Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? O, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when the sun refused to shine? Were you there when the sun refused to shine? O, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when the sun refused to shine? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? O, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? This song came into my heart sometime in mid-March and it has stayed close ever since. Not once have I been able to sing it without crying. It’s a song that has come in and has been moving through the nooks and crannies of my soul. It’s a song that can transport my spirit from what is happening right here, right now back to the hillside outside of Jerusalem. We are told that Jesus was forced to carry his cross through the narrow, winding streets of the city. As the story goes, people lined the path and witnessed as he passed by. We are told family and friends, those who’d heard of him and his stories, others who could only guess his coming fate – they all watched him pass. This year’s Lenten journey has been like no other time in our lives. I know that each of us have at some point in our lives journeyed through seasons of Lent during personal times of illness and loss. Person-by-person we have known the ache and woundedness of the Lonesome Valley. But this year we are, all of us person-by-person, family-by-family, city-by-city, country-by-country walking this valley together. There is a trembling that speaks to the fear, pain and gut-punch of this day. There is a trembling that fills the hours. This trembling brings in doubt and erodes our trust. Today’s Good Friday trembling has come uninvited, settled in and doesn’t appear to ever plan to leave. This COVID-19 Pandemic has covered the world, just as we were told the shadow came over the earth when Jesus was on the cross. We are told that there was a small group that gathered around the cross. Different stories tell us who was there. We will never know what took place on that day. We can only imagine how that was for those who were with him. I am mindful today of how impossibly hard it is to stand by, to bear witness when another is suffering. And I also know that in the times I have been with another, that moment is the closest I’ve known to be standing on holy ground. Today is our Good Friday. This is the day that marks the moment in time when the world witnessed Love’s dying. Slowly, painfully Love died on that cross. On this day, we are mindful, you and I of the trembling that is now happening in our world. We are mindful of our trembling that comes from knowing that there is a virus overshadowing everything around us. And we know that in spite of our fear and trembling we bear witness. It matters that we not turn away. It matters that we recognize that this place, too is holy ground. It matters that, even in our trembling, we believe that love somehow continues to live on in us. (Mom's painting of Mourners at the Cross) Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLesley is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Her passions are listening to her sons, John Brogan and Sam sing; great conversations, long walks and baseball. Archives
April 2020
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