Way of the Cross - Station 6

SIXTH STATION - A woman wipes the face of Jesus

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading: 

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 

Isaiah 53:2-5

Restore us, O Lord God of hosts:

Show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved. 

Let us pray.

O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us.

Pray for Nature, Rogation and General Revelation

Pray that eyes would be opened to God’s handiwork in the beauty of nature; for the restoration of our land through sustainable stewardship and care by all people; for God’s blessing on the land. Pray that God will bless families who farm or support agricultural industries, that they would prosper. Pray that they would follow Christ and find ways to be part of life-giving churches. Pray especially for migrant workers who sometimes face injustice and difficulties.

Way of the Cross - Station 5

FIFTH STATION - The Cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading: 

As they led Jesus away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus.  "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Luke 23:26;  Matthew 16:24;  Matthew 11:29-30

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me:

Cannot be my disciple.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served but to serve:  Bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others; that with wisdom, patience, and courage, they may minister in his Name to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the love of him who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us.

Pray for Missions Work

Pray that Christian missions will be founded on God’s truth, anointed by God’s power and well-supported by God’s people. Pray for the health and well-being of missionaries, for them to boldly proclaim the gospel with clarity and to be a great blessing to those that they serve. Pray for those who labor in specialized ministries to effectively increase the impact of local churches.

Way of the Cross - Station 4

FOURTH STATION - Jesus meets his afflicted mother

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading:

What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem?  What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion?  For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you?  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. 

Lamentations 2:13;  Matthew 5:4;  Isaiah 60:20

A sword will pierce your own soul also:

And fill your heart with bitter pain. 

Let us pray.

O God, who willed that in the passion of your Son a sword of grief should pierce the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary his mother:  Mercifully grant that your Church, having shared with her in his passion, may be made worthy to share in the joys of his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen.

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us.

Pray for Education and the Safety of Children

Pray that children will hear the gospel and encounter Christ early in life; that God’s fatherly heart will be revealed to kids, especially to those who may have been wounded or disappointed by their parents; for family stability; for excellence in education; for wisdom to be formed in their early years; for safety from perversion and violence. Pray that teachers and mentors will impart Godly wisdom to help form character in their students; for needed tools and proper facilities.

Way of the Cross - Station 3

THIRD STATION - Jesus falls the first time

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading: 

Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped; but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.                                    Philippians 2:6-11

Surely he has borne our griefs:

And carried our sorrows.

Let us pray.

O God, you know us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright: Grant us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us.

Pray for Small Businesses

Ask God to bless those who base business practices in righteousness. Pray that God will prosper those who pursue their business as mission for God’s Kingdom. Pray for the gospel to spread in the marketplace; for righteous managers and executives; for creative, Godly entrepreneurs.

Way of the Cross - Station 2

SECOND STATION - Jesus takes up his Cross

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading:

So they took Jesus and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic, is called Golgotha.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!                               John 19:17;  Isaiah 53:7;  Revelation 5:12

The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all:

For the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns for ever and ever.  Amen.

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us.

Pray for the Disabled and Those With Special Needs

Pray that they will be surrounded with loving friends and family; for steady refreshment of their hearts towards God; for physical stamina and healing; for endurance through chronic pain; for financial provision to cover the cost of therapy and special care; that they will know and display the love of God.

Lenten Prayer Walk - Introduction and Station 1

While the inaugural Lakewood Anglican Prayer Walk may not take place in the way we expected it to, we will still be holding it! Our original plan was to walk through Lakewood, stopping at various businesses and landmarks to participate in a Station of the Cross, as well as pray for a specific need of the city. Our congregation is spread throughout the greater Cleveland area, and while we may not be able to walk together physically, we are still able to walk together in prayer.

There are 14 Stations of the Cross, and 14 days between now and Good Friday. I ask that you pray 1 Station each day, beginning Saturday, March 28. The liturgy of each station only takes a few minutes to read through. After meditating on the station itself, there are also prayer prompts at the end of each station. Each prompt will ask you to contemplate and pray for a specific need in our community.

Weather permitting, I’d encourage you to consider taking a walk as you read and pray through these stations. We are a church of embodiment, and physically participating in the Stations as well as mentally can also be an act of devotion. I’ve found that walking through my neighborhood can reveal opportunities for prayer to me, and connect me to my community during a time of isolation.

I will be posting each Station’s text daily on the Lakewood Anglican blog. The introduction, and first Stations’s text, is below.

I’ll close with these words from Henri Nouwen, whose book “Walk With Jesus: Stations of the Cross” the Lakewood Fellowship has been studying this term. “Anyone who enters into communion with Jesus will receive the Spirit of truth – the Spirit who frees us from the compulsions and obsessions of our contemporary society, who makes us belong to God’s own inner life, and allows us to live in the world with open hearts and attentive minds. In communion with Jesus, we can hear the Spirit’s voice and journey far and wide, whether we are in prison or not. Because the truth – the true relationship, the true belonging – gives us the freedom that the powers of darkness cannot take away…Jesus’ death , instead of being the execution of a death sentence, became the way to the full truth, leading to full freedom.”

