Death and Resurrection - Prayer Room Posters

Death and Resurrection Posters

Death and Resurrection

Holy Week, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday are central events in the Christian calendar. We remember the great love of God for his children; the terrible cost of sin; the willing sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross; and the eternal victory over sin, death, flesh, the World and the Devil that is sealed in Christ’s death and resurrection.

Christian tradition says that the word “Hallelujah” isn’t uttered during the time of Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter weekend. That word - the joyous exclamation that celebrates all that God has done for us - is reserved until Resurrection Sunday, when Christians around the world let fly with their praise and rejoicing.

During this week of prayer, let us embrace the full sorrow of the Cross and the sin of the World that Jesus endured, so that we might fully embrace the joy and victory of the Resurrection and the redemption of the world that is happening in Christ.

Death and Resurrection

“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

Scriptures

John 11:1-16

Prayer Join in this prayer of praise from Revelation 12:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.

For the accuser of our brothers has been

thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God.

They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their

Reflection We call one of the disciples “Doubting Thomas” because he didn’t believe the reports of the resurrection until the risen

Jesus was standing right in front of him. But in this passage Thomas displays incredible courage and devotion to Jesus.

The disciples all know that if Jesus returns to Jerusalem there is a strong chance he will be killed by His enemies. They do not

want him to go. They do not understand that this is Jesus’ very purpose, His mission.

Seeing that Jesus still firmly intends to return to Jerusalem,

Thomas says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” The disciples did not yet fully grasp who Jesus was or what he was

testimony. And they did not lov

doing, but they loved him and wanted to be with him. They

Therefore rejoice, O heavens,

resolve they initially failed. They did not understand that it was

their lives so as to shy away from death. and you who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea;

with great fury the devil has come down to you, knowing he has only a short time.”

thought they were prepared even to die for him, though in that Jesus who would die for them.

Many of Jesus’ followers would receive the opportunity to die for him later, after the Resurrection.

Take a piece of string and carry it in your pocket or attach it to a keychain this week. Make a knot in the string every time you find your minds returning to the place of past failures or unmet expectations. See how knotted up your heart and mind get during the course of a week. Use the string to remind yourself that God doesn’t want you in that tangled place, and to affirm that God can work out the knots.

“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

Cleansing the Temple

Scriptures

Matt. 21:12-17

Reflection The Temple was the centre of spiritual, cultural and political

power in Jerusalem. Jesus is the true King in the line of David,

Prayer

and also the Son of the God to whom the Temple belongs. Yet

Lord, cleanse us of anything that is

authority, and reacted to Jesus’ actions with shock and

trying to steal your glory. Show us

where we have put trust or devotion in anything other than you, and help us

to cast out our idols. Show us also where you want to heal your people.

the chief priests and temple officials did not recognize this indignance. They were thus “robbing” from the glory of God.

The “den of robbers” quote is instructive. A den is a place where you feel safe and secure after committing a crime. Jesus is

saying that this safety is an illusion, that the corrupted Temple system will not save them. The focal point of salvation is not the Temple, but Jesus himself.

Aditional Rersource: Jesus’ actions in the Temple were a testimony that hastened his arrest and death. The early Church understood that to stand for Jesus meant to risk

everything. The word they used for “witness” came to be the same word that is used for “martyr”. When we choose to follow Jesus, our lives and words

are meant to be a living testimony to him, and this often comes with a cost.

Where is God inviting you to be a witness? Have another bag near the door

that contains within it a large number of strips of paper, on each of which is written one of the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). Have each person grab one strip of paper as they leave the room. This is their challenge for the week, to be a witness bearing that particular fruit of the Spirit.

Cleansing the Temple

Come to the Table

Scriptures While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine

Reflection In Mark’s presentation of the Last Supper, Jesus uses the bread and wine not just to look back to the Exodus story, as was traditional, but also to look forward to his own sacrifice. A new covenant was about to be forged between Jesus and all who believed in him, just as the last covenant was created after the Passover and Exodus.

Partaking of the bread and the wine, then, meant that the disciples would be partaking in Jesus himself. This meant sharing his life, his death and his resurrection. Meals were already sacred acts of fellowship in the Ancient Near East, but this raises the stakes enormously. Sharing Jesus’ cup and bread meant sharing in intimate fellowship, life and death with him, and in the hope of the coming Kingdom of God.

until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Mk. 14:22-25

Who is missing from your table? Invite someone to dinner this week, or out for coffee.

Prayer Pray this adaptation of John 17:22-23: You have given us the glory that Your

Consider also arranging a Last Supper/Seder meal with a group of friends (and consider inviting neighbours as well)

You could arrange one for the week prior to Good Friday, or for the actual Passover date.

Father gave You, Jesus, that we may be one as You and the Father are

one—You in us and we in you—so that

we may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that Your

Aditional Rersource:

Father sent You and that He has loved us even as He loved You.

Come to the Table

Washing Feet

Scriptures

Reflection

John 13:1-17

Prayer Lord, show us how You served us, how You have washed our feet, so that we might be moved to wash the feet of

others. Help us to receive Your love, and then to become Your love in the world. Help us especially to love our sisters and brothers in the faith; our neighbours; and our enemies.

Jesus demonstrates what servant leadership looks like. It involves taking the lowliest possible position, being humbled, and counting others more significant than yourself (Phil 2:3). Jesus tells his disciples to follow his example in washing one another’s feet.

This is not just an act of love between brothers and sisters, it is an act of worship: God is praised as we love each other in this way.

But notice how the devil subtly starts his temptations by questioning Jesus’ identity: “If you are the Son of God…” Identity is vital. Jesus knows He belongs to the Father, that He is beloved. He was told this conclusively at his baptism. Because of this, He can reject the devil’s temptations with confident authority.

