Village Community Church. Podcast (Ajax, Ontario. Canada)

Prayer: it's what we all do (i.e. OMG and sending 'thoughts and prayers') and yet something we don't do well at all.

Welcome to our summer series On Prayer. Vic introduces prayer by exploring 'The Lord's Prayer'.

Who is this Jesus?

From the first words of the Gospel of Mark we've been confronted with this question and in our final sermon in the Gospel of Mark the question rings out. We reflect on the crowd, Pilate, our desire for approval and our identity in Jesus.

"Nothing is certain but death and taxes," as the saying goes.

But then there's also guilt and shame. What do we do with those?

As Jesus continues being falsely tried and accused, we focus in on Peter. Peter's denial of Jesus is as vivid and as renowned as there ever has been. Where could he possibly go from there and what might we learn from it?

Being accused of something you didn't do.

That's a horrible, frustrating feeling – especially if the consequences are great. So, what if you are innocent of a charge that calls for your execution?! The answer is easy: you do everything in your power to prove your innocence of course.

What then can we say about Jesus as he is dragged before the chief priests in the middle of night? He can walk away simply be staying silent but instead, he gives them the case, and in doing so turns the tables on the religious leaders and the tide of history itself.

What do you do with Jesus?

Sleepless nights.

We've been there before: an exam, a test, or even something much more positive like a vacation. Something we can't wait for, or something we can't wait to get over.

Such a day awaits Jesus. To our surprise, the unstoppable, unflinching Jesus is absolutely floored. And yet even at this moment, or perhaps because of it, he shows himself to be our model and saviour as he faces the most excruciating day in the history of the world.

Period pieces and science fiction is a favourite genre of entertainment amongst many. Absent of the availability of time travel (as far as I know!) many of us hold to traditions, rituals and practices at least decades, if not centuries olds. One of the most important Jewish festivals and celebrations, the Passover, is just this kind of visceral time-travelling memorial.

As Jesus celebrated it with his disciples, it was well over a thousand years in the rearview. At its center was the recollection the judgement of God that fell upon the Egyptians but that had that 'passed over' the Israelites who took shelter under the blood of sacrificed lambs.

What was it then to the disciples and what is it to you now?

Do you wonder about the real 'end game'?

"Wars and rumours of wars", words Jesus used himself when speaking of the end, are common headlines of our day. So what do we do? Bunker down or just level up to the next best distraction?

We continue in the Gospel of Mark and sit before Jesus who, along with his closest disciples, takes in the incredible sight of the temple and delivers an incredible and provocative teaching for us all who would listen.

Everyone one of us has an idea of what our success story should look like.

For the religious leaders of the day who have been peppering Jesus with question after question, it was power and authority – the very thing that bothered them so much about him!

But now he turns around and asks them a question of his own. This, a warning, and an acknowledgement of the unlikeliest kind, shows us the kind of success story Jesus wants us to orient ourselves to.

The Gospel writer Mark painstakingly describes Jesus death on the cross, the days that followed, and many witnesses that testify to what happens next.

Why? Because if this happened, if the death and then the resurrection of Jesus really – really – happened, then everything has changed. And it has.

This is a perfect segway to our time of baptism for Amber, Judah and John!

What is up with 'good' Friday? A day to commemorate the brutal death of a Jewish man 2,000 years ago?

Come and survey the cross of Jesus, the man the ancient author Mark – and a Roman Centurian – identified as the "Son of God."