Benny's Blog: Holy Week

Showing posts with label Holy Week. Show all posts

Sunday, 8 April 2012

Soundtrack for Holy Week - He is Risen!

'They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord'

May the Joy of the Risen Christ fill your heart, your mind, and your soul this day - because Jesus is Alive!

Todays final song comes from YFriday - best played loud!

To view the other Soundtracks for Holy Week follow the links below:

Saturday, 7 April 2012

Soundtrack for Holy Week - Easter Eve

Easter Eve is a time of waiting.

Between the trauma of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday, it sits caught in the middle, calling on us to wait for what we know is to come, and yet not quite here.

Living in the moment of this day is an expression of our Christian lives - caught between the now and the 'not yet' - the trials of this life and the hope of what is to come - the new life we have received in Christ and the old life that clings to us so tightly.

The truth is that most of us don't like waiting. We live in an instant society where increasingly we expect to be able to get what we want whenever we want it . At the click of a mouse or the swipe of a credit card we want it now, with next day delivery guaranteed. Lord give me patience - and give it me now!

We often forget that there is value in waiting for the important things in life. Relationships are not built in a day - neither is faith. Both need creative patience if they are to grow deep and strong.

And so on Easter Eve we wait, longing for the joy that is ahead - and in the waiting God is there, deepening our relationship with him as we wait on him.

Today's song is by Iona and the images are mostly from Jerusalem as we wait for the resurrection...

To view the other Soundtracks for Holy Week follow the links below:

Friday, 6 April 2012

Soundtrack for Holy Week - Good Friday

No words today - just images and a beautiful song...

To view the other Soundtracks for Holy Week follow the links below:

Thursday, 5 April 2012

Soundtrack for Holy Week - Maundy Thursday

Now the momentous events of Holy Week really start to unfold.

The tension of the week has been building as we approach the story of the Passion - and today it begins.

I have always associated Maundy Thursday with sadness. The poignancy of the Last Supper - the anguished prayers in Gethsemane waiting for Judas and the guards to arrive - the betrayal, arrest and midnight trial.

I have been fed by songs like "Stay here, keep watch with me" from Taize as I have kept the watch of prayer after the Maundy Thursday service.

But there is another side to Maundy Thursday - the sense that finally, it has all begun. All that Jesus was leading up to - all that he had been preparing for - everything his life had been waiting for, was now about to unfold.

Time and time again Jesus has told his disciples of coming arrest, death and rising in Jerusalem, and now it was underway.

So today's song is not one of sadness, but one of steely determination and quiet confidence.

It is 'Hello Hurricane' by Switchfoot - the waiting was over...

I've been watching the skies
They've been turning blood red
Not a doubt in my mind anymore
There's a storm up ahead

Hello hurricane
You're not enough
Hello hurricane
You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows boarded up
All your dead end fury is not enough
You can't silence my love, my love

Every thing I have I count as loss
Everything I have is stripped away
Before I started building
I counted up these costs
There's nothing left for you to take away

Hello hurricane
You're not enough
Hello hurricane
You can't silence my love
I've got doors and windows boarded up
All your dead end fury is not enough
You can't silence my love

To view the other Soundtracks for Holy Week follow the links below:

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Soundtrack for Holy Week - Judas

Judas is the antithesis of Mary.

He was the one who criticised her for pouring her expensive perfume over Jesus feet at Bethany. He was the one with connections in high places. He was the one who held the money bag for the Twelve - and who helped himself.

But why did he betray Jesus?

The answer to that question remains a mystery. Was it jealousy, disillusionment, greed or despair? Was he trying to force Jesus' hand by putting him in a position where he had to reveal his true power and set Israel free? Was it simply an act of madness that led him to take the soldiers to Jesus in the dead on night and betray him with a kiss?

Whatever the answer, one thing is for sure. There was a fight going on inside Judas, a struggle for supremacy between the Judas who chose to follow Jesus and the Judas who ultimately betrayed him.

That fight goes on within us all, to a greater or lesser degree.

We want to follow Jesus but we also have our own plans, dreams, and ambitions. We come to the one who calls us to unconditional surrender to God, and yet we want to retain control. We sometimes wish that God would act according to our time-scales and our judgements, and we get disillusioned when he doesn't.

For Judas, the fight inside finally led to his downfall. The betrayers kiss, the guilt and despair, and finally the place which he hung himself.

But the fight is there within us all...

Today's song comes from American band 'Red' and is called "Fight inside".

(If you get an inane advert at the beginning please don't give up - the song is worth waiting for)

To view the other Soundtracks for Holy Week follow the links below:

Monday, 2 April 2012

Soundtrack for Holy Week - Mary anoints Jesus

One of the most moving acts of Holy Week was Mary pouring perfume on the feet of Jesus and wiping them with her hair.

John tells us that this was not the 'sinful' woman who came to Jesus in repentance, but Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus.

She was the one who sat at Jesus feet when Martha was doing the chores, and once again, Mary chose love over practicality when she took a bottle of costly perfume and broke it over Jesus feet in preparation for his death, just 6 days later.

Her devotion is a sign to all of us that following Jesus sometimes means throwing caution to the wind in overwhelming outpourings of love and compassion - extravagant, extreme, even wasteful love.

When she was attacked for being wasteful, Jesus rose to her defence and said that her actions would be told wherever the Gospel is preached even to the ends of the earth - and we remember her wonderful extravagant love today.

The music comes from a wonderful CD by 'Chrisitan City Youth' called 'No longer I' and is available from Amazon.

To view the other Soundtracks for Holy Week follow the links below: