Stanley Mast

This is part of the worship series, "Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” Series Introduction Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 Palm Sunday | EasterEaster SundayThe End of the Via Dolorosa: Why Are You Crying?Scripture Text: John 20:15Auxiliary Scripture: A litany of Mark 16:1–5, “Low in the Grave He Lay,” and Matthew 28:7–10, helped us move experientially from the doubt and confusion of early Easter to the celebration of later that day, and today.SermonThis sermon tried to show how the resurrection of Jesus brought Mary, and all like her, to the end of their personal Via Dolorosa. The risen Christ asks all of us the same question the angels asked her, “Why are you crying?”We spent some time reflecting on her grief, which is really the heart of the world’s grief—“They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.” The absence of God in a world of pain fills millions with deep sorrow. On Easter, Christ comes into such a world with this penetrating question: “Why are you crying?”Like Mary, however, the world doesn’t recognize Jesus. We asked why Mary didn’t know her Master and concluded that the bottom- line reason was that she hadn’t expected to see him there. So it is with a grief-stricken world. Jesus is there behind us all the time, but we keep staring into the empty tomb, at the losses and disappointments of life. And even when we do see him, we don’t recognize him.We never will until we respond to his personal call (“Mary!”) and turn toward him as she did. Only then can we turn toward others and say, “I have seen the Lord.” And only then will our Via Dolorosa come to an end.We closed the sermon and the series with an invitation to leave the Via Dolorosa and enter the Via Gaudeam, the way of joy, because, by faith, we have seen the Lord.Congregational PrayerThis prayer of praise and thanksgiving was a celebration of the victory of Christ, which transforms human life from a trail of tears in the darkness to a journey through the dappled territories of human existence into the unbroken sunshine of heaven.Children’s SermonWe used an empty plastic egg (an old L’Eggs pantyhose container) to illustrate the empty tomb. “What do you think is in this egg?” “Nothing!” Just like Jesus’ grave. “He is not here, he is risen.” So we can rejoice.       Music SuggestionsGathering“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” WesleyAnthem: “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” arr. C. J. FavreauAnthem: “This Is the Day” Jacobus Gallus (Concordia)“The Strife Is O’er” Symphonia Sirenum, Colonge, 1695Word“Give Thanks to God” (Psalm 118) WiersmaResponseAnthem: “Alleluia! Christ Is Risen” W. Mathias (Oxford)“Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain” John of Damascus, 8th cent.“I Serve a Risen Savior” AckelyRevised Common LectionaryYears A, B, C: Easter—Resurrection of the Lord

This is part of the worship series, "Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” Series Introduction Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 Palm Sunday | EasterSixth Sunday: Palm Sunday The Via Dolorosa: If Only You Had Known What Would Bring You PeaceScriptureText: Luke 19:41–44Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 24New Testament Lesson: Ephesians 2:11–18 SermonWhen Jesus wept over Jerusalem on the Sunday before his death, his tears sprang from the deep longing he felt for the welfare of the Holy City. “If you had only known what would bring you peace,” he sobbed.In this message, we explored the various reasons “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” lacking contentment and peace. Chief among those reasons is what Patrick Morley calls “cultural Christianity,” which he defines as “seeking the God we want instead of the God who is.” We showed how that was exactly the problem with the crowd on Palm Sunday. They wanted a miracle-working Messiah.Jesus wept over their misplaced and misguided “Hosannas,” knowing that they would soon say, “We do not want this man to be our king” (Luke 19:14). The way of peace was hidden from these people, because they were not willing to come to the Christ. We talked about the two reasons for such unwillingness—an arrogant certainty about their own ideas of God’s way and a fear that Jesus might cost them their place in the world.We concluded with a call to stop seeking the God we want and seek the God who is—the donkey king, the crucified Savior. Peace settles into our lives when we recognize the time of God’s coming to us—that is, when we recognize that it is God in Christ visiting us in those times when God seems most absent.Congregational PrayerThe theme of this prayer was peace of all sorts. We interceded for our world, for our nation, and for those who have not come to Christ out of fear and pride.Children’s SermonWe compared the palm branches the children were holding with the olive branch, a symbol of peace, as a way of telling the children that Jesus came to bring peace to earth. As his followers, we must help by being peacemakers.Music SuggestionsGathering“All Glory, Laud, and Honor” Theodulph of Orleans“Filled with Excitement”/“Mantos y palmas” Avila“Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” Threlfall“Trotting, Trotting, Through Jerusalem” ReidWord“The King of Glory Comes” JabuschResponse“Ride On, Ride On in Majesty” Milman“Softly and Tenderly” Thompson

