Then in your
mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest,
and peace at the last.