backtothefuture
04-15-2006, 09:15 PM
Hi,
I just wanted to share my experience last night at a Good Friday service. In all my years as a Christian, I had never gone to a Good Friday service. But this year it fell on the date that my husband and his best friend celebrated 20 years of sobriety. In all my years of living in fundamentalism I never once acknowledged what an accomplishment this was for my husband.
We got this post card about a local church doing something like the stations of the cross but not really. Will explain in a minute. So We invited my husbands friend and wife to dinner and asked if they would like to go to this service and they said yes. When we were done with dinner I gave both my husband and his friend a 20 dollar gift card for golf. I told them, that I was sorry I just acted like it was no big deal over the years. It was a big deal and a great accomplishment in this day and age. It was my way of saying I was sorry to my husband for being insensitive about it all.
Anyway, we went to this service. Well, it wasn't a service but an experience.
First they asked people to sit in the atrium and just clear their minds. There were home made cookies, coffee, pretzels and easter candy on every table.
Then 6 of us at a time went through what was like a maze. The first station we came to was about doubt. There was a short video and There was Scripture leading up to the crucification and a bucket of stones. We were given a small black bag to collect our stones in. So, I knew I had lots of doubt in my life so I put a big rock in my bag. The next station was about loneliness. We sat in chairs and looked at pictures of lonely people. Young, old from all walks of life, then took another stone for our bag if we experienced loneliness. We went on to a station where there were 5 light brights and each one had a color of peg representing anger. You put the pegs in the light bright that fit you. Then added a rock to the bag if you experienced loneliness. On we went through 14 of these. One with 12 banners of felt hanging from the ceiling each one with words that hurt. Ugly, geek, stupid etc. If you experienced any of this you added a paper clip to the hanging, took a stone and moved on. We went next to 4 bins of sand. And the scripture was on abandonment. You wrote the name of those who had abandoned you in the sand and then took your hand and washed it away. In the end I had a big bag with 14 rocks I thought I was bringing home. The last station was a room with a cross in a rock pile. We were to empty our rocks there and pick up a new rock and write a name on the rock. I wrote Hope on mine. My husband and I sat and just wept. Then we moved on to a room with worship and Communion. So my husband and I toasted the Communion cups and took it together. Then we asked for prayer. We sobbed until we were drained. It was so cleansing. The moral to this Good Friday was to see that Jesus had felt all those things that we had felt. But for me it was way different and more. Because I have come into Grace and what that means, this Good Friday was like a new beginning for me and my husband. I wanted to go. I am so filled with the joy of knowing God has saved all of humanity. I never before had the joy of the Lord until I came to the grace place. It wasn't a sad experience for me. It was just so cool. Thats all I can say.
I just wanted to share this. Don't know why. Accept most of you here, have helped open my eyes to Grace over the years. You have helped me connect the dots, to read what I was thinking but didn't know how to express and have been so gracious in taking my hand and walking with me. You helped me carry my cross. And it was so heavy.
Two years ago, I wanted to die but didn't. Last year I did die. I died to all the lies I had been taught, all the self doubt I had bought into and all the guilt and shame that had eaten me worse than leprosy. But... it brought me to the resurrected place of grace. So worth it.
Happy Easter and blessings to everyone.
Nancy
I just wanted to share my experience last night at a Good Friday service. In all my years as a Christian, I had never gone to a Good Friday service. But this year it fell on the date that my husband and his best friend celebrated 20 years of sobriety. In all my years of living in fundamentalism I never once acknowledged what an accomplishment this was for my husband.
We got this post card about a local church doing something like the stations of the cross but not really. Will explain in a minute. So We invited my husbands friend and wife to dinner and asked if they would like to go to this service and they said yes. When we were done with dinner I gave both my husband and his friend a 20 dollar gift card for golf. I told them, that I was sorry I just acted like it was no big deal over the years. It was a big deal and a great accomplishment in this day and age. It was my way of saying I was sorry to my husband for being insensitive about it all.
Anyway, we went to this service. Well, it wasn't a service but an experience.
First they asked people to sit in the atrium and just clear their minds. There were home made cookies, coffee, pretzels and easter candy on every table.
Then 6 of us at a time went through what was like a maze. The first station we came to was about doubt. There was a short video and There was Scripture leading up to the crucification and a bucket of stones. We were given a small black bag to collect our stones in. So, I knew I had lots of doubt in my life so I put a big rock in my bag. The next station was about loneliness. We sat in chairs and looked at pictures of lonely people. Young, old from all walks of life, then took another stone for our bag if we experienced loneliness. We went on to a station where there were 5 light brights and each one had a color of peg representing anger. You put the pegs in the light bright that fit you. Then added a rock to the bag if you experienced loneliness. On we went through 14 of these. One with 12 banners of felt hanging from the ceiling each one with words that hurt. Ugly, geek, stupid etc. If you experienced any of this you added a paper clip to the hanging, took a stone and moved on. We went next to 4 bins of sand. And the scripture was on abandonment. You wrote the name of those who had abandoned you in the sand and then took your hand and washed it away. In the end I had a big bag with 14 rocks I thought I was bringing home. The last station was a room with a cross in a rock pile. We were to empty our rocks there and pick up a new rock and write a name on the rock. I wrote Hope on mine. My husband and I sat and just wept. Then we moved on to a room with worship and Communion. So my husband and I toasted the Communion cups and took it together. Then we asked for prayer. We sobbed until we were drained. It was so cleansing. The moral to this Good Friday was to see that Jesus had felt all those things that we had felt. But for me it was way different and more. Because I have come into Grace and what that means, this Good Friday was like a new beginning for me and my husband. I wanted to go. I am so filled with the joy of knowing God has saved all of humanity. I never before had the joy of the Lord until I came to the grace place. It wasn't a sad experience for me. It was just so cool. Thats all I can say.
I just wanted to share this. Don't know why. Accept most of you here, have helped open my eyes to Grace over the years. You have helped me connect the dots, to read what I was thinking but didn't know how to express and have been so gracious in taking my hand and walking with me. You helped me carry my cross. And it was so heavy.
Two years ago, I wanted to die but didn't. Last year I did die. I died to all the lies I had been taught, all the self doubt I had bought into and all the guilt and shame that had eaten me worse than leprosy. But... it brought me to the resurrected place of grace. So worth it.
Happy Easter and blessings to everyone.
Nancy