WEBVTT

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 One of the films that was released last year in 2025 had some Oscar buzz to begin with.

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 It ended up not getting nominated, but the film was called Nuremberg.

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 and it tells the story of the Allies' attempt to bring the remaining leaders from the Nazi regime to justice.

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 And that includes Hitler's second-in-command, Hermann Göring.

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 And when you're watching the film, you are reminded of just what disarray Europe was in, in the aftermath of World War II.

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 And as you watch the opening scene, you see families and elderly people walking away from this bombed-out village.

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 And we know that in the years that followed, Germany was marked by all kinds of physical and economic devastation.

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 And countries like France and Germany were crippled by debt and by food rationing.

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 And the churches in those countries, whether they were Catholic or Protestant, they were in a state of shock.

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 They were grappling with the idea that this could have happened, these atrocities could have happened in countries that they thought were Christian.

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 It was a season of complete darkness and absolute hopelessness.

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 And no journalist, no newspaper writer at that time would have known about, let alone even written about,

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 a small Christian renewal movement that had been happening on the fringe of the church in France especially,

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 but some other European countries during this time.

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 But there was a small number of theologians.

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 Many of them were Jesuits or Dominicans.

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 And they had been questioning the staleness and the lifelessness of the church in the early part of the 20th century

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 and some of its mindless political alignments.

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 And they had advocated for a fresh return to the original sources of the church, to Scripture and to the church fathers,

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 to bring renewal to the church's worship and to its theology, to the way that it engaged with culture.

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 And it became known as the nouvelle théologie, the new theology, which is ironic because it was actually a return to the old theology.

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 And they were dismissed from their academic post.

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 They were sanctioned and silenced by the church authorities.

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 And yet their ideas spread and lay Christians began to gather in homes, especially around France.

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 And they began to discuss these new ideas and to begin to seek this deeper experience of Christ.

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 They were reading the Christian mystics along with Scripture and to discuss how Christian faith should be impacting society for good.

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 But no one knew about this.

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 It was the very smallest of seeds.

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 It was on the fringes during the very darkest years in Europe as the state became more and more authoritarian and everything looked hopeless.

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 This evening we listened as John's gospel, chapter 18 and 19, was read.

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 And there is something about just listening to it, uninterrupted, in that extended way that reminds us of just how dark and hopeless everything was.

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 Jesus had been arrested and mocked and tortured.

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 And even Pilate's last-ditch efforts to try to save an innocent man to no avail.

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 Nothing worked.

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 And so we heard John 19.

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 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.

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 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.

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 They came up to him saying, Hail, King of the Jews, and struck him with their hands.

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 And when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried, Crucify him, crucify him.

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 So they took Jesus and he went out, bearing his own cross to the place called the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Gelgotha.

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 And there they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them.

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 I think it's important that we let settle into our minds the reality of Good Friday and what Jesus went through.

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 And it is important to remember because the church's celebration of Easter does not begin on Easter morning.

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 It begins with Holy Week.

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 It started last week on Palm Sunday with Jesus' entrance to the city of Jerusalem.

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 It continued last night on Maundy Thursday with Jesus' last supper with his disciples and the stripping of the table.

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 It continues tonight on Good Friday with the crucifixion of Jesus.

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 It leads into the silence of Holy Saturday tomorrow with Jesus in the tomb.

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 And nothing.

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 We won't gather during Holy Saturday.

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 There's nothing but silence.

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 There's nothing but darkness and waiting.

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 And it's important to remember this because the story that we are collectively living into tonight and this week, here in Holy Week,

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 is not simply a story about historical events that occurred 2,000 years ago.

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 It is our story too.

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 What happens in Holy Week is a pattern for how life works.

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 Just as the story of Adam with his temptation and his fall has been our human story,

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 so the story of Jesus, the second Adam, becomes our new human story.

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 And in the story of Jesus, at that most climatic moment of his life in the events of Holy Week,

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 the fundamental pattern is that resurrection is always preceded by suffering and crucifixion.

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 There are no exceptions.

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 Good Friday always comes before Easter.

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 And it's easy to forget this.

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 It is easy to think that life should be about a succession of happy moments and success and things going well,

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 and we are constantly caught by surprise when it's not.

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 And in our surprise, it is easy to sometimes grow angry or resentful when things don't go as we planned,

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 when unexpected suffering comes into our lives or disappointment,

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 or when we're hurt by others in ways that are just objectively unfair and unjust.

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 Last week, I was talking to a friend in a key relationship in his life had gotten really hard.

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 And no matter what he does with this relationship,

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 he seems unable to fix it.

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 And I seem unable to fix this.

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 This relationship that had been so important

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 and suddenly was not working anymore.

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 And he said to me, I didn't see this coming.

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 And he said, I did not expect at this point in my life for this to be happening to me.

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 Good Friday is not just for Jesus.

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 It is for all of us.

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 We will all live in seasons of Good Friday.

