It is Good Friday! If you are looking for a worship service to attend, I will be attending the Community Good Friday Service held this year at the Central Christian Church. It occurs tonight at 7 PM.
The Central Christian Church is located at:
Central Christian Church
803 Greene Street
Boone, Iowa
On these holy days I do like to share a devotional. This one I found on the UMC website:
Good Friday: Holy Week Devotions
By Rev. Lucky Cotto
The Centurion near the Cross
Scripture Readings:
- John 19:23-24
- Matthew 27:50-54
- Mark 15:39: When the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “This man was certainly God’s Son.”
Devotional
The presence of Roman soldiers around the crucifixion of Jesus Christ indicates that this was a state-sponsored crucifixion ordered by the Jewish leaders opposed to Jesus’ message. (Incidentally, the Jews were treated as slaves and oppressed.)** The opponents claimed that Jesus had deceived the Jews and that He was opposed to them paying their contributions to the empire, and that, in addition, He claimed to be the Messiah, King of the Jews and stirred up the people with His teachings.
But the Roman Empire didn’t care. In fact, Pontius Pilate could not find a reason to crucify him, all he could think of was the coming uproar against the empire. In his own words, “Pilate then said to the chief priests, and to the people, “I find no crime in this man,” and he said to them, “You brought this man before me as one who was misleading the people. I have questioned him in your presence and found nothing in this man’s conduct that provides a legal basis for the charges you have brought against him. 15 Neither did Herod, because Herod returned him to us. He’s done nothing that deserves death.” As Pilate wanted to release Jesus, he again addressed the people; (Luke 23;1-24, VV. 4,14,15,20).
Meanwhile the crowds continued to shout, “crucify Him, crucify Him” (vv21) and the priests encouraged them to ask that Barabbas be set free. They wanted a revolutionary who had been in prison for murder to go free. At the same time, the Jews could not execute anyone. So, from the legal and judicial point of view Jesus’ sentence was unjust and tainted with false accusations. It is the effective result of false narratives promoting political manipulations orchestrated by religious fanatics who could not accept the message of Jesus’ kingdom.
However, from the perspective of what God intended for humanity, and what Jesus’ sacrifice would mean for the world, Jesus bore our sin, therefore, bore our guilt, our crimes, and on the cross, as Paul wrote: “God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.”
At the foot of the cross are the Roman soldiers who nailed Jesus to the cross, mocked Him, tore His clothes, and were asked to watch over Him. Finally, He died and when He expired there was among the soldiers a centurion, a prominent officer, in charge of at least 100 soldiers. We do not know if he was comfortable and in agreement with the crucifixion of Jesus, if he knew about Jesus, or if he was interested in Judaism. Surely, he saw the sign above the cross that said “King of the Jews”, and he must have heard the thief standing next to Jesus who said to him: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk.23:42). and the assurance with which Jesus said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. The centurion saw and heard everything that was happening and saw when Jesus gave His last breath and died. What came out of this man’s mouth was to praise God and say, “Truly this man was righteous.”
For Reflection
As a result of his new conviction, the centurion turned against the government he served. He had a transformation of mind and heart, even though he was one of those who wounded Jesus’ side, and executed him. Now he could see that this Jesus was truly sent by God, that he was truly who he said he was. Let us ask ourselves: Who is Jesus for me? Should we strive for people in positions of power who are guilty of committing injustice on the innocent to change in the face of an encounter with the gospel?
Prayer
God who loved us so much that You did not mind sending Your only Son to come to save us, to save humanity, help us to recognize that great love that You have for us and that we can live as Jesus lived, who, in the midst of pain had compassion and asked you to forgive us. Thank You that we can feel Your forgiveness, Your love, and Your grace. Amen.
https://www.umc.org/en/content/devocional-semana-santa-6
I hope you have had a good Lent season and a great Easter weekend!
This is my final collection of images from my first trip to the Iowa State Fair with the Gorshes. This collection concentrates on an event that was several years in the making! My trip to Snakes Alive! with Layla, Evie, and Connor. We had agreed to go through Snakes Alive! a couple years back, but for various reasons it hadn’t happened. But the stars aligned and we finally got into look at some of God’s most magnificent creatures! Snakes! That are also alive.
Here are the pictures:
After Snakes Alive! Connor had his first ever funnel cake and then we stopped to visit with Shawn and Gretchen who were volunteering at Little Hands on the Farm.
All in all it was a great day. But even the worst day at the Iowa State Fai is a pretty great day!
But it was the end of my day. Later that night I drove by the expo grounds near Boone to watch the PGI practice for their upcoming show. PGI is the Pyrotechnics Guild International and last August they had their annual convention in Boone. It concluded with a big show, but practically any night the convention was going on you could swing by the expo grounds and get a pretty good fireworks show.
Here are a few pictures I took of the practice that same night:
Eventually I will share the pictures from the actual PGI show. If they are any good. I haven’t looked at them yet. But first we should get through all of the Iowa State Fair pictures. Next Friday I will start sharing the pictures from my second trip to the Iowa State Fair!