We move into the final week of our Lenten series, Hope in Dying, by turning from reflection on the significance of Jesus’ death to holding questions about how we watch over others in love as they die. Please note the dates and times below for our Holy Week worship on Maundy Thursday & Good Friday. We would love help preparing and cleaning up our simple meal of soup, bread and salad for Thursday evening, April 2. If you are available please email Pastor Matt – [email protected].
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 (Psalm 31.9-16) Dignity in Dying
April 2 6:00 pm Maundy Thursday Meal & Holy Conferencing in Social Hall
April 3 6:00 pm Good Friday Worship in Sanctuary
April 5 (Mark 16.1-8) Hope & New Life in Christ
The Psalmist writes plainly of his terrible circumstances and prays to be delivered from death to hope in God. (I will hope in God if I stay alive.) Hold this in tension with our knowledge of the death of Jesus and our discussions about the cross over these last two weeks. Is it possible that we want to be delivered through death to hope God? (Through facing my death or the death of another, through it all I will hold hope in God.) Either way, this psalm witnesses to confidence that God’s love is trustworthy despite the experience of great suffering.
Read Psalm 31.9-16.
Some people believe that complaining to God lacks reverence. Some people believe that complaining is a demonstration of faith and trust in God. Where do you land on this spectrum? What difference, if any, does suffering make to your ability or willingness to hold hope in God’s love? How are you either reticent or able to express your suffering to God?