A Great Start to the Holy Week

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Last year, I found out that Christian band Jars of Clay performed for free at the Bonifacio High Street Ampitheater in a special Easter Sunday mini-concert. I missed it, so I really made sure that I'm not gonna miss its repeat performance this year. I went to the High Street, and the mini-concert is not just what I saw.

The mini-concert was actually part of Church Simplified's Holy Week project in which the group put up its own Stations of the Cross along the High Street walkway. Each booth, or station, has a Scripture, some insights, and an act written on it. The first stations will ask you to write your problems, frustrations, and mistakes you made on a red paper strip that you will "crucify" in the ninth station, symbolizing that Christ, through His sacrifice on the cross, has made you free from those.

There's another booth in which you will pray for the person or persons that helped you in your walk with God and another in which you will draw a prayer request written by someone who was there before you in a bowl and pray for it. To give others an opportunity to pray for you, you can write your own prayer request and place it inside the bowl. You can opt to write anonymously, just like the writer of the prayer request I drew.

At the last station (you are not required to visit all the 14 stations but it would be fun if you will), you will partake the Lord's Supper, a way of celebrating the victory of Jesus over our sins and the devil through the cross. Across the street was the mini-concert. I came just in time to watch the opening performance by Julianne. At the end of her performance, she and her band sang her latest composition "Ikaw Lang". Up next is American Christian singer Michael Gungor. His wife Lisa was supposed to join him and the band in Taguig but was discouraged by the doctor as she is pregnant. Still, I got mesmerized with the band's style of play. Michael even played the banjo in one of his songs. Then came Jars of Clay, and we got to our feet in worshiping God when the band played "I Want to Fall in Love with You".

It was a happy Palm Sunday for me as the worship concert made my night. Also, I was reminded of God's love for me through the interactive Stations of the Cross by the Walkway. I hope you can drop by there. The Church Simplified Stations of the Cross will be there until Sunday.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 NKJV

Page 88 of 365: Different Means, Same Gospel

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Remember His suffering not just during a Good Friday, but everyday.
Show your love to Him the same way He showed His love to us.

After covering an event at Enchanted Kingdom, I heard a strange sound from outside the multi-purpose hall. The curious that I am, I went outside, and from just below Anchors Away, the ship-themed ride at EK, yeba! There were theater actors, dancers, and a choral ensemble giving the theme park visitors a treat. But I was curious with one of the actors. He dressed up like Jesus. "But hold it! Why are they wearing modern-day clothes and some are kinda punks?" Then a group of actors "forcefully" brought the lead actor to the Brooklyn area to be "judged" by a guy in a cool purple suit named "King Herod". I watched the place-to-place theater show too long enough that I didn't notice my friend leaving me behind already.

Since I lost her for good (Nope! I didn't get friendzoned. She just invited me to cover the event.), I just decided to finish watching the play before leaving. That's Cenakulo Rock, the Lenten month presentation of Enchanted Kingdom. Although it is patterned after the 1973 flick "Jesus Christ Superstar", I found the punky concept kinda awkward. But still, I found the presentation a coming of age, because it was a present-age portrayal of the Lord's sacrifice for us.

Times change, and so do the ways to remember the Gospel. Now, we hear the then solemn "Pasyon" or "Pabasa" with a mix of hit songs like Gangnam Style. Then from the usual dramatic approach of the re-enactment of Christ's crucifixion in provinces comes Cenakulo Rock. But still, the same Gospel is being told. They remind us of how Jesus, being sinless, became "sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)." The injuries the theater actors have during the presentation and the pain we get every time we get hurt are no match to the sufferings of Jesus. He was mocked, tortured, crowned with thorns, spitted upon, and died in the most humiliating way just to save us from our sins. Being God, He kept His promise of coming back from the dead, and that's what happened on the third day. Now, we can have a direct relationship with God through His only begotten Son. Because of Him, we can now receive the gift of eternal life.

Yes, Cenakulo Rock or any means of telling the Gospel might bring you to tears, but if you don't take the Word of God to your heart, it will not make sense. Remember, "We all stumble in many ways (James 3:2a)." But because of Jesus Christ, we can stand up again and live to the fullest. This Lenten holidays, let's thank the Lord for His love that was showed to us through the cross. Remember His suffering not just during a Good Friday, but everyday. Show your love to Him the same way He showed His love to us.

Read James 3:2-18 and Proverbs 10:27-32.