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63: Good Friday Guided Prayer
172 Plays1 year ago
Don't allow your busy life to get in the way of connecting with Jesus during Holy Week. Each day of Holy Week, we will publish 10 minute guided prayer sessions with Laura Fleetwood to help you center yourself in the present moment, allow you to listen to God's Word as she reads about Jesus' last days, and connect you to the Spirit of Christ as she guides you in prayer and reflection. Set aside 10 minutes for each day of Holy Week to experience God's love for you in a brand new way.
Friday: A mindful reading of John 18:28-40 / John 19:1-30 and a guided prayer to help you personalize what Jesus did for you on Good Friday and the depth of His love for you today.
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Transcript
Introduction to Jill Devine's Faith Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
The following podcast is a Jill Devine Media production. Christianity has become known for judgy people, strange words, ancient stories, confusing rules, and a members-only mindset. This is why I stayed away from the church for so long, but it's not supposed to be that way. I'm Jill Devine, a former radio personality with three tattoos, a love for a good tequila, and who's never read the entire Bible.
00:00:24
Speaker
Yet here I am hosting a podcast about faith. The Normal Goes Along Way podcast is your home for real conversations with real people using real language about how faith and real life intersect. Welcome to the conversation.
Mixed Emotions on Good Friday
00:00:40
Speaker
Today is Good Friday. I'm Jill Devine, and as I continue to strengthen my faith,
00:00:47
Speaker
and dig deeper into scripture. I have mixed emotions about today. I don't think I'm the only one that does, but I go from sadness to happiness and then wondering if it's weird to feel those feelings because ultimately I know what happens. I know why Jesus did what he did for us, but
00:01:11
Speaker
It's never easy to see someone hurting and it's okay to grieve. And so as I continue to strengthen my faith and like I said, get into scripture more, I learn a little bit more about Good Friday and how it makes me feel and the importance of it. And so I encourage you to continue to do the same, whether or not you have been on your faith journey for your entire life or you're new to it.
Introduction to Guided Prayer by Laura Fleetwood
00:01:43
Speaker
Spend some time and reflect. And we have an easy way for you to do that right now with Laura Fleetwood and her guided prayer for this Good Friday.
Breathing and Mindfulness Exercise
00:01:53
Speaker
Welcome to Friday's guided prayer for Holy Week. Today is called Good Friday. And yet what happened on that Friday
00:02:09
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more than 2,000 years ago was seemed anything but good. We're going to center ourselves in the present moment and then I will read to you from John's gospel about the death of Jesus. And then we will turn to God in guided prayer. So let's turn your attention to your breath.
00:02:48
Speaker
Feel the peace and the centeredness when you focus in on this moment alone. If your mind wants to go to thoughts of the past or the future,
00:03:10
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or if your mind wants to judge this moment, just keep turning your attention back to your breath. And the present moment is where we experience God.
Reading from John's Gospel
00:03:42
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In John 19, he tells us that Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They cloaked him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and they slapped him in the face.
00:04:08
Speaker
Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, gathered their look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him. When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, here is the man. As soon as the chief priest and their officials saw him, they shouted, crucify, crucify.
00:04:30
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But Pilate answered, you take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him. The Jewish leaders insisted, we have a law and according to that law, he must die because he claimed to be the son of God. When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid and he went back inside the palace. Where do you come from? He asked Jesus. But Jesus gave him no answer.
00:04:58
Speaker
Do you refuse to speak to me? Pilate said. Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you? Jesus answered. You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.
00:05:17
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From then on Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, if you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar. When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement. It was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about noon.
00:05:42
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Here is your king, Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, take him away, take him away, crucify him. Shall I crucify your king? Pilate asked. We have no king but Caesar, the chief priest answered. Finally, Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
00:06:00
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So the soldiers took charge of Jesus, carrying his own cross he went out to the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had prepared a notice and fastened it to the cross. It read Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
00:06:25
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Many of the Jews read this sign for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, do not write the king of Jews, but that this man claimed to be the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written.
00:06:48
Speaker
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them with the undergarment remaining. The garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. Let us not tear it, they said to one another. Let's decide by lot who will get it. This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said they divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment. So this is what the soldiers did.
00:07:17
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Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to her, Woman, here is your son, and to the disciple, here is your mother. From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
00:07:40
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later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, I am thirsty. A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, it is finished. With that he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
Reflective Prayer on Sacrifice and Forgiveness
00:08:11
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Lord, we are in awe. In awe that you would choose to obey our Heavenly Father, your Heavenly Father, and endure this pain and suffering for us. The disciples didn't understand it. And oftentimes we don't understand it.
00:08:46
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Lord, today as we contemplate your amazing sacrifice, help us to get a glimpse of the love that you must have for us. Forgive us for walking through our days and forgetting about that love.
00:09:17
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We don't deserve it. We deserve the punishment because we miss the mark all the time, every day. We miss the mark, the way that God created us to live and to love and to serve.
00:09:48
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And yet, because you obeyed and because you went to that cross, you allow us to begin again and again and again and again. Always we begin again. Forever chances, forever tries. Always forgiveness when we come to you and we cling to you and we ask for you to forgive us and fill us
00:10:20
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Again, grace, mercy, love. That's the way that you see us. That is what you give us. Today we see just how much you love us, Lord.
00:10:49
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Help us to know it down deep into our bones. Help us to cling to it when life is hard. And to cling to it when life is good. Because every blessing comes from you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.