Each year the Ministerium of Penns Grove, Carneys Point, and Pedricktown hold a community service for Good Friday at New Hope UMC in Penns Grove. This service, which runs from Noon until 3 PM (to commemorate the hours of darkness when Jesus hung on the cross), recalls the seven last words of Christ on the cross. This year (2019) it was my ( Read more... )

Although this sermon was preached for Christ the King Sunday (the Sunday before Advent begins), it is an appropriate message for Good Friday. The thief on the cross said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." Strange words to say to a person condemned to death on a Roman cross. Yet what we see in the crucifixion is that Jesus ( Read more... )

Each year in Penns Grove the Ministerium collectively puts on a Good Friday service that expounds upon the seven last words of Christ on the Cross. This year it was my turn to take on the last word: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. From this word we see a picture of Christ's obedience and learn what it means to submit ourselves to the ( Read more... )

The Lectionary Reading for Holy Week, Good Friday, March 30, 2018 ( Read more... )

When we look at the seven last words of Christ on the cross, one saying that truly shows the heart of Christ is recorded in the book of John - Woman, here is your son, and Son, here is your mother. By caring for his widowed mother as he hung on the cross, Jesus did more than just show compassion for one person, but rather, he revealed his heart to ( Read more... )

We are still in the midst of our Lenten series, based on Adam Hamilton's book 24 Hours that Changed the World. On this Palm Sunday, we find Jesus on the cross, which was literally the darkest moment in Christian history. The disciples were scattered, their Master was dead and laid in a tomb. Certainly this would be the end of all that Messiah ( Read more... )