We also belong to the Father. We are beloved and we can carry the same confident authority in resisting temptation.

Jackie Pullinger has said: “God wants us to have soft hearts and hard feet. The trouble with so many of us is that we have hard hearts and soft feet.”

Consider putting this quote near the exit to your door, along with the question: Where is it hard for you to walk? Where are you afraid to go? Where is your heart hard? Where are you holding on to bitterness and resentment?

This week go on a prayer walk to that hard place and pray if you can. If you can’t physically go there, go there in prayer.

Washing Feet

Father Forgive Them

Scriptures Isaiah 53:1-12 & Luke 23:26-49

Prayer Pray the Anima Christi: Soul of Christ, sanctify me.

Body of Christ, save me.

Blood of Christ, inebriate me.

Water from the side of Christ, wash me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

O Good Jesus, hear me.

Within your wounds hide me.

Permit me not to be separated from you.

From the wicked foe, defend me.

At the hour of my death, call me and bid me come to you

Reflection The prophecy from Isaiah 53 indicates that the Suffering Servant will be “numbered with the transgressors.” Jesus accepts the arrest, the beatings, the mockery, the insults, the accusations, the questions, and the miscarriage of justice that are heaped upon him. He does not try to defend himself, does not try to remove himself from the situation, does not try to lessen the humiliation in any way. He takes it all, willingly, though he does not deserve any of it.

Jesus’s journey to the cross identifies him with sinners, criminals, and law-breakers, though he committed no sin, was involved in no crime, and broke no law. And from the cross, Jesus prays. He asks his Father to forgive them, those who are killing him. It is clear that the executioners know that they are killing a man, and some even suspect they are killing an innocent man. But they don’t know that they are pawns in a conflict that is much bigger than them and even than their Empire. They do not realise the true nature of the man who is being killed; they are ignorant of this reality, and so Jesus asks his Father to forgive them.

How great, how all-encompassing, is the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus!

That with your saints I may praise you For ever and ever. Amen.

People still face unjust imprisonment in our world. Jesus knows this

Aditional Rersource:

injustice first-hand. One way to remember his sacrifice is to support those who are undergoing this evil.

How can your Church or community get involved in caring for those in prison or in detention centres in your area?

Father Forgive Them

Silent Saturday

Prayer Pray out the words of Psalm 88: Lord, you are the God who saves me; day and night I cry out to you.

May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.

I am overwhelmed with troubles

and my life draws near to death.

I am counted among those who

go down to the pit; I am like one without strength.

I am set apart with the dead,

like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more,

Scriptures

Luke 23:50-55

who are cut off from your care.

You have put me in the lowest pit,

Reflection

in the darkest depths.

Your wrath lies heavily on me;

you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.

You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them.

I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, Lord, every day;

I spread out my hands to you.

Do you show your wonders to the dead?

Do their spirits rise up and praise you?

Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction?

Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

But I cry to you for help, Lord;

in the morning my prayer comes before you.

Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?

From my youth I have suffered and been close to death; I have borne your terrors and am in despair.

The Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday is a sombre time. What do we do? Joseph of Arimathea does what he can, claiming Jesus’ body, wrapping it in linen, and giving it a dignified resting place in an unused tomb. The women, after seeing the body laid in the tomb, go home to prepare spices for the necessary work of treating the body after the Sabbath is over. It is a day of waiting, of quiet, of mourning. Yet for Christians it also carries the feeling of anticipation.

Joseph, the women, and the disciples did not know what was to come. We do, because we have heard their story.

Still, it is a helpful discipline to sit with Joseph and the women in their grief, in their uncertainty, even in their disappointment. We are familiar with these feelings in our daily lives, when we are struck with failure and setbacks and unmet expectations, and we don’t know the final end of the story. So let us not rush through Silent Saturday, Holy Saturday. Let us stay in this liminal space, this place of awaiting, and pray with all those around the world who are in a place of darkness.

Your wrath has swept over me;

your terrors have destroyed me.

All day long they surround me like a flood; they have completely engulfed me.

You have taken from me friend and neighbour darkness is my closest friend.

Be as silent as possible for the rest of the day. Avoid

social media. Consider fasting from a meal. Take this day to lament the sorrow of the world.

Silent Saturday

Resurrection Sunday

Scriptures

Luke 24:1-8

Prayer Pray out Psalm 150, and let fly your Halleluyah!

Halleluyah!

Praise God in his holy place!

Praise him in the heavenly dome of his power!

Praise him for his mighty deeds!

Praise him for his surpassing greatness!

Praise him with a blast on the shofar!

Praise him with lute and lyre!

Reflection Something happened. The stone was rolled away. The body was gone. The women were told by the angels that Jesus had risen from the dead. None of the Gospel writers describe this resurrection, for the obvious reason that no human could have seen it. All humans could ever see was the result of the resurrection, the person and power of Jesus.

The angels wonder at the women’s surprise, however. Jesus had let his followers know that he would be handed over to the authorities, that he would be killed, and that he would rise again from the dead on the third day. This is precisely what happened, but nobody truly believed Jesus when he said it.

Possibly they thought he was speaking metaphorically, or perhaps they simply could not grasp the painful reality. But once the women were reminded of Jesus’ words, they became messengers (the first apostles) to the other disciples that the tomb was empty.

Praise him with tambourines and dancing!

Praise him with flutes and strings!

Praise him with clanging cymbals!

Praise him with loud crashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise Adonai!

Halleluyah!

Surprise someone this week with an extravagant blessing.

Resurrection Sunday