This is part of the worship series, "Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” Series Introduction Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 Palm Sunday | EasterFifth Sunday in LentThe Via Dolorosa: Jesus WeptScriptureText: John 11:35Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 22:1-11, 22-24New Testament Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15:20-28SermonIn this sermon we plumbed the depths of the littlest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” We began with the echoed complaints of the sisters, “Lord, if you had been here . . . ” That is often the feeling of a disappointed believer: Lord, if only you had used your power, this loss would not have brought sorrow to my life. In this story God responds to our “Why?” with a picture of God weeping.We spent a good deal of time exploring Jesus’ tears. Why did he weep? Love? Compassion? Yes, but more profoundly because of his anger at death. His were tears of rage at the enemy he had come to defeat.Then why did he allow Lazarus to die when he could have prevented it? We found the answer in Jesus’ frequent reference in this story to faith.“He who believes in me shall never die. . . .”“Do you believe this?”“I said this so that those who hear might believe.”Jesus “lets us down” because the most important thing to him is our eternal life. And to get that, we have to believe.So, because Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus and his disciples and the crowd so much, he allowed this deep pain, in order that the demonstration of his love and power in the raising of Lazarus might move them and us to faith.Sound cruel and heartless? Only when we forget that Jesus stood with Mary and Martha in their pain and wept with them.No, that is not an intellectually satisfying answer to the problem of pain, but it speaks to the sorrow of our souls. The intellectual answer will come later, maybe. For now, it is good to know that Jesus weeps with us.Congregational PrayerOur focus on death widened to include all the principalities and powers that ruin human life. Using the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, we asked God to overcome all of them finally, so that our anger, grief, and pain will finally be swallowed up in his love.Children’s SermonWe talked about enemies and how angry they make us. We expanded this “enemy” talk to a focus on death and sin and Satan. We wondered if God ever got angry at these “worst enemies.” That led to an explanation of God sending Jesus to defeat all of these enemies, so that we don’t need to fear them.Music SuggestionsGathering“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies” Wesley“Come, You Disconsolate” Moore, HastingsAnthem: “Now Let Us All Praise God and Sing” Gordon Young (Galaxy)Confession and Assurance“O Christ, the Lamb of God” Agnus Dei“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” ScrivenWord“When Jesus Wept” PH 312 BillingsAnthem: “When Jesus Wept” Clarence Dickenson (Mercury Music)Response“Come, You Disconsolate” Moore, Hastings“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (repeated from previous week)

This is part of the worship series, "Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” Series Introduction Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 Palm Sunday | EasterFourth Sunday in LentThe Via Dolorosa: Feet Wet with TearsScriptureText: Luke 7:36–50Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 51New Testament Lesson: Galatians 2:15–21SermonA different kind of tears was the focus of this sermon—tears of gratitude and joy springing from the wonderful gift of forgiveness given by a loving Savior.A simple tracing of this wonderful narrative focusing on who this woman was and who Simon was led to the confrontation between Jesus and Simon. Here Jesus teaches him a lesson not only in hospitality, but even more in the basics of the gospel. In the eyes of God the “righteous” person who thinks he doesn’t need to repent is much worse off than the outright “sinner” who comes humbly and trustingly to Christ for forgiveness. Simon stands dry-eyed and unsaved before Jesus, while the woman kneels and wets Jesus’ feet with her tears of joy and gratitude for her many sins, now forgiven.  The story thus provides an opportunity for us to look in the mirror. Do we see a Simon or a sinful person? This briefer meditation provided a fitting invitation to the Lord’s Supper, which was celebrated with all the sinners in the congregation.Congregational PrayerThis prayer of gratitude for salvation traced the contours of our salvation (forgiveness, acceptance, new lease on life, eternal life). We tried to express the joy of salvation in this nonpetitionary prayer.Children’s SermonThough it is difficult to explain tears of joy to children, that’s what we tried to do, referring to Michael Jordan’s tears upon winning the NBA title, the tears of an older sibling at graduation, or the tears of parents at a wedding. Our purpose was to help children experience the joy of the surprise of forgiveness.Music SuggestionsGathering“I Come with Joy to Meet My Lord” Wren“Lift High the Cross” KitchinAnthem: “This Is the Day” Albert P. SmithConfession and Assurance“Ah, Holy Jesus” HeermannAnthem: “O Vos Omnes” Pablo CasalsWord“Create in Me a Clean Heart” (Psalm 51) ResponseAnthem: “Christ, We Do All Adore Thee” T. Dubois“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” Wesley“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” Watts

