Christ in the tomb, ‘Epitaphios’ by Theophanes the Cretan
Patrick Comerford
Saturday 3 April 2021
Reading: John 19: 38-42
Each evening in Holy Week this year, I have been reading a poem to help our reflections. There are no liturgical provisions for today, as Christ lays in the tomb this Saturday, but my choice of a poem for this last day in Holy Week is another poem/song by Leonard Cohen, ‘If it be your will’.
Saint Luke alone tells us that Christ’s last words on the Cross were: ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’ (see Luke 23: 46). This saying, which is an announcement and not a request, is traditionally called ‘The Word of Reunion,’ for Christ has accepted the will of God the Father in Heaven.
This is the seventh and final of the Seven Last Words. It is followed by silence – the silence of this Saturday, the silence of the grave, the silence of Christ lying in the tomb, the silence of the disciples who have lost their sense of direction, their focus, their understanding, their control – and our silence before the resurrection.
So often I want to be in control. I want to control the agenda, I want to control conversations, I want to control discussions. And I particularly want to control the words I use, the words others are going to hear me say.
And so, I am humbled at times when I listen to Leonard Cohen’s song, If it be your will.
I was at most of Leonard Cohen’s concerts in Ireland. He ended many of those concerts singing this poem, which for me is about submission to God’s will, accepting God’s will, leaving God in control of my spirit:
Leonard Cohen sings of his nearly complete subjection to the divine will.
If he is told to be silent, he will be silent; if he is told to sing, he will sing.
If he is allowed to express his true voice (‘if a voice be true’), he will sing in praise of God from ‘this broken hill’ … from Calvary?
The mercy of God, the compassion of God, the love of God, redeems the burning hearts in hell … if it is God’s will.
Leonard Cohen’s great hope in this will leads to prayer, to the one who can ‘make us well’ if we devote ourselves to God, pray to God, sing to God.
But he still prays to God to act on behalf of the suffering.
Cajoling God in song and poetry, Cohen says God has the power to ‘end this night’ of the darkness of the human condition, in which people are dressed in only dirty ‘rags of light’ that are fragmented, that are not fully whole and illuminated.
In this song, I imagine Christ on the cross as he speaks to God the Father as his agony comes to its close:
If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before.
The broken hill is Golgotha where he has been crucified, the rugged and rocky Mount of Calvary.
‘Let the rivers fill’ may refer to the water of his thirst, the water of his sweat, the water that streams from his side, the waters of baptism, the Living Water that will never leave us to thirst.
If it be your will
To make us well
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
The Dominican theologian Timothy Radcliffe says: ‘We must wait for the resurrection to break the silence of the tomb.’ We must speak up when it is necessary, and to have the courage to speak is ‘ultimately founded upon the courage to listen.’
But at the grave, at times of desolation, at times when there is no answer, we may also be called to be silent.
Leonard Cohen on at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
‘If it be your will,’ Leonard Cohen
If it be your will
That I speak no more
And my voice be still
As it was before
I will speak no more
I shall abide until
I am spoken for
If it be your will
If it be your will
That a voice be true
From this broken hill
I will sing to you
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
From this broken hill
All your praises they shall ring
If it be your will
To let me sing
If it be your will
If there is a choice
Let the rivers fill
Let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill
On all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will
To make us well
And draw us near
And bind us tight
All your children here
In their rags of light
In our rags of light
All dressed to kill
And end this night
If it be your will
If it be your will.
‘If It Be Your Will’ … Leonard Cohen and The Webb Sisters, Live in London
John 19: 38-42 (NRSVA):
38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body. 39 Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. 40 They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews. 41 Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42 And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
The Collect:
Grant, Lord,
that we who are baptized into the death
of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
may continually put to death our evil desires
and be buried with him;
and that through the grave and gate of death
we may pass to our joyful resurrection;
through his merits, who died and was buried
and rose again for us,
your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
If It Be Your Will lyrics © Bad Monk Publishing
03 April 2021
Praying in Lent and Easter 2021:
46, Saint Catherine’s, Mount Sinai
Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai … here God spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush and gave him the Ten Commandments; here Elijah hid in a crag in the rock
Patrick Comerford
During Lent and Easter this year, I am taking some time each morning to reflect in these ways:
1, photographs of a church or place of worship that has been significant in my spiritual life;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society, Partners in the Gospel).
Today is Saturday in Holy Week (3 April 2021), the last week in Lent. This week I am offering photographs from seven churches that I think of as places of pilgrimage and spiritual refreshment (I have reflected earlier this Lent on the place of the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield, and of Lichfield Cathedral, in my spiritual life).
This morning’s photographs are from the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai. I was a guest in this monastery when I visited Egypt a number of times, working on a programme on Christian-Muslim dialogue about 20 years ago.