I hope that you will join us in this time of prayer and devotion as we prepare our hearts for Easter Sunday, and that even in our isolation we can be a community of hope for our broken world.

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THE WAY OF THE CROSS

 In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.  Amen. 

We will glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ:

In whom is our salvation, our life and resurrection.

Let us pray.

 Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you have given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

FIRST STATION - Jesus is condemned to death

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Reading: 

From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend.  Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”  So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha.  Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover.  It was about the sixth hour.  He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”  They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!”  Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?”  The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”  So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.                                             John 19:12-16

God did not spare his own Son:

But delivered him up for us all.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord.  Amen.

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us.

Pray for Emergency Services and Systems of Justice

Pray for Godly wisdom and Christ-like integrity; for physical and emotional protection; for courage and blessing for their families. Pray that they will become agents of God’s hand to resist evil and bring an environment in which heaven’s justice can increase.

Sermon Reflection: Series on First Corinthians - Sermon #8 "Food, Idols, and The Greater Good"

At first glance this past Sunday’s Scriptures look to not apply to our lives today. We do not have temples to idols after all. It was a real problem in Corinth. Often times, temple festivals were holidays and the feast was thrown for the city. People would come to these festivals and for some it was the only time they ate meat because of its expense.

In addition to this, temples were the civic organizations of the day. You might go down to the temple of Hera to network with other business leaders. There were some Corinthians who thought (wrongly) that there was nothing wrong with eating meat sacrificed to other gods since they knew there was one God.

Saint Paul points out that their “knowledge” has hardened their hearts to their brothers (1 Cor. 8:11). Some new Christians who were raised pagan could not divorce the idea of idolatry from eating meat. Saint Paul makes the point that a Christian must not just care about the reality of eating meat sacrificed to idols (on which their thinking is in error by the way) but also a Christian must think about how his actions affect his brothers and sisters. While 1 Cor. 8:13 makes is clear that we cannot cause someone else to lose salvation, we never want to push someone down the path to apostasy out of hardness of heart.

To listen to the sermon from Sunday please visit here…
https://soundcloud.com/lakewood-anglican/9-9-18-series-on-first-corinthians-sermon-8-the-greater-good

Holy Week: Maundy Thursday

Read: Mark 14:12-23

The Passover with the Disciples

12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
Institution of the Lord's Supper
22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

The Upper Room

The room in which Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover meal as his Last Supper is called both a “guest room” (Mark 14:14; Luke 22:11) and a “large upper room” (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12). Most homes, whether large or small, typically had a room used to receive or entertain guests. Such rooms were located toward the front of the building so that guests need not enter the more private quarters of the home.

This particular guest room was a large room upstairs, likely with a view. From the description it seems Jesus’ meal was eaten in a large compound, perhaps similar to the mansions of wealthy people found in archaeological excavations in the southern part of the Old City of Jerusalem. These excavated mansions included large upper rooms decorated with frescoed walls and stuccoed ceilings and furnished with elegant tables and utensils.

A disputed church tradition dating to the fifth century AD places Jesus’ Last Supper in the Cenacle. This room is in a building located on the highest part of the hill that made up the southwest quarter of first-century Jerusalem. Today this location is called Mount Zion (not to be confused with the Mount Zion of David’s time) and is outside the Old City walls. A floor in this building, as well as a portion of its exterior southern wall, dates to Roman times, perhaps as early as the first century AD. Its “upper room,” a popular spot for pilgrims, is in the Gothic style and dates to a reconstruction in 1335. The same site is also associated with Pentecost and with David’s burial.
*Historical material from the ESV Study Bible Online

Meditation from Fr. Sean

Jesus and his disciples gather to celebrate Passover - the Feast Celebrating how God sent the angel of death to kill all the first-born children and livestock of the Egyptians in Exodus as a judgement and punishment for their enslavement of Israel. But the blood of a lamb was smeared on the door of the Jews and therefore the angel of death "passed over" them. (See Exodus 12 for more details.) Jesus takes this ancient rite of the Jews and completes it and refashions it. Rather than a lamb's body and blood he offers his own body and blood as the way to save those who believe in Him from death and eternal death - hell. This New Covenant's sign would be known as Holy Communion or The Lord's Supper. We celebrate it weekly to remember just how much Jesus loves us. The events of the following day would show that he meant what he said when he said, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). As we gather tonight at our Maundy Thursday Service at 7:30p.m. let us hold in mind all that this service means to us.

Let us Pray.
Almighty Father, whose most dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it in thankful remembrance of Jesus Christ our Savior, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.