Entering Holy Week

Lord, You told your disciples: "If someone wants to follow Me, they must deny themselves, carry their cross and follow Me." In Your Name we pray: Lord, help us to take up our cross and follow you.

You stood before Pilate. You were condemned to death, while Your Words were rejected and Your Innocence scorned.

Protect us from rejecting Your Word, which is full of truth and redemption.

You carried your cross because You loved us, because you loved the whole world.

Help us to carry our cross, because we love you and we want to love the whole world like You do.

The weight of the cross was the weight of our sins, those sins that make us stumble and fall.

In our weakness we come to You for strength.

Even though You were suffering, You still reached out and cared for your mother.

Please make it so that the cross that we bear doesn’t hinder us from seeing the people around us.

When You struggled to carry your cross, they forced a passer-by to carry it for You.Make us willing, like Simon, to carry the burdens of those around us that are suffering.

Others also risked standing by You.

Strengthen our faith so that we are able to care for our brothers and sisters in You.

The burden of sin rested heavily on Your Shoulders while You stumbled along the way of the cross.

Forgive, Lord, the sin that makes us stumble and fall.

Your suffering on the way to Golgotha made the woman of Jerusalem weep.

Give that our suffering in this life may be taken up into your suffering on the way of the cross.

The full burden of our sins shattered You.

Please do not let us continue in our sin, but cause in us regret and faith.

Exposed and mocked, You endured the humiliation without protesting.

Make us humble in everything that we do and experience daily.

Nailed to the cross, You took your place between the condemned.

Please be with us as sinners, and bring us with You into paradise through our faith.

When your sacrifice was complete, You surrendered Yourself into the hands of the Father.

Keep us always close to your cross and your death, now and in the hour of our death.

True friends and dedicated women took care of your body.

Make us true and dedicated in our care for your body here on earth.

In the grave You were laid down, but from that grave You were resurrected.

Be the Lord of the resurrection for us as well as everyone else that belongs to You.

Lord Jesus, because of the cross and your suffering we were absolved, our sins were washed away and our relationship with You was restored. And so we thank You for the cross and for the depth of your love for us. Help us to carry our cross in this world, to follow You until we walk with You into the Kingdom of God, where You reign together with the Father and the Holy Spirit – one God, now and forever more.

Amen.

The only constant…

Jaco and Lindsey Barnard, 6 April 2012

I will always struggle with how quickly time flies – just as I struggle with the practicality of how time zones work  I was looking at wedding photos of a beautiful and magical wedding – Jaco and Lindsey Barnard’s – and I was reminded of the fact that Sarel and I’s marriage journey had its beginning more than eight years ago. And, me being me, I started thinking back on those years…about the people we were…about all the things that have happened…about the people we have become… And, in a way, it seems so strange that we are still together, for so much has changed in our lives and in our beings.

It is not for nothing that one of the most memorable and oft-repeated quotes of all time is “the only constant in life is change”. And that makes marriage seem like such a strange concept – for you are promising to be with someone forever…yet you cannot be sure who that person will be in ten years…hell, even who you will be! Especially if you are committed to being self-aware and have a desire to always become more yourself, to keep growing, for growth means change and change involves risk, involves stepping from the known to the unknown. With the person you now give your heart to it could mean stepping into being with someone “new and unknown” a few years along the line. I certainly know this to be true of our lives…our marriage…I am not the same person I was on that dewy-eyed day. You are promising to be committed to (and very involved in) a roller-coaster ride…

That's the story of...that's the glory of...

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” Anatole France ”Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” - Arnold Bennett

What makes it worthwhile? For worthwhile it certainly is, this rollercoaster called marriage. What makes the change, and the discomfort and grief it often brings, something to commit to and look forward to? ”Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.” - Bruce Barton

Exactly that – knowing that your journey brings change and growth, not only in your own being, but also in the being of that one person who has committed to staying. And if you have set out on this journey together for the right reasons, that change will always be for the better. The grace (and discomfort) of marriage is the privilege of having your own purifying fire, bringing with each passing year more clarity and shine. But encapsulated with that fire also the one person who will always be in your corner, who will always be there in your striving towards yourself. Relationships change with time, they only last if you learn to adapt and except that change.

Luckily, we can “always remember that the future comes one day at a time” – Dean Acheson Marriage might begin with that one beautiful day, but it has to continue with a daily renewal of commitment to that day’s spouse. And before you know it, you are ten years down the line; you are different; yet you are loved. May the blessing of the journey be yours.

Here's to you, kid