Holy Week/ Wednesday: 30 pieces of silver

Wednesday: 30 pieces of silver...
The week turns...
a shift occurs.
There, in conversation among friends,
gathered around a table,
darkness creeps into
the chambers of a wavering heart...

The light fades, night creeps in
and minds wander about what might be.
The light fades, night gathers pace
and darkness tempts doom-laden choices.
The light fades, night settles upon us
and Jesus looks around his friends.
The light fades, it is night
and Jesus is with us a little longer...

READING/ John 13:21-32
21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared,
‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ 
22The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.
23One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him;
24Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
25So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him,
‘Lord, who is it?’ 
26Jesus answered,
‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’
So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.
27After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him,
‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ 
28Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29Some thought that, because
Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him,
‘Buy what we need for the festival’; 
or, that he should give something to the poor. 30So, after receiving the piece of bread,
he immediately went out. And it was night.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said,
‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 
32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself 
and will glorify him at once.

REFLECTION/
Do quickly what you must do.
The words of Jesus to his betrayer:
do quickly what you must do.
Words for us today
for the Christ who came
to feed the hungry,
to clothe the naked,
to heal the hurting,
to free the prisoner,
and to remove the bonds of oppression
urges us to be about his business.

Not the business of betrayal
but the work of speaking up
and of living out
good news for all.

And the business
of continuing the revolution
that Jesus began.

Do quickly what you must do. 

PRAYER/
Lord Jesus,
as we walk this week with you,
we take time to think about betrayal.
In particular your betrayal by Judas.
What does it mean to betray?
How do we recognise it?
Are we complicit in it?

As you sat that night with your friends
you spoke of being betrayed and named it:
Lord in the quiet of this time and in the silence
help us to identify
those times when we have let you down
and help us to name them.
...   ...   ...   ...   ...
Lord in the quiet of this time and in the silence
help us to identify
those who have betrayed us
and help us to name them.
...   ...   ...   ...   ...
In this week when we wait with you
forgive us the times
when our words and actions have betrayed you.
As we wait
help us to forgive those who have betrayed us.
Help us to learn from our experiences
and to find light
in the darkness of our guilt and feelings of betrayal.
Let that light be revealed in the glory that is yours
as we witness again your Passion
and remember you loved Judas
as you love us.
Lord hear our prayer. Amen.

MUSIC MEDITATION/ My song is love unknown
A fresh take on the traditional hymn...

PRAYER/
In a world where many feel betrayed and forgotten,
we pray for your guidance.
Help us to shine your glory
into those places and situations created when
someone or something has been let down.
For women, men and children,
abused and broken by those who claim to love them,
we pray for freedom and healing.
For those places of conflict and war between neighbours
and where words are intended to create hostility,
we pray for peace and calm.
For your creation and all its inhabitants
in places where destruction and decay
have been caused by human action or inaction,
we pray for new life and reconstruction.
Help us be the people to find ways
of bringing your glory into focus in all these situations.
Lord, hear our prayers. Amen. 

CLOSING/
The gears have been set in motion,
the one who will betray has been let loose into the night,
and so do we step out into the darkness
considering what Jesus makes of us,
and committing to live into his hope, into his grace, into his love.