hermionesviolin | "You will all become deserters."

      “When we were in India, we saw a festival in the city of their goddess Kali. She’s a goddess of destruction, Maggie. It was the bloodiest thing I’ve ever seen, thousands of animals slaughtered, hundreds of men beheaded. The whole world seemed slick with blood. Joshua and I saved some children from being flayed alive, but when it was over, Joshua kept saying, no more sacrifices, no more.”
      Maggie looked at me as if she expected more. “So? It was horrible, what did you expect him to say?”
      “He wasn’t talking to me, Maggie. He was talking to God. And I don’t think he was making a request.”
      “Are you saying that he thinks his father wants to kill him for trying to change things, so he can’t avoid it because it’s the will of God?”
      “No, I’m saying that he’s going to allow himself to be killed to show his father that things need to be changed. He’s not going to try to avoid it.”

[...]

     “The table will be set for the Passover feast of the Essenes,” Joseph said. “Stay here for supper.”
      “Celebrate the Passover early? Why?” John asked. “Why celebrate with the Essenes?”
      Joseph looked away from Joshua when he answered. “Because at the Essenes’ feast, they don’t kill a lamb.”

-from Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

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George and I took Grandma to Maundy Thursday service. I always like that it's the one service that lets the scripture speak for itself.
The saddest part (aside from the "Jesus died" part), for me is when Jesus says, "Can you not watch with me for one hour?" So powerful on so many levels -- it comes back to me again and again when people are in need.

First Churches did the Vigil of Tenebrae, deacons and ministers sitting at a table in front of the congregation, reading through Matthew 26, extinguishing candles as they went (and after Matthew 26:25, the sanctuary lights started to dim) and at the "Can you not watch with me for one hour?" bit i thought of you and that poem (http://www.livejournal.com/users/hermionesviolin/167703.html).

The part that really got me was Jesus' prediction of Peter's denial, because i knew Peter would betray him, and i also knew that Jesus says of Peter, "This is the rock upon which I shall build my church," and i know partly this is because the introductory Words of Reflection was titled "You Will All Become Deserters" and we had talked about the Holy Week narrative at RCFOS last night and the different kinds of betrayal (Judas, Peter, all the disciples falling asleep) and the different ways that modern believers betray/deny/whatever Christ, and the fact that Jesus says Peter (who will later deny him three times) is the rock upon which he shall build his church reminds me of the sermon about the stock Jesus came from and God choosing the flawed people, and when Jesus' prediction of Peter's denial was read tonight i just felt so bad for Peter.

Mmmm. So incredibly not observing today, since the only function this set of holidays has for me is a familial one, but . . . I really liked that.

Thank you for posting it. Oh, that book.

"You will all become deserters."

I love Biff

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