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 And the question is, how do I respond?

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 How might I walk with Jesus on Good Friday?

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 How might I join him?

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 The church fathers said that we walk with Jesus by seeking to respond as he did.

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 John Chrysostom was a church father writing in the late 300s.

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 And in his commentary on tonight's passage from John's gospel,

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 he writes this about the events of Good Friday.

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 He says, let us not only read about these things,

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 but let us keep them in our minds.

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 The crown of thorns, the robe, the reed, the blows,

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 the strikes on the cheek, the spitting.

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 Keeping such images in our minds helps us to diminish our own anger in response to injustice.

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 Even if we are mocked or suffer unjustly,

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 let us continually say a servant is not greater than his master.

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 This is why Christ endured all these things,

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 so that we might walk in his footsteps and endure mistreatments.

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 He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

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 Let us imitate these things, for nothing pleases God

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 more than loving our enemies and doing good to those who insult us.

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 I don't know what your Good Friday might be,

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 or perhaps it's not a Good Friday moment right now,

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 but we will all go through seasons of Good Friday.

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 And not just as individuals.

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 Churches go through seasons of Good Friday.

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 Church of the Advent will not be immune from seasons of Good Friday

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 any more than any other church.

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 Church of the Advent will not be immune from God.

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 Good Friday is part of our story.

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 Jesus' story is our story.

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 Resurrection is preceded by crucifixion.

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 Renewal and new life is preceded by suffering.

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 We are walking this week

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 through the most fundamental story

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 of not just Jesus' life,

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 but our life in Jesus.

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 And so how will we respond?

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 In the middle of the 20th century,

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 as Europe grew more dark

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 and as it seemed the church was lost and powerless

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 and without hope,

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 these small Christians

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 in France and other places

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 drew together to enter more deeply

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 into scripture and to prayer

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 and to the mystics

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 and to talk about social renewal.

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 And in the darkness of World War II

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 and the devastation that followed,

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 no one was paying attention.

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 But then something surprising happened.

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 In the vacuum and in the disorientation

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 following the war,

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 people in Germany

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 and France and Italy,

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 they were looking for new people

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 to lead their country.

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 They were looking for fresh ideas.

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 They wanted to be led in a new direction

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 and to the surprise of everyone,

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 they turned to Christians

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 who had been gathering in homes

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 over the past decade,

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 who had been part of

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 or influenced by

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 this renewal movement

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 and seeking to apply

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 Christian insights to society

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 in fresh ways.

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 These new leaders formed

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 a new political platform

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 that became known as

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 Christian democracy.

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 Christian Democrats

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 argued for a synthesis

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 of various political ideas

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 that did not neatly fit

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 into the categories

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 of left or right.

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 They were informed

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 by theological ideas

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 like the dignity

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 of all human beings

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 made in the image of God.

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 They emphasized

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 the morality of politics

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 and policies

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 that supported

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 things like

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 a social market economy

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 and cooperation

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 between capital and labor

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 and strong support

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 for families

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 and marriage

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 and having children.

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 And Christian Democrats

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 were overwhelmingly elected

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 and led European countries

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 for the next 15 or 20 years

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 after World War II.

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 And during that time

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 they brought Europe

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 out of destruction

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 and insolvency

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 and food rationing

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 and they helped

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 rebuild society.

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 They created universal healthcare,

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 universal education,

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 pensions for the elderly.

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 During those years

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 marriage rates

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 and fertility rates boomed,

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 divorce rates fell,

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 and families became

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 more stable.

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 Weekly church attendance

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 grew and even the numbers

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 of those entering ministry

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 went up substantially.

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 Now,

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 we only have to look

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 at Europe today

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 to see that those things

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 don't last forever.

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 But renewal movements

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 never last forever

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 on their own.

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 They have to be

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 attended to

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 and nurtured

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 and updated

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 in light of new realities

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 and circumstances.

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 But that reality

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 should not blind us

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 to the fact

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 that in the bleakness

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 of 1945

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 no one would have predicted

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 the renewal

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 that was to come.

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 And no one would have guessed

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 that a small Christian

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 renewal movement

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 could lead to the renewal

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 of Europe.

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 Augustine famously said

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 that we never know

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 where we are

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 in history.

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 It's very hard

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 to know

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 actually

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 the moment

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 that we're in.

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 But we can

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 know this.

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 We don't have to be

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 afraid of Good Friday.

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 It was part of

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 Jesus' story.

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 It is part of

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 our story.

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 Whatever our Good Friday

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 is, let's walk

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 with Jesus in it.

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 Let's respond

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 to the darkness

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 the way that Jesus

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 responded to the darkness.

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 Let's plant

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 seeds

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 of renewal

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 in our own lives,

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 in our life

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 together

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 as a church

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 in this neighborhood,

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 in this city.

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 And we do it

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 because we know

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 that in God's way

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 and in God's timing,

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 Easter is coming.

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 Amen.

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 Amen.

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 Thank you.