Sacred Questions At ChristmasSample

THEY NAILED HIM TO A CROSS

Begin by taking a few breaths and paying attention to the air moving in and out of your lungs and mouth. Notice where you feel tension or discomfort in your body. To the extent you are able, try to relax, let the chair you are sitting in fully support your body, and release the tension as you breathe deeply. 

A Prayer to Open

Here I am, Lord,

in my tired, aging, hurting, wondrous body.

Open my heart to you now.

You are my High Priest who knows.

Read Scripture Passage

Reflect

Jesus’ body was brutalized by the Roman soldiers. How did he endure such suffering? 

• Close your eyes and reflect on Jesus as he walked to the cross and then was beaten, spit upon, stripped, and then crucified. How must his body have been responding? What besides what we are told can you imagine him experiencing in his body?
• What is the most painful experience your body has endured? As you think of that experience, what comes to mind? What do you remember? How did you endure?
• Reflect on the reality that Jesus submitted his body—his real, human, feeling body—to be beaten, spit upon, nailed through, and hung for your sake and the sake of the world. What does this truth reveal to you about God’s love? What does it reveal about Jesus’ ability to identify with you?

Respond

Jesus Christ—

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace;

the one through whom and for whom all things were made; and

the one in whom I live and move and have my being—

became flesh and made your dwelling among us. 

And nothing—neither death nor life, angels nor demons, the present nor the future; not any powers, height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation—can separate me from the love of our God, which is in you, Jesus Christ my Lord.