McHenry County Blog

It’s Easter.

The Lenten series about a young Jewish girl called Hannah searching, first, for the meaning of life and, then, for Jesus.

I found the presentations riveting at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake and tried to capture the essence of each of them. (See the bottom of the article for links to my original stories two year’s ago.)

But, they all led up to Easter, the foundation of the Christian Church, the Resurrection of Christ from the dead.

When we left Hannah the day of Christ’s crucifixion, she was sobbing at the foot of the cross, having missed all of her opportunities to see or hear Jesus. She was surprised that many followers of Jesus had given up and were hurriedly leaving Jerusalem in great fear for their personal safety.

She was astonished that the followers were acting as we know Peter acted, denying even knowing Jesus.

Hannah went to Jesus’ tomb.

She fell asleep.

The narrator read the Bible:

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening stood beside them.

“In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them,

‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?

‘He is not here; He has risen.’

Using Hannah as a literary device, the narrator notes that missed by the writers of the Bible:

“…a young Jewish girl, probably from a town nearby.

“Probably there all night, hiding from the Centurion soldiers who were order to guard to the tomb, falling asleep during her watch, only to be awakened by the sorrowful cries of the women bringing spices.

“The cries of disbelief that the stone was moved and the body was gone. She saw the bright light cast by the angels and, although she probably did not see the angels, she could hear as they said,

‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?

‘He is not here; He has risen!’

“This young Jewish girl, let’s call her Hannah, comes to the tomb because she is still searching, still wanting to talk, to touch the man known to some as the Messiah.

“But, now He was dead.

“No chance to talk to Him, no chance to touch Him.

“For years, Hannah has been searching for Him, wanting an opportunity just to talk. Every time she got close, it just wasn’t close enough. Every time she came near, it just was a little too late, trying to lure Jesus in to her world with tricks or false pretenses.

“Now what?

“Is there not a little of Hannah in each one of us?

“Has there not been a time in our lives where we have felt a void, an emptiness in our hearts that we can’t fill, a loneliness or sadness that we can’t change?

“Where do we search for a solution?

“How do we fill our void?

“Maybe we try to find fulfillment in worldly things, our job, our relationships, money, hobbies.

“Nothing can fill the void like our Savior, our Lord, our Creator.

“For God so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be with us, to teach us, to show us how to live, to die for us that we might live.

“What are our thoughts at the empty tomb?

“What do you think, or how do you feel when you hear the angel say,

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen?”

At this point Hannah kneels and raises her hands toward heaven.

“I never got to talk to you or touch you or see you face-to-face, but I believe by what you taught, what you did, how you loved that you are God, that you died for me and therefore have provided me the opportunity for life eternal with you in Heaven.

“I believe.”

The narrator picks up,

“Is your faith deep enough, strong enough, to believe what you have not seen with your own eyes?

“Do you accept the greatest miracle of all, the miracle of salvation through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ?

“May this Easter be a day of new beginnings for you, a day where you accept our Lord as your Savior, where you fill your heart and your mind with the love and grace of Jesus Christ.”

Next came Pastor David Seyller’s sermon, entitled, “Not a good day for grave robbers.”

“Easter has always been a bad day for grave robbers because nothing disturbs a grave robber more than an empty grave.”

After the risen Jesus called Mary Magdalene by name, she ran proclaiming,

“I have seen the Lord!”

“The valuable body is not in a tomb,” Seyller said. “It is out and about.”

Explaining that “hatred and cruelty and pain and suffering couldn’t keep God away,” Seyller said,

“The door is always open, because God is back.”

The pastor then outlined “four simple things you need to know and accept”:

• I am a sinner
• The penalty for my sin is eternal death.
• Jesus died to pay the penalty for my sins.
• If I ask Got to forgive me for rebelling against him and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, he will save me from death and for eternal life.

He suggest saying a prayer like this:

God of all Creation:

• Thank you for what Jesus did on my behalf and the meaning of Easter.
• Thank you for your plan that has never changed.
• Today I confess that I am a sinner and realize my penalty is eternal death.
• But I also realize that Jesus died in my place to bring me forgiveness and to make me right with you.
• Father, forgive me. I turn away from my sin to follow you.
• In Jesus’ name. Amen.

After the message was delivered, the celebration began.

There was singing.

And a brass band blasting joyfully away.

You can see this grade schooler leading clapping in the front row. Contemporary Christian Education Director Jay Hemphill was also trying to get the congregation to clap, as you can see in the background.

The girl knew all the words to the songs. She really should be put on the stage.

There was even dancing in the aisles. Pastor Seyller dance with two preschoolers.

Eventually, their whole family joined in.
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Jeannie Patterson wrote the script. Hannah was portrayed by first year Cary-Grove High School teacher Logan Fraser. The narrator was her mother-in-law Sueanne Fraser. The women at the tomb were Kristin Brandt and Sarah Fraser. The angels were Mike Fraser and Jeannie Patterson.

Here’s a summary of the series, one filled with meaning and fun:

First Hannah meets Jesus in the wilderness at the end of his 40-day fast. She thinks he’s crazy shouting at no one she can see.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera, so my articles pick up Hannah’s seeing out Jesus’ family, friends and neighbors in Nazareth.

Next, we see Hannah at Lazarus’ house in Bethany, where Mary and Martha are throwing a big party celebration his being brought back from the dead. Hannah’s best line is, “He was really dead.”

Onto the Temple, where Hannah just misses the overturning of the tables, but meets more people whose hearts Jesus has touched.

Hannah decides to lure Jesus to her boat rental booth at the Sea of Galilee. You have to read the cover of the Enquirer-like magazine she reads while waiting for Jesus to come. (You’ll have to click on the image to make the headlines legible.)