The Sinai Peninsula commands the spiritual awe of followers of the three main monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. On Mount Sinai, God spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush and gave him the Ten Commandments; here Elijah hid in a crag in the rock; and here Muslims believe Muhammad was a visiting trader prior to the beginnings of Islam, perhaps even visiting Saint Catherine’s Monastery.
Perhaps one of the most unusual but uplifting places to preside at the Eucharist was on top of Mount Sinai at sunrise, bringing bread and wine from the dinner table the night before in Saint Catherine’s Monastery.
I visited Saint Catherine’s Monastery during many visits to Egypt while I was working on a programme of Christian-Muslim dialogue
Matthew 27: 57-66 (NRSVA):
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, ‘Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.” 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead”, and the last deception would be worse than the first.’ 65 Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’ 66 So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (3 April 2021) invites us to pray:
Let us pray that as we wait ready to receive the risen Christ that we might work toward being the image of Christ in our world.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
An old print of Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Rectory in Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Patrick Comerford
During Lent and Easter this year, I am taking some time each morning to reflect in these ways:
1, photographs of a church or place of worship that has been significant in my spiritual life;
2, the day’s Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society, Partners in the Gospel).
Today is Saturday in Holy Week (3 April 2021), the last week in Lent. This week I am offering photographs from seven churches that I think of as places of pilgrimage and spiritual refreshment (I have reflected earlier this Lent on the place of the chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield, and of Lichfield Cathedral, in my spiritual life).
This morning’s photographs are from the Monastery of Saint Catherine on Mount Sinai. I was a guest in this monastery when I visited Egypt a number of times, working on a programme on Christian-Muslim dialogue about 20 years ago.
The Sinai Peninsula commands the spiritual awe of followers of the three main monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. On Mount Sinai, God spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush and gave him the Ten Commandments; here Elijah hid in a crag in the rock; and here Muslims believe Muhammad was a visiting trader prior to the beginnings of Islam, perhaps even visiting Saint Catherine’s Monastery.
Perhaps one of the most unusual but uplifting places to preside at the Eucharist was on top of Mount Sinai at sunrise, bringing bread and wine from the dinner table the night before in Saint Catherine’s Monastery.
I visited Saint Catherine’s Monastery during many visits to Egypt while I was working on a programme of Christian-Muslim dialogue
Matthew 27: 57-66 (NRSVA):
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. 58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, ‘Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.” 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead”, and the last deception would be worse than the first.’ 65 Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’ 66 So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary:
The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (3 April 2021) invites us to pray:
Let us pray that as we wait ready to receive the risen Christ that we might work toward being the image of Christ in our world.
Yesterday’s reflection
Continued tomorrow
An old print of Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Rectory in Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
An embarrassing meal
and a meal to release
inner spark and potential
Patrick Comerford
The Passover (Pesach) holiday theme of Redemption reaches a crescendo during its final two days – from sunset this evening (Friday 2 April 2021) until nightfall on Sunday (4 April).
There is a beautiful Jewish custom of concluding this holiday with a festive meal dedicated to future Redemption. This rich, multi-faceted custom is known as ‘Moshiach’s Meal’ or the ‘Messiah’s Meal.’ It was encouraged by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the late Rabbi Menachem Schneerson (1902-1994), who spoke at length each year about the messianic spark inside each person and how each individual, by tapping into their unlimited potential to do but one more act of goodness, holds the potential for global transformation.
Meanwhile, the Church of England has been deeply embarrassed this week and in response to strong criticism from priests and rabbis alike has withdrawn prayers and a video designed for people to observe Maundy Thursday at home last night because of perceived associations with a Passover Seder.
The Church’s National Inter-Religious Affairs Adviser, the Rev Dr Richard Sudworth, apologised yesterday (1 April 2021), saying: ‘The brief prayers and actions are not, and were not, intended to be a Christianised seder, as the text pointed out.’
A posting on the Church of England website last month offered prayers for use at home during Holy Week. The prayers for the evening of Maundy Thursday were to be said with a household gathered round a table that would include ‘a bowl of warm water with a towel, freshly baked ‘flat’ bread, herbs, including rosemary, and honey.’
The document tells people to say the Shema Jewish prayer in Hebrew and to have a dinner at which the youngest person present asks, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ The head of the household replies: ‘Once we were slaves in the land of Egypt, but the Lord rescued us on this holy night. That is why this night is special, and different from all other nights.’
In another section, one reader asks, ‘Why on this night do we eat only unleavened bread?’ and another replies, ‘We eat unleavened bread because there was no time that night to let it rise.’
An accord signed jointly by the Chief Rabbi and the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2019 advised there should be no allusions in Christian worship to a Jewish Seder – or even a ‘Christianised Seder.’
