During the season of Lent,
First Church has been focusing on health and recovery.
And each week we've taken a word from the beginning of the creation story in Genesis chapter 1 as our guidance and our focus for our own spiritual health and our collective recovery.
During Holy Week we've taken a side every day and focused on one word.
And in that one word we are meditating,
Reflecting on how this word is made manifest on this particular day of Holy Week.
Given that today is Good Friday,
Our word today is pain.
Now before you skip to the next session,
Please,
Please,
Please stay with me.
Stay with me in this time of attentiveness to whatever is coming up within us.
Stay with me in the story that may help us realize the profound way that God is assisting us,
Assisting us to fully realize just how loved we are,
Even in the face of our own pain.
What does the story of Jesus have to teach us about our life and life experience?
We begin with the reading today from the Gospel of John chapter 19 starting at verse 31.
Since it was the day of preparation,
The faithful did not want the bodies left on the cross during the Sabbath,
Especially because that Sabbath was a great day of solemnity.
So they asked Pontius Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed.
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus,
They saw that he was already dead.
They did not break his legs.
Instead,
One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once blood and water came out.
Now he who saw this has testified so that you may also believe his testimony is true and he knows that he tells the truth.
These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled.
None of his bones shall be broken,
The scripture says.
And again another passage of scripture says,
They will look on the one whom they have pierced.
Today our word is pain.
As we get into this time of meditation and reflection,
I invite you to find a very comfortable space,
Seated or lying down or even reclining.
And if you're comfortable,
I invite you to close your eyes,
To rest in this moment and trust that you are going to be cared for.
Knowing that our story doesn't end here.
As you close your eyes,
I invite you to find your breath.
One of the most difficult and daunting meditations that I can invite you to is a meditation on pain.
Cultivating our attentiveness to suffering is one of the most significant spiritual exercises we can engage in.
And because it is so significant,
It is the reason why I believe Christians take so seriously the telling of the story of Jesus.
To come in contact with suffering.
So often we do not like to face these moments of pain and suffering.
As a matter of fact,
In the Buddhist tradition,
The first noble truth is to realize and recognize that there is suffering.
So from the Christian and the Buddhist traditions,
West and East alike,
Suffering is a teacher.
So let's rest in that.
The story at the end of Jesus's life,
Especially the minute details that the Gospel of John offers,
Invites us to come so close to the pain and suffering of Jesus's crucifixion.
But all of it,
All of it in this Holy Week is the story of pain.
The isolation of a trial,
The violent beatings,
The mockery of a crowd,
And ultimately the most humiliating death on display.
It is the heartbreak and sheer agony of this reality that touches our lives,
Isn't it?
Isolation,
Violence,
Mockery,
And humiliation.
Maybe you have experienced one of these four,
Or all of these four.
Find your breath.
Place your hand on your heart.
Be here now.
Can you be in touch with the pain you're carrying?
Can you allow the thoughts and feelings you associate with that pain?
Breathe.
The thoughts and feelings are merely stories.
I invite you now to investigate those thoughts and feelings attached to your pain.
And now place both hands on your heart.
And nurture the affirmation of your survival and even thriving in the face of pain.
Nourish that story of affirmation,
Of survival,
Of thriving,
Instead of the negative interpretations of yourself regarding that pain.
Nurture and nourish the story of you being here right now.
Can you be in touch with the pain that you are carrying and not let that pain define you?
Can you be in touch with the pain you're carrying and not let that pain define you?
This ultimately,
Dear friend,
Is the story of the cross.
Keeping both hands on your heart,
Be here right now with whatever is coming up for you.
It is Good Friday.
Good Friday invites us to be in touch with the pain while not allowing the pain to define us.
This is the story of the cross.
This is the story of your life.
This is the story of the God who is with you always and never leaves you.
Release your hands from your heart,
Opening them up to receive the gift of life that is around you.
Open your eyes and find yourself resting in the reality of God's presence with every breath.
