62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard1 of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
This is often a fairly somber and silent day in the Holy Week. Scripture doesn’t say much specifically about it. And rightfully so. It’s shrouded in mystery. It’s full of suspense. It is the painful ‘in between’ filled with anguish, sadness and many ‘what if’ questions…
What’s staggering is that even after His death – the Jewish leaders are still worried and threatened by Jesus. They were obsessed – as He still seemed to live ‘rent free in their heads’. So they plan and plot to make sure He stayed dead and buried. Secured and guarded. But we know how that turned out in the end… Because God has the last word.
Do you ever feel like God just can’t relate to your silent anguish, your fears and questions? He does and you can talk to Him in prayer!
Do you feel frustratingly impatient and are tempted to give up on waiting for God’s breakthrough? Don’t! It may be just your silent Saturday, before the resurrection Sunday!
Do you ever feel like people’s evil schemes are ‘burying you’ and you won’t be able to escape? Don’t despair – God is a deliverer!
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son9 of God!” 55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. 57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
As Jesus was dying on the cross at Golgotha – the Scriptures were being fulfilled. All those promises about the coming Messiah – now fulfilled! God keeps His word! He is faithful! It always surprises me who are those who are faithful too: not the expected ones, not the brash Peter, cerebral and committed Thomas or any of the other men. Just a few bold and caring women and John (the affectionate ’soft’ one). I love the way Joseph does something courageous too in looking after Jesus’ body. He risked his reputation and used his wealth – all to show his faithfulness to Jesus.
A few question for reflection & action:
Are you still believing God to be faithful in His promises? Don’t give up praying!
Are you ready to keep going the distance in following Him – even if it is lonely and hard?
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and he two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch3 with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
In the midst of the most heart-wrenching turmoil Jesus choses to withdraw and pray. He doesn’t need crowds to boost His self esteem, stroke His ego and cheer Him on. He doesn’t choose to spend His last days on earth recklessly. He wants to be alone with His Father – in prayer. The anxious apprehension is real (sorrowful and troubled). The (human tempting) desire to escape it – is real too. Add to that the disappointment of being left alone, deserted even by the inner circle…Yet above all this pain is a submissive and lovingly obedient desire to do the will of the Father and fulfil His mission. An act of ultimate surrender for our own salvation.
A few question for reflection & action:
Is prayer my ‘go to’ place in the midst of hardships or do I chose false shortcuts and substitutes?
How much am I ready to submit to God’s will – even when it hurts my feelings and disturbs my comfort?
6 Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,17 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial. 13 Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” 14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.
Again, there are many surprises here that remind us to never put Jesus in a box:
Jesus is socialising in an unusual home of a (healed?) leper
A woman interacts with him – probably raising eyebrows
She is so wasteful and extravagant in her action
Instead of appreciating the beauty of her act – the disciples criticise
Jesus defends and praises her
Unknowingly she performs a prophetic act – pointing towards His death
In stark contrast to her selfless worship – we see Judas’ selfish betrayal
A few question for reflection & action:
How much do you love Jesus?
How sacrificial are you in ‘putting legs to those words’?
What story of loving Jesus do your calendar (time) and bank account (money) tell?
Can those around you (family / friends/ colleagues/ neighbours) see your love for Jesus
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps17 and went to meet the bridegroom.182 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. (25:1-13)
Jesus had a masterful way of getting truth across, simply and subversively – making it memorable. He used parables. Simple stories with an often surprising message. This parable is sobering. The ending is sad, as half of the invitees to the wedding are turned down for negligence. They have all the same starting place, many similarities but oh so different endings.
A couple of question for reflection & action:
This is an opportunity for self reflection: am I prepared for the Jesus’ (Bridegroom) return (wedding)? Is He my saviour? Is He the king I submit my whole life to? If I knew He was coming back tomorrow – what would I change?
Do I still pray for those who don’t know Christ? This is an opportunity for us to pray / continue to pray for those we know – who don’t know Jesus yet! The invitation is still open – may many come to know Him too and be among the 5 that are welcomed to the feast.
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
This is the Jesus we are not often accustomed to. We know of Jesus teaching or healing. We know of Jesus withdrawing to pray or socialising as He speaks to people. But this is a tad surprising, almost uncomfortable. He seems angry (holy anger, different to a selfish and reckless anger) and He is acting out His dislike for what is happening. What motivated this reaction? Jesus is heartbroken that:
a. A house of prayer became a place of distracting entertainment / business
b. In the name of worship, people were been ripped off by profiteering merchants
A couple of question for reflection & action
What role does prayer play in our lives? Jesus didn’t call the temple a ‘house of teaching’ or a ‘house of fellowship’ but a house of prayer? Is our church a praying church? Is that evident on Sundays or mid week gatherings? Is my life a life of prayer? Are our homes – ‘homes of prayer? Let’s ponder, review, restart afresh – giving prayer a primary role in our lives!