Dr Sudworth said: ‘The prayers and readings were offered to help families be mindful of the events of the original Last Supper, and the framing context of the feast of the Passover to Jesus and the disciples, connecting with our Christian Bible texts for this day.
‘However, we do not wish to encourage an impression that was not intended by the resource and apologise for any offence caused. As we prepare for Easter, we would like to offer our greetings to everyone in the Jewish community as they celebrate Passover.’
The Church also promoted a Facebook event on Wednesday alongside a screenshot from the video that appeared to show a family taking part in a Christian-style Seder. But priests and rabbis claimed the booklet and video for ‘appropriating liturgy’ from Judaism.
The Revd Nick Nawrockyi shared a screenshot of the event on Twitter with a comment: ‘Eek! The @churchofengland offering for Maundy Thursday online looks worryingly like a “Christian Seder”.’
The Revd Dr Jo Kershaw retweeted, adding:
‘A) it is wrong (and harmful) to steal Jewish ritual. We have our own.
‘B) they may say this isn’t a Christian Seder, but the duck test (if it walks and quacks like a duck ...) applies, and that sure as heck isn’t what a normal Anglican Eucharist looks like.’
The Revd Malcolm French asked: ‘So, @churchofengland, @JustinWelby, what exactly are you going to do about this? Cosplaying someone else’s rituals is not appropriate, especially since we’ve been repeatedly asked not to do this.’
Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers, who teaches World Religions at Leo Baeck College, has worked at the Council of Christians and Jews and has co-ordinated Interfaith activities at West London Synagogue. She wrote: ‘I am very heartened by the many Christians on my time line asking people not to appropriate #passover #seder for Easter. Thank you ...’
In a feature in the Church Times some years ago (27 March 2015), Professor Aaron Rosen, a Jewish theologian and the Revd Dr Carolyn Rosen, now an Episcopal priest, noted the increasing trend among some Christians to celebrate a ‘Christian seder’ and pointed out many aspects that ‘might justifiably make Jews a little nervous.’
Although for some Christians the primary attraction of the seder lies in exploring what the Last Supper of Jesus was really like, they pointed out how this is historically anachronistic ‘since the Haggadah only developed many centuries after the death of Jesus. There is profound paschal imagery in the eucharist, to be sure, but Jesus certainly did not celebrate a seder in a way we would recognise today.’
They also pointed to a second, even more worrying, issue. When Jews and Judaism are valued principally for the light they shed on Christian history and theology, the door is flung wide open to the spectre of supersessionism.
‘Jews today are unwilling to be seen as the librarians of Christendom,’ they said.
As for the Moshiach’s Meal, this tradition, celebrated by many Jews to mark the waning hours of Passover, was instituted by the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, as a feast celebrating the Divine revelation yet to come.
Moshiach’s Meal is held following Minchah, the afternoon service, on the eighth day of Passover, with an open door, allowing anyone who wished to partake. The celebration customarily extends past nightfall, ushering out Passover amid song, words of Torah and inspiration.
During the time of the Baal Shem Tov, the main ingredient of Moshiach’s Seudah was matzah. Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, added four cups of wine to the matzah of Moshiach’s Meal in 1906, mirroring the Seder held the week before.
For my Friday evening reflections this evening, I am reading the verses from the Book of Isaiah that are read as the haftorah on the last day of Passover (Isaiah 10: 32 to 12: 6). This reading includes the prophecy of a leader for whom ‘the spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord’ (Isaiah 11: 2).
He shall bring peace to humanity, ‘with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth’ (Isaiah 11: 4). This new peace and godly understanding will extend to all of God’s creatures: ‘The wolf shall live with a lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them’ (Isaiah 11: 6).
Shabbat Shalom
The Passover (Pesach) holiday theme of Redemption reaches a crescendo during its final two days – from sunset this evening (Friday 2 April 2021) until nightfall on Sunday (4 April).
There is a beautiful Jewish custom of concluding this holiday with a festive meal dedicated to future Redemption. This rich, multi-faceted custom is known as ‘Moshiach’s Meal’ or the ‘Messiah’s Meal.’ It was encouraged by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the late Rabbi Menachem Schneerson (1902-1994), who spoke at length each year about the messianic spark inside each person and how each individual, by tapping into their unlimited potential to do but one more act of goodness, holds the potential for global transformation.
Meanwhile, the Church of England has been deeply embarrassed this week and in response to strong criticism from priests and rabbis alike has withdrawn prayers and a video designed for people to observe Maundy Thursday at home last night because of perceived associations with a Passover Seder.
