Clothe yourself with Love Col. 3:14

Good Friday EP Reflection 041522 (Lamentations 3; Isaiah 53) “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. For the Lord will not reject forever. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.” Lam 3: 25-30. “…he was pierced for our transgressions…and with his wounds we are healed.” Is 53:5 If there is any day of the year that seems quieter and darker, it is Good Friday. We remember the events that led Jesus Christ to death on the cross. The somber ambiance of the day is marked by a gruesome way of dying which led Jesus to the cross and die six hours later. This is a

Upon hearing the news that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, crowds came to welcome him with branches of palm trees. Normally at this time of the year, Jerusalem is filled with many religious pilgrims coming into town for the Passover festival which commemorates God’s liberation of Jews from Egyptian slavery. Just imagine the atmosphere… Festivities, decorations and lots of people in town. If there is anything of interest that happens, it’s expected to happen during this time. The OT scriptures predicted this event many years before that day: of how Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey: Behold Zion, your King comes to you, humble and riding a donkey (Zech. 9:9). Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Ps 118): This is what we celebrate as we process in Palm Sunday Liturgy. On one hand, we see a celebration we call “the triumphant entry into Jerusalem” and on the other, the crucifixion at the end of the week! Two opposite reactions almost a week apart. It seems surreal yet

WED 040622 EP Reflection (Exodus 7: 8-24; Mark 10:1-16) Today marks 28 years of two presidents’ assassination that started war and Genocide in Rwanda. A painful chapter in our history and many lessons to learn. After spending some time in this Exodus passage, I began to see a pattern emerging between God and Pharaoh, a pattern which unfortunately is too common amongst us humans. It is human pride and its devastating consequences. We are a people who are thirsty of power and domination. It is a vice that can sneak quietly into our lives and into our society unnoticed. Think of when our culture says to us, that we must be masters of our own destiny. In a way, this is a positive thing but to a point! When your ambition/ destiny becomes a nightmare for other people in order for you to reach your desired outcome, then this is completely negative and unacceptable in the eyes of the Lord. This was Pharaoh’s predicament. He did not want to lose all that Hebrew work force and power. The more