Welcome to Spirit of Peace Church

Our Blogs

Several members and friends of Spirit of Peace Church maintain personal blogs. We list here those whose authors have offered links to their sites. What better way to get to know each other than to read and see what we're thinking and doing! As others release the links to their blogs, we will post them here.

& Reflections...

Each year Spirit of Peace observes a "Stations of the Cross" service on Palm/Passion Sunday. The scriptural readings comprise the spectrum from Genesis to the Resurrection. If they so desire, members will then reflect upon these readings. The following have submitted their reflections from this past Palm Sunday (28 March 2010).

Pete's Reflection at Station Eight: Jesus Dies on the Cross

The Reading:

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "This man is calling for Elijah." At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him." Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, "Truly this man was God's Son!" (Matthew 27:45-54).
The Reflection:

So here’s the scene. We have bystanders gathered around the crucifixion.
One of them hears Jesus cry out to “Eli, Eli” and thinks, by mistake, that he calling out to Elijah.
Another bystander offers to prolong his life by offering up some cheap wine, i.e., vinegar.
But another one says “No - Wait, – let’s see if Elijah will indeed come down to save him.”
Then after Jesus dies, the Roman centurion, a gentile, witnesses the natural events that occurred with the death, and is filled with awe. He claims that Jesus was truly the Son of God.

So what about the other bystanders? They didn’t make it into Matthews. So let’s interview a few of them.

“Sir, what’s your reaction to the crucifixion?”
“Well, I just happened to be walking by and paid no attention to it. Just another crucifixion. You see one, you’ve seen them all. I always keep a low profile. Mind my own business.”

“Sir, how about you? What’s your feeling about the crucifixion of Jesus?”
“This had to happen. After all, he threatened the stability of our relationship with the Roman state. This happens over and over. People who claim to be this or that are labeled revolutionaries and the Romans come in and execute them as well as a bunch of innocents to teach us a lesson. Here, Jesus comes in, builds up a following, just like all the others. Some claim he’s King of the Jews. This guy from Nazareth – with no army behind him thinks he’s going to settle scores with the Romans and free all of us. What a joke. The sooner we execute these deranged people whose actions threaten the rest of us, the better off we’ll be. In a day or two, we’ll all forget this episode, until the next nut comes along. Good riddance.”

“Well, let's interview another bystander. You madam, what’s your feelings about the killing of Jesus?”
“I know his parents and they’re good folks. Down to earth. Father’s a carpenter. Taught the boy a good trade. But what does he do? He turns against his parents and decides to do his own thing. As a kid one day in the Temple, he picks up the good book and starts trying to teach scripture as if he were a trained scholar. I feel sorry for his mother. She must have been embarrassed. And his dad – he was hoping his son would follow in his trade, but no, he runs off into the countryside and starts preaching about the coming of the Kingdom of God. Oh, I feel so sorry for his parents.”

“Well, let’s ask this last person what his reactions are. Sir, you witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus. Any thoughts?”
Yes I do. This is just another case of religion out of control. Most of the troubles in this world are due to religious people who go off the deep end. Did you happen to notice that in the end, he’s no better off than the two thieves who were executed with him? So what did all that religious mumbo jumbo get him? A lot of heart ache, a bunch of religious nuts following him around, and then when things got out of control, they deserted him, denying him, leaving him high and dry, so to speak. People have got to learn to obey the rules of the state, for the state knows best, and the state will take care of us. All this talk about personal salvation is just more philosophy with no relevance for everyday existence. So what if we are slaves? – we’ve got everyday comforts and we know the state will take care of us when we’re threatened. I say – put all these religious fanatics out in the desert or on an island and let them argue how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. I say - let them fend for themselves; just don’t bother me.”