This is part of the worship series, "Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” Series Introduction Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 Palm Sunday | EasterThird Sunday in LentThe Via Dolorosa: Don’t CryScriptureText: Luke 7:11–17Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 126New Testament Lesson: 1 Corinthians 1:18–25SermonIn this sermon we explored the sorrow that comes to us when Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations, when God doesn’t intervene in our problems the way we think he should. At such times we are tempted to fall away from God.We began with those apparently hard-hearted words of Christ to the grieving mother, “Don’t cry.” Looking more carefully, we noted that those two words are really a call to believe the gospel— namely, “that God has visited his people” in this man named Jesus. But this visitation was different from what anyone expected, even John the Baptist, who in the very next verses asks, “Should we expect another?” To which Jesus finally replies, “Blessed are those who do not fall away on account of me.”There is the issue at the heart of this sermon and our lives. How often don’t we fall away from Christ, allow distance to develop between him and us, because he doesn’t meet our expectations?That raised the question of why Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations. Why did he take the Via Dolorosa rather than the way of power? Why didn’t he fix the world by doing more miracles like the one in Luke 7? Because he came to save the world by what Robert Farrar Capon calls “a deeper, darker, left-handed mystery, at the center of which lay his own death.”On the way to that death, he paused here in Nain and uttered these two lovely words as a call away from a life dominated by tears. The sermon ended with Psalm 126: “He who goes out weeping, carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”Congregational PrayerThis prayer explored our disappointment with God when God doesn’t meet our expectations, when we ask and hope and believe, and still God doesn’t do what the Bible seems to promise he will do when we pray. Children’s SermonA story about not getting something we wanted, but instead something our parents knew we needed, provided a simple introduction to the wisdom and love of our Father in heaven. We ended with a call to trust God because of Jesus, the Man of Sorrows.Music SuggestionsGathering“I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say” Bonar“My Faith Looks Up to Thee” Palmer“Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above” SchützConfession and Assurance“O Christ, the Lamb of God” Agnus DeiWordPsalm 126 read responsively, with “Rejoice in the Lord Always” Grotenhuis as a refrain at the beginning, after stanza 3, and at the end.ResponseAnthem: “Blessed They” Brahms (Boosey & Hawkes)“Abide with Me” Lyte“O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee” Gladden

This is part of the worship series, "Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” Series Introduction Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 Palm Sunday | EasterSecond Sunday in LentThe Via Dolorosa: Rachel WeepingScriptureText: Matthew 2:13–18Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 30New Testament Lesson: Revelation 21:1–5SermonIn this sermon we explored one of the deepest sorrows known to humans, the grief of parents who have lost a child. Digging into Jeremiah’s prophecy about Rachel weeping and touching on the horrific picture of the dragon trying to devour the child of the woman in Revelation 12, we noted that the life of the Man of Sorrows began with the sound of parental weeping in the back streets of Bethlehem.That thought raised the whole theme of carrying our cross. The fact is that proximity to Jesus can bring trouble and sorrow. If we are going follow this sorrowful Savior to his cross, it will mean a cross for us too. “In the world, you will have tribulation . . . ” (John 16:33).The second half of that verse provided the turning point for this gloomy reflection—“but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” Even the Herods of the world? Or the Hitlers? Or the Husseins? Yes, the Man of Sorrows has overcome them all. And that speaks to the grief of the parents of Bethlehem—and everywhere.Jesus’ family flees to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous designs, but after a short exile, God calls them back with the word that Herod is dead. This symbol of the world’s opposition to the Kingdom of God is dead and gone. Evil does not win. There is hope because the Man of Sorrows has overcome the world.Even that sad prophecy of Jeremiah ends with this lovely word from God: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears. . . . They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future. Your children will return to their own land.” We ended by looking at the ultimate fulfillment of that gospel word for those who grieve, Revelation 21:4. Herod is dead. Jesus has overcome the world.Congregational PrayerWe prayed about the losses that fill our lives with tears, touching especially on the grief of parents who have lost children. We widened this focus by interceding for suffering children all over the world.Children’s SermonSeveral examples of losses that make children weep (a pet dying, the death scene in The Lion King) led into a discussion of the comfort they get from parents. Revelation 21:4 provided the “God connection” here.Music SuggestionsGathering“Christ, the Life of All the Living” Homburg“O God, Our Help in Ages Past” WattsConfession and AssuranceChoral Anthem: “Call to Remembrance” Richard Farrant (Oxford)“Lord, Have Mercy Upon Us” KyrieWordAnthem Prayer for Illumination: “God Be in My Head” J. Engel“I Worship You, O Lord” (Psalm 30) Seddon, SeerveldResponse“At the Name of Jesus” Noel“Here from All Nations” Idle“Then I Saw a New Heaven and Earth” Idle

