The Veil of the Temple

This part of Good Friday has always been one which deeply affected me.

When I was a child we went to some of the three hour liturgy at the cross on Good Friday, normally the last hour. One year as we were leaving church the earth appeared split in two, there was a massive thunderstorm and the sky went very dark. It felt so dramatic and symbolic, and was one of my earliest memories of a physical presence of God with us. I was about 8 years old.

This has stayed with me to this day, and although there have been other occasions when the sky has turned grey on Good Friday, none have stayed in my mind as clearly as that time in childhood. I put the washing on the line this morning and despite the blue sky interspersed with white fluffy clouds, I wondered whether my washing would get wet at 3pm!

The veil of the temple torn, and the guard realising Jesus as Son of God are such powerful images. God himself is no longer hidden behind the curtain, only to be accessed by the High Priest. God is accessible to all who put their trust in Him. Also, the way one accesses the Lord God, has been opened up, no longer are the old rituals the way to Him.

I have blogged about how much God loves us, and how much I have renewed my love for Him this Holy Week, this image for me is one of God's power. Christ died and even before his glorious victory, he had opened the way to God the Father. At the moment of death, when Jesus was weakest, God torn down the temple veil.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

I have passed the riven veil,

Where the glories never fail,

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

I am living in the presence of the King

(Charles P. Jones in Songs of Pentecostal Power)

I adore Thee

I have been really touched/effected/moved by the words of Stainer's Crucifixion this week.

It has challenged and comforted in equal measure.

I cannot fully describe the feeling inside me as I listened to the hymn below on my Ipod this afternoon. I have highlighted the parts that speak particularly to me this Holy Week.

I Adore Thee, I adore Thee!

Glorious ere the world began;

Yet more wonderful Thou shinest,

Though divine, yet still divinest

In Thy dying love for man.

I Adore Thee, I adore Thee!

Thankful at Thy feet to be;

I have heard Thy accent thrilling,

Lo! I come, for Thou art willing

Me to pardon, even me.

I Adore Thee, I adore Thee!

Born of woman, yet Divine:

Stained with sins I kneel before Thee,
Sweetest Jesu, I implore Thee,

Make me ever only Thine.

"Me to pardon, even me." Thanks be to God for this and this alone. Amen

Thank you for the cross my friend

"And once again I look upon the cross where You died, I'm humbled by Your mercy and I'm broken inside."
Matt Redman: Jesus Christ (Once Again)

I have blogged on worship songs before, and this one touches my innermost being much more than most. Even though this is only Palm Sunday, Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, I am already conscious of the cross.

I suppose this is because on Palm Sunday the church joins in and cries "Hosanna" with the crowds of the day. The church waves her palm branches, and parades around the grounds singing "All Glory Laud and Honour" (badly!). It's so easy to join in the crowds welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem. It's so much harder for me to accept that I betray, deny, and scream out "crucify" with the same crowds later in the week.

Holy Week moves me to tears. I am truly "broken inside" as I stand at the foot of the cross on Good Friday.

Even though this year, with a child who is too young to cope with most of the Holy Week liturgy, my only observation comes through singing Stainer's Crucifixition on Good Friday, the cross is uppermost in my mind this week. 

It was during the vigil on Maundy Thursday 15 years ago that I claimed this faith as my own and truly said "Yes Lord, I believe". Not "I believe because that's how I have been brought up" or even "I believe because I trust my parents to decide for me" Purely and simply "This is my faith, Yes Lord I believe"

So my question this Holy Week comes from Stainer's Crucifixion

"Behold Me and see: pierced thro' and thro' with countless sorrows, and all is for you;

For you I suffer, for you I die.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"