Tag Archives: Suffering

We do not always know the cause, but we are called to help ease each other’s suffering.

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 5:01 am on April 3, 2015
Tags: , , Suffering   

Good Friday – Rev. David J. Schreffler

April 3, 2015
Good Friday

“Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” John 13:36-37

“Now when it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. Around three oʼclock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah!” Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Letʼs see if Elijah will come to take him down!” But Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. And the temple curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who stood in front of him, saw how he died, he said, “Truly this man was Godʼs Son!” Mark 15:33-39

Good Friday. Why is it called Good Friday? There is no clear answer of the origin of “Good” Friday. Some say it comes from the phrase “G*d’s Friday”. That seems reasonable. But others point to the fact that what Christ did for all of humanity was so “Good”, that even though it involves his death on a cross, it is Good for all people. There are many ways to honor the day of Good Friday. Some congregations hold a service from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm – the traditional hours that Christ hung on the cross. During those three hours, sermons are delivered on the seven last words of Christ. Those seven last words from the Gospels include:

“Father Forgive, for they do not know what they are doing.”
“Today you will be with me in Paradiise”
“Woman here is your son; son here is your Mother”
“My G*d, My G*d, why have you forsaken Me”
“I am thirsty”
“It is Finished”
“Father, Into Your hands I commend my Spirit”

In my congregation we will participate in a Tenebrae Service – traditionally known as a service of light. Tenebrae is Latin for “shadows” or “darkness”. It is used to recreate the emotions of the events of Good Friday. Another tradition the churches of 17043 have continued is processing the cross through the town of Lemoyne. Any opportunity we can do to bring the centrality of the cross in our lives to the communities of the West Shore is a good thing – something good to do on Good Friday.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 5:23 am on March 23, 2015
Tags: , Suffering   

One Body – Rev. David J. Schreffler

March 23, 2015

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12ff

“I don’t know when it was that I first had my attention called to the combination of precision and magic that words contain. As I reflect back, I still remember how, as a child of about seven or eight, when I couldn’t really understand all of the exalted language, I nevertheless listened week after week to my father as, in a beautiful voice, he read the order of worship. And I remember how certain phrases stuck in my mind. I didn’t know exactly what father meant when, reading the liturgy at the Communion, he said, “And therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven,” but I knew it was something very big. Paul talks about the body of Christ. But the prayer (for All Saint’s Day) in a perfectly gorgeous image, talks about the body of Christ and each one of us in it.” Joseph Sittler (1904 – 1987) “For All The Saints” volume III

We don’t really know how connected each part of the body is to another, and within another, until one of them is not working right. I know, in my recollection, that if my knee is hurting, I don’t only feel it in my knee, but also my back, and my side. If my shoulder is hurting, the pain often runs down into my hand, and up into my neck. A single body part cannot exist on its own, and all our body parts work best when they are all functioning together. Joseph Sittler goes on to say in his devotion that “If you’ve watched someone knit, you’ve seen how each stitch is interlocked with every other stitch in such an integral way that if one stitch is dropped, the whole line ravels apart.” In other words, what keeps the knitted sweater together is the integral way that all the parts are connected. It is “one sweater”, yes, but that individual sweater is made up of hundreds, thousands of individual stitches. Paul is saying that if one of us, who are members collectively of the body of Christ, if one of us suffers, the whole body suffers. Paul will go on to say that G*d has knit together the body of Christ in the mystical body of Christ. This gives us another meaning for what it means to be “In Christ”. Not only is Christ dwelling within us, and us in Christ, but we dwell together with all the members of the body of Christ. Therefore, if one of us is hurting, we all are hurting. If one of us is incapacitated, we all feel it, we all miss their presence, and we will not function as well as we could without them. This should encourage each one of us to be aware that if one of our “members” is hurting, or missing, or in need, we should be ready to care for them – just like we would care for ourselves.

Pastor Dave