Holy Week with Holding Onto Hope - Good Friday
For Holy Week 2024 we have selected reflections and artwork from Holding Onto Hope by father and daughter duo, Amy Boucher-Pye and Leo Boucher.
Holding Onto Hope is a 40-day journey exploring the themes of hope and new life through vivid biblical images and can be used through Lent or during any 40-day period.
When my children were very young, I made the mistake of allowing them to eat chocolate first thing one Easter morning. They were so wound up and hyper that I felt I had to peel them off the ceiling. I tried to calm them down, to no avail. Finally I gave my son a warning not to scream at the top of his lungs; the next time he did, I said, he’d have to sit in the naughty chair. Sure enough, he let rip right before we were walking out of the door to church. I faced a dilemma: if I had made him sit there for the allotted five minutes (one minute for each year of his life), we’d be late. Instead I said, ‘Well, we’re off to church because it is Easter day and Christ has taken away the naughty chair! You are forgiven! Alleluia!’
The freedom and release felt real and tangible as we giggled and made our way over to church. I reflected on the exchange later, pondering the letter to the Hebrews, how Christ cleanses our consciences ‘from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God’ (9:14). I considered the black gunk in my heart, thinking of how fresh and clean I felt when I received God’s forgiveness, the release from sinful acts that then impelled me to serve God.
I read on, grateful for Jesus and his sacrifice: ‘For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant’ (v. 15).
Our freedom from the consequences of our sins – from the naughty chair – comes through the life-giving sacrifice of Jesus. He’s our mediator, the one who takes us to the Father, presenting us before him without stain or smudge or sin. When we despair or lose hope, we can hold onto the promises of our loving God, who not only gives us eternal redemption (v. 12), but also promises to be with us now and always. May we find our hope in him who has ushered in this new covenant.
Holding Onto Hope is a 40-day journey exploring the themes of hope and new life through vivid biblical images and can be used through Lent or during any 40-day period.
Christ our mediator
When my children were very young, I made the mistake of allowing them to eat chocolate first thing one Easter morning. They were so wound up and hyper that I felt I had to peel them off the ceiling. I tried to calm them down, to no avail. Finally I gave my son a warning not to scream at the top of his lungs; the next time he did, I said, he’d have to sit in the naughty chair. Sure enough, he let rip right before we were walking out of the door to church. I faced a dilemma: if I had made him sit there for the allotted five minutes (one minute for each year of his life), we’d be late. Instead I said, ‘Well, we’re off to church because it is Easter day and Christ has taken away the naughty chair! You are forgiven! Alleluia!’
The freedom and release felt real and tangible as we giggled and made our way over to church. I reflected on the exchange later, pondering the letter to the Hebrews, how Christ cleanses our consciences ‘from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God’ (9:14). I considered the black gunk in my heart, thinking of how fresh and clean I felt when I received God’s forgiveness, the release from sinful acts that then impelled me to serve God.
I read on, grateful for Jesus and his sacrifice: ‘For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant’ (v. 15).
Our freedom from the consequences of our sins – from the naughty chair – comes through the life-giving sacrifice of Jesus. He’s our mediator, the one who takes us to the Father, presenting us before him without stain or smudge or sin. When we despair or lose hope, we can hold onto the promises of our loving God, who not only gives us eternal redemption (v. 12), but also promises to be with us now and always. May we find our hope in him who has ushered in this new covenant.
God of never-ending love, help me to understand how much you
love me, that you sent your Son to die in my place. Help me to
receive your forgiveness, that I might live free and share your love
with others. Amen.
Holding Onto Hope £12.99