This is part of the worship series, "Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows” Series Introduction Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5 Palm Sunday | EasterFirst Sunday in LentThe Via Dolorosa: The Man of SorrowsScriptureText: Isaiah 53:3Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 35:1–18New Testament Lesson: 2 Corinthians 7:10–11SermonWe opened the series with Philip Yancey’s question in The Jesus I Never Knew:  “Does God care about the misery down here, the grief of our lives?” Yancey speaks of human life as a drama in which God, the “unseen Stage Manager,” came out from behind the curtain and got acquainted with grief in person. “In Jesus, God lay down on the dissection table, as it were, stretched out in cruciform posture for the scrutiny of all the skeptics who ever lived.”That opening led us to an exploration of that famous and ancient title, Man of Sorrows. We dealt first of all with the why of it. Why was Jesus called that? Because he carried our sorrows. Which sorrows? Well, especially our sorrows of regret and remorse for sin.Woody Allen (“My one regret in life is that I am not someone else”) and Tullulah Bankhead (“The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”) helped us think about our own regret. We focused on the fact that Jesus both carried the sin that causes our regret and suffered the punishment that such sin inevitably brings on us. His purpose was to erase our regrets, dry our tears, and give us peace at last.Then we dealt with the next question: If Jesus did that, why do we still have tears of regret? Why can’t we feel the joy of forgiveness purchased by the Man of Sorrows? Here we turned to 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 for the distinction between regret and repentance, between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. We concluded that our tears will not be transformed into tears of rejoicing until we shed tears of repentance and genuinely turn to Christ. A comparison of the tears of Judas (Matt. 27:3) and Peter (Luke 22:60-62) helped to make that contrast more dramatic.Congregational PrayerA dual focus on the sins of our lives and the sorrows of the Savior made this prayer both preparatory to the sermon, but also, and more importantly, a pastorally sensitive way to begin our observance of Lent.Children’s SermonBeginning with a little “name game” using the children’s names, we talked about the names of Jesus, focusing on “Man of Sorrows.” Though you want to be careful about inducing false guilt in children, you can help them experience joy for the sorrowful work of our Savior.Music SuggestionsGathering“Lift High the Cross” Kitchin“Man of Sorrows, What a Name” BlissConfession and Assurance“How Blest Are They Whose Trespass” (Psalm 32) Psalter, 1912“Not What My Hands Have Done” BonarWord“See, Christ Was Wounded for Our Sake” (Isaiah 53) Foley“O Lord, Arise” (Psalm 35) OtteResponseAnthem: “Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee” Brahms (C. F. Peters)“When Peace Like a River” Spafford

For the last fifteen years LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church has welcomed children to the Lord’s table by means of a Table Fellowship liturgy.

Each year near the end of October the congregation at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church gathers for an evening hymn festival. Last year the festival was called “Songs of the Covenant,” a service focusing on various biblical characters with whom God kept covenant. While the hymns and anthems were central to the festival, the pastor’s brief meditation entitled “Why Are They Singing?” set the tone and explained the theme for the entire service.