Are we profiteering and exploiting others? Are we fair and honourable in our workplaces? Are we ever in danger of bringing the Lord’s name in disrepute through ‘shady’ practices? Let’s ask Him to grow in us an integrity that would reflect well with those around us – being salt and light in our communities
We are at the time of the year when gym memberships soar and everyone becomes aware of the need to adopt a healthier diet — maybe due to the excesses of Christmas. Smart decisions for a healthier body. But what about the soul?
We live, in the western world, in a current church environment where discipleship (the ongoing journey of mundane apprenticeship with Jesus that leads us to become more like Him) — is a challenge. Even in the vibrant, healthier churches, the ghost of consumerism stalks us with a fierce determination. Our gatherings are often opportunities for another experience that gets reviewed according to how it best met our needs or ‘likes’.
While the subject is very extensive to tackle in a blog — at the heart of my concern is our Biblical illiteracy & our attitude towards Scripture. Without conducting a well-researched survey — I am pretty convinced that most of us struggle to maintain a healthy habit of daily Bible reading. If we do, it often becomes a legalistic ‘tick the box/job done’ instead of truly meditating on it. Because of the advent of living in a socially networked and wired world — we have become increasingly distracted — with a false sense of living busier lives. We seldom read the Word of God and almost never memorize it. A vast majority of Western believers attend one service a week with a sermon/talk/message of 30–35 minutes — and that, for many, is their only engagement with God’s word. Which leaves us with a problem…
We might say — what’s the big deal? Why is this such a problem? In 2 Timothy 3:16–17, Paul gives a brilliant summary of the benefits of reading, meditating, knowing and being led by the Scriptures: ‘All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.’
the Bible is important because we believe that it is God’s Word
the Bible helps us to discern truth from error — in the age of ‘fake news’
the Bible helps us to see where we go wrong & how we can get things right
the Bible inspires and empowers us to live good lives
Jesus tells a great story (parable) in Matthew 13 about a sower who scatters seed that has differing outcomes. God’s word is often like a seed that is sowed into our hearts and perhaps we can learn from Jesus how to provide the best growth environment for it to grow and bring fruit:
don’t harden your heart! That can often happen as we become cynical or apathetic about God’s grace shown to us and we lose the wonder of His wonderful character and deeds. Don’t let that happen. Fight it with prayer and worship, reminding yourself of who He is! God wants to speak to me through His Word!
don’t let the thieves of distraction (Netflix, social media), disorganization and discouragement rob you of your dedication and attention to reading, meditating and living by God’s word. Fight it by prioritizing and exercising grace-driven self-discipline out of a conviction that this is so good for you!
Here are some practical suggestions to refresh or restart our engagement with God’s Word:
Start with the New Testament, the Psalms, then the Old Testament. Read 3 chapters a day on each weekday and 5 at the weekend — that way you can cover the whole of the Bible in a year. While some passages will be more beneficial than others — reading all of the Bible will help you get the big picture and discover many new things.
Maybe try to keep a notebook where you can jot something down. Apply the head, heart and hands principle — highlighting how the passage you just read affects your thinking, feelings and actions.
Give yourself plenty of grace and prayerfully rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal to us His word and help us to apply it in our day to day lives.
I love Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s vision of love — ‘Love is not just looking at each other, it’s looking in the same direction.’ Sung worship in the church context should do that.
I have been prompted to write some reflections regarding sung worship in our faith community. Some of them are based on questions that I have received from you — others just observations that I have. They are fairly practical in their content — and certainly not exhaustive. Oh, and I am unashamedly biased — writing as a pastor and not as a worship leader…
What’s our aim in sung worship?
Often people ask this question: who are our services aimed at? The believers or the visitors? My answer is both, but with a clarification. The main aim of our Sunday and small group gatherings is the edification (pastoral) of one another as disciples of Jesus and an encouragement to live for His renown (missional).
That is our main and primary focus. But we also want to encourage those who are non or new believers to see the beauty of who God is (evangelistic). The bulk of our songs should, therefore, focus on who He is and what He has done. Those songs should be presenting us with objective truths that the believers can declare.
There is room for response songs but they should most of the time follow the preaching and be a smaller percentage of the service. These songs will be subjective as not all of us feel the same things at the same time, even as believers — nevermind those who aren’t believers. Let’s try not to exclude people or make them sing false declarations.
The aim of our sung worship is both vertical: exalting and glorifying God and horizontal: encouraging discouraged believers or exhorting those who have grown apathetic.
Because our aim is congregational engagement as opposed to just personal encouragement — the songs should have a very singable anthemic musical line — probably similar to stadium gigs or sports events.
Maybe we also need to have musical segments (still pretty standard in the African American tradition) that we can listen to as the musicians and singers perform pieces that are musically more challenging in vocal range.
What sources can you use your songs from?
Another question, often asked is: how do we decide which theological pool is ‘kosher’ when it comes to worship songs origins? Do you use a song that comes from a church that has a different theological stance on some doctrinal issues than yours?
