Categories: uncategorized
Date: 02 April 2010 19:32:03
As previously mentioned our church is being refurbished at the moment. The result of this is that we are worshipping in a local community hall. I'd not been to worship there yet, (due to field work commitments and stuff), but last night I did.
There was something of an added sense of reality, worshipping with the distant rumble of bass from the night club opposite and the under 18's shouting outside last night. As we were quiet, focusing on the cross and seeing the candles snuffed out having that sound going on outside I was struck by the fact it was more like it would have been. Now, I know they wouldn't have heard and under 18's night going on in the background, but in the darkness of the garden there would have been the distant sounds of everyday life going on. Jesus would have had background noise going on. In the sterile environment of the church, where we seek to minimise outside noise, we can forget these facts. Yet, for us the outside, the background noise needs to be a stronger sound. Remembering the death and ressurection wasn't just for the few who of us who gather in silence around our replica crosses is central. Yes, we need to grasp what Jesus / God did for us on the cross, but we need to understand that it was for them as much as us, individually. Sometimes I think at Easter we forget the communal aspect as we think of the cost for us as individuals.