The Church’s National Inter-Religious Affairs Adviser, the Rev Dr Richard Sudworth, apologised yesterday (1 April 2021), saying: ‘The brief prayers and actions are not, and were not, intended to be a Christianised seder, as the text pointed out.’
A posting on the Church of England website last month offered prayers for use at home during Holy Week. The prayers for the evening of Maundy Thursday were to be said with a household gathered round a table that would include ‘a bowl of warm water with a towel, freshly baked ‘flat’ bread, herbs, including rosemary, and honey.’
The document tells people to say the Shema Jewish prayer in Hebrew and to have a dinner at which the youngest person present asks, ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ The head of the household replies: ‘Once we were slaves in the land of Egypt, but the Lord rescued us on this holy night. That is why this night is special, and different from all other nights.’
In another section, one reader asks, ‘Why on this night do we eat only unleavened bread?’ and another replies, ‘We eat unleavened bread because there was no time that night to let it rise.’
An accord signed jointly by the Chief Rabbi and the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2019 advised there should be no allusions in Christian worship to a Jewish Seder – or even a ‘Christianised Seder.’
Dr Sudworth said: ‘The prayers and readings were offered to help families be mindful of the events of the original Last Supper, and the framing context of the feast of the Passover to Jesus and the disciples, connecting with our Christian Bible texts for this day.
‘However, we do not wish to encourage an impression that was not intended by the resource and apologise for any offence caused. As we prepare for Easter, we would like to offer our greetings to everyone in the Jewish community as they celebrate Passover.’
The Church also promoted a Facebook event on Wednesday alongside a screenshot from the video that appeared to show a family taking part in a Christian-style Seder. But priests and rabbis claimed the booklet and video for ‘appropriating liturgy’ from Judaism.
The Revd Nick Nawrockyi shared a screenshot of the event on Twitter with a comment: ‘Eek! The @churchofengland offering for Maundy Thursday online looks worryingly like a “Christian Seder”.’
The Revd Dr Jo Kershaw retweeted, adding:
‘A) it is wrong (and harmful) to steal Jewish ritual. We have our own.
‘B) they may say this isn’t a Christian Seder, but the duck test (if it walks and quacks like a duck ...) applies, and that sure as heck isn’t what a normal Anglican Eucharist looks like.’
The Revd Malcolm French asked: ‘So, @churchofengland, @JustinWelby, what exactly are you going to do about this? Cosplaying someone else’s rituals is not appropriate, especially since we’ve been repeatedly asked not to do this.’
Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers, who teaches World Religions at Leo Baeck College, has worked at the Council of Christians and Jews and has co-ordinated Interfaith activities at West London Synagogue. She wrote: ‘I am very heartened by the many Christians on my time line asking people not to appropriate #passover #seder for Easter. Thank you ...’
In a feature in the Church Times some years ago (27 March 2015), Professor Aaron Rosen, a Jewish theologian and the Revd Dr Carolyn Rosen, now an Episcopal priest, noted the increasing trend among some Christians to celebrate a ‘Christian seder’ and pointed out many aspects that ‘might justifiably make Jews a little nervous.’
Although for some Christians the primary attraction of the seder lies in exploring what the Last Supper of Jesus was really like, they pointed out how this is historically anachronistic ‘since the Haggadah only developed many centuries after the death of Jesus. There is profound paschal imagery in the eucharist, to be sure, but Jesus certainly did not celebrate a seder in a way we would recognise today.’
They also pointed to a second, even more worrying, issue. When Jews and Judaism are valued principally for the light they shed on Christian history and theology, the door is flung wide open to the spectre of supersessionism.
‘Jews today are unwilling to be seen as the librarians of Christendom,’ they said.
As for the Moshiach’s Meal, this tradition, celebrated by many Jews to mark the waning hours of Passover, was instituted by the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement, as a feast celebrating the Divine revelation yet to come.
Moshiach’s Meal is held following Minchah, the afternoon service, on the eighth day of Passover, with an open door, allowing anyone who wished to partake. The celebration customarily extends past nightfall, ushering out Passover amid song, words of Torah and inspiration.
During the time of the Baal Shem Tov, the main ingredient of Moshiach’s Seudah was matzah. Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, added four cups of wine to the matzah of Moshiach’s Meal in 1906, mirroring the Seder held the week before.
For my Friday evening reflections this evening, I am reading the verses from the Book of Isaiah that are read as the haftorah on the last day of Passover (Isaiah 10: 32 to 12: 6). This reading includes the prophecy of a leader for whom ‘the spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord’ (Isaiah 11: 2).
He shall bring peace to humanity, ‘with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth’ (Isaiah 11: 4). This new peace and godly understanding will extend to all of God’s creatures: ‘The wolf shall live with a lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them’ (Isaiah 11: 6).
Shabbat Shalom
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