One can become black and white and only allow some streams and bar others. It’s simple but probably quite limiting. A healthier and preferred alternative for me is to think through each song individually, assessing its theological content and musical congregational suitability.
Should we sing more hymns or new songs?
Some of the old hymns have great theology and some are very confusing due to their archaic language. Some of the new songs have beautiful melodies but repetitive vague lyrics with utterly forgetful poetry.
It’s not an ‘either-or game’. Once again, it comes to individually assessing hymns and songs and using what is most suitable for our people, right here and right now. We want to maintain a link to our roots but also branch out into the future.
In our church, the gravitational pull will always be towards the past so in order to create a healthy tension — I would push for more new songs. There should always be the accountable willingness by the worship leaders to submit their new song proposals to the the Lead Pastor & Worship Director beforehand.
Ideally, local church communities should develop worshipful artists who write good (theologically, lyrically, musically) songs reflective of their church makeup (social, age, education) that will enrich the sense of contextualisation of worship.
How aware should we be in our worship of our non-believing guests?
While this is a healthy tension between authenticity and relevance — politeness dictates that we should be welcoming and accessible without feeling the need to cosmetically change everything for the sake of the visitor.
Always best to adopt the same thinking as when we have people visiting our homes. We don’t move rooms around but we make sure that people know where things are and that our environment is tidy, friendly and hospitable.
We need to be aware of language and concepts that are archaic, romantic, warfare referencing or, confusing, using theological concepts like ‘lamb of God’, ‘blood of the Lamb’, ‘in heavenly armour we’ll enter the land’. Some of those songs might be best retired and some need a simple, brief explanation — maybe anchored in a Biblical verse.
The foundations of sung worship ministry in a local church should have this values:
be God-glorifying
be Jesus-centered
be Biblical
be Spirit-empowered
be nurturing for disciples
be invitational to non-believers
“Worship is never a step on our way up to any other experience. It is not a door through which we pass to get anywhere. It is the end point, the goal.” John Piper
Often we live our daily existence in the slipstream of mundane habitual and rarely interrupted daily patterns.
For some it’s the family life, for others work routines and the slightly less predictable retired life. And so, like a deja vu, days pass by in a fairly uneventful peaceful sequence.
One of my favourite authors once quipped that a boring day is a luxury. We rarely understand that. Until we get blindsided. Then our routine gets royally disrupted. In seconds, our peace vanishes and our whole world is turned upside down.
No time for questions or reflection, just deep breaths and adrenaline rushes.
The truth is, that in spite of our illusion of being in control, this world of ours is wildly unpredictable. Political injustices, natural disasters, surprising or chronic illnesses, debilitating mental health challenges and relational breakups, all these are the background wallpapers of our human existence in a broken world.
The longer you have lived as a Stockholm syndrome prisoner to this fake news that you’re in control, the more it’s going to hurt when you get blindsided.
How do you respond? How can you cope?
You start by embracing the truth: I am not in charge. I can’t control what is happening. I realise that my current boring undisturbed daily routine might one day be interrupted. Get ready beforehand. This realistic anticipation won’t protect you from the blow, but it will certainly soften it.
The ancient words of David, the songwriter of the Scriptures, are a strong foundation for the mind and a balm for the heart: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with Me.’
In the mystery of suffering and free will, while God won’t change the rules, He is there in the midst of our suffering, a suffering He understands better than anyone else.
I always have a choice. I can be a pantomime king of my make belief kingdom of control or surrender to the King who is also the Good Shepherd that walks with me in the dark valleys of suffering.
As we journey physically, emotionally and spiritually through challenging seasons in our lives, as individuals and families, we often can get a clearer picture of the challenges and opportunities that suffering can bring to a community of faith.
I have been blessed with fantastic cross-cultural examples of rich ways of caring fur one another and while I’m grateful for that, I recognise that there’s always more to learn. Here are some ideas that might be helpful.
Open the door If you are going through tough things, let people know straight away. Don’t assume they can read between the lines or read your mind. They need to know. Your humble vulnerability opens the door for them to play their part in supporting you. The Christian community is one of the open doors and open hearts.
If you heard it, own it If you hear about someone struggling, get involved. Don’t assume someone else will do that because they might do the same. Better more encouragers than none. Don’t delay it as you might forget about it.
Do what you can and stop worrying about what you can’t. Often we can become paralysed by our insecure excuses and miss out on a valuable contribution. We all have something to offer. It will be different from others. Might not be much but its always significant.
Ask questions. Questions break the ice. Good questions can soften the embarrassment and open up hearts. Here are some good questions: can I help you with my time? My expertise? My connections? My money? Need a lift? Need food? Need washing clothes? Need a break? Need company?
Don’t drop it. Often there is a frenzy of attention in the early days followed by a gradual decrease of interest and involvement. It’s somehow natural. We all tire and move on. But just as we go through compassion fatigue, the suffering person and their carers can feel that in an even more intense and frustrating manner. Let’s not grow weary in doing good. Keep praying, checking and helping.
ON THE WAY 