ENCORE BLOG - My Good Friday Ritual

ENCORE:  This Blog original was posted for Good Friday 2015

For years I have had a Good Friday ritual.  Each year, in addition to curating a Good Friday experience at Parachutes (www.ParachutesAlaska.com) or attending a worship service, I always watch “Until the End of the World” by U2 on the Elevation 2001 – Live From Boston DVD.  I watch that performance for two reasons: the songs lyrics about grace extended even to Judas with the backdrop of the last supper and for the portrayal of good verses evil acted out on the stage at the end of the song.  It reminds me of the grace and salvation offered at the cross as well as God overcoming  the devil and his works on Good Friday.  

I also watch Jesus Was and Only Child on the VH-1 Storytellers episode with Bruce Springsteen.  That DVD is part of my observance each year because of Springsteen’s explanation of the song drawing the listener to Jesus’ relationship with his mother, Jesus’ humanity, and our own humanity.  A wonderful song written about Good Friday.

Today I added a new piece to my list of Good Friday touchstones.  I burned a podcast to CD and plan to listen to it each Good Friday.  Burned onto that disc is an interview with author Tony Jones on the Homebrewed Christianity podcast ( http://homebrewedchristianity.com/2015/03/30/did-god-kill-jesus-w-tony-jones ).  Jones discusses his book “Did God Kill Jesus?”  It is a good discussion of one of my favorite topics – atonement theories.  However, it is not the atonement theory discussion that caused this to be added to my observance, but rather Jones’ explanation of Rene Girard’s understanding of the atonement and the cross.  Jones renames Girard’s view as The Mirror model of atonement and explains that what God is doing on the cross is showing humanity its violence and displaying that violence will never work and has never worked.  Humanity is forced to look at the fact that we are so violently destructive that we even killed Jesus.

Joel K

NEW SERMON: The Anti-Triumphal Entry

The Anti-Triumphal Entry

I had the privilege to teach on Palm Sunday last week at Crosspoint from Mark 11.

You can listen to the sermon HERE.

Wishing you Shalom this 
Holy Week,

Joel K

PS - I am going to write on this blog again someday, not just post sermon audio, but it has been a blur lately so this is the best I can do.

NEW SERMON: The City and the Temple: Crying and Driving

I had the opportunity to preach at Crosspoint Community Church again last Sunday.  It was the first in a series of sermons drawn from Jesus' last week.  The text was Jesus looking over Jerusalem and the scene in the temple where he drives out the vendors.

The sermon audio is HERE.

Joel K