Naturally, by the time Hannah figures out Jesus is teaching a bit away, she is too late to hear him.

Let me add here that the people who participated in the creation and production of this worship series are among the most creative folks I have ever seen. I hope our church will figure out how to share it with others.

From the Sea of Galilee, Hannah goes to Jerusalem, arriving just in time for Jesus’ praise-filled entry. This is a two-part story: Part 1 and Part 2. As I mentioned above, she again misses Jesus, as she does the day he is crucified.

All of the photographs can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Yesterday, we saw that Hannah, inquisitive child of the 1st Century still searching for the Messiah and finding, instead, her family…who is looking for their wandering daughter.

“Speaking of a child, have you seen my sister Hannah?

“She’s been roaming the countryside for nearly three years. Every time we get her home she runs off again,” Hannah’s sister Joanna asks.

Hannah hears Jesus is coming on a donkey, but might be on foot ”by this point in the procession.”

“He’s an amazing man of humility. He has so much power, yet doesn’t flaunt it around.”

Hannah’s sister is skeptical of Jesus:

“If he came to save the world, why wouldn’t he just save it?”

“Maybe he’s saving it one person at a time,” is her friend’s reply.

Then, Hannah realizes that her father is in the crowd, too.

So, she stays on the ground, hoping he doesn’t notice her.

But, he does.

“Do I dare ask why you are crawling around a crowd of people?” asks her father, Elijah.

After a long pause to gather her thoughts, Hannah answers,

“Father, I think Jesus is the Messiah.“

“Why don’t you just be yourself,” her father asks.

“Quit hiding, quite pretending to know him when you don’t, quit tying to find out from other people what he’s like.”

Hannah is surprised that her father sounds like a believer.

“I never said I didn’t,” he replies, criticizing her for missing what has happened to her family, including her little niece Deborah’s illness.

Jesus is sighted.

Shouts of

“Hosanna. Hosanna!“

and

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord“

are heard.

“Aunt Hannah, please pick me up.”

Hannah does and continues talking to her father as Jesus gets closer and closer.

Hannah keeps rattling off questions to her father, oblivious to her father’s watching Jesus take the little girl’s hands and blessing her.

“Aunt Hannah, did you see? He held my hands.

“He prayed for me. Now I know I will be all better. I won’t be sick anymore.”

Jesus seems to touch everyone as he moves rapidly along the parade route, even Hannah’s skeptical sister.

It reminded me of a politician trying to keep up with his car at a 4th of July parade where the parade organizers were trying to move the entries along faster than one could walk comfortably.

1999′s Gala Parade in Crystal Lake, to be specific.

Jesus is gone before Hannah realizes she has missed him.

Hannah’s father says, “Look with your heart, Hannah. He will be there.”

“Why couldn’t I just be ready?

“Like Deborah was…she knew, she trusted, she watched…

“Hosanna, Hossana in the highest.

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Getting sadder,

“Hosanna.

“Hosanna.

“If only I could have been like Deborah.”

Then, Hannah sings the “Beautiful One” chorus.

And gets excited.

Maybe I can still be like her!

““Maybe it’s not too late for me!” she exclaims as she runs after Jesus.

In his benediction, Pastor David Seyller said,

“Lay down the palm branches; cease the shouting.

“Let our noisy hosannas dissipate in the air.

“Return the donkey and the colt to the stable.

“The parade is over; the procession is at an end.

“Watch the crowd disperse…to their homes, to their lives…for some, they disperse to carry out a sinister plot against the Son of David.

“Watch and wait.

“Go now into this holiest of weeks, with God as your guide.

“Go in anticipation. Go in Peace. Amen”

Hannah will return to the stage of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake for Good Friday’s 7:30 PM service and on Easter Sunday at 11 o’clock. The church is located at the corner of Crystal Lake and Dole Avenues in Crystal Lake, Illinois.

Will Hannah finally find Jesus?

Will you?
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All the pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them.

In the fourth 11 o’clock Lenten service two years ago at the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake, Hannah continued her search for Jesus.

The sequel will appear on McHenry County Blog next Sunday, but I won’t ruin the suspense and tell you where.

It started in the wilderness three years ago when she met a man whom she first saw on a cliff shouting to no one visible to her about not tempting the Lord. After coming down from the mountain, He told her about the meaning of life, but Hannah didn’t understand His words or that she had met Jesus.

Hannah next searched in Nazareth, His hometown, meeting His fun-loving half sister, among others, who called Him “a goody two shoes” for having changed the Temple wine the kids had replaced with water back to wine.

Then, it was onto Bethany, where Hannah tried to insinuate herself with Jesus’ friends at a party celebrating Lazarus’ return from the grave. (“He was really dead.”) She so wanted to be part of the “in crowd.”

Next, Hannah just misses Jesus turn over the tables of the moneychangers and vendors in the Temple, where it is clear that others are searching for the meaning of Jesus’ ministry. (“He looked right through me.”)

Last Sunday, Hannah decided to draw Jesus to her with a deal he could not refuse for a boat.

You see, she had heard that he was coming to the Sea of Galilee to preach and that he had started using boats so that more people could see and hear him.

“I believe it started because He’s got those disciples that are fishermen. I don’t know if He couldn’t really get anyone else at first, so he asked this bunch of fishermen to be His disciples.”

Anyway, as the crowd grew, “Well, one of those fishermen disciples just told Him to get into a boat.”

So, Hannah decides to supply the next boat. She sets up a

“Hannah’s Boat for Rent”

stall.

And, there’s a

“Special if your name begins with J”:

“10 silver coins – 3 hours.”

“We’re going to call it ‘J-Day.’”

Hannah doesn’t want Jesus to think she isn’t busy, so she sets up a

“Take a number for service”

pad.

But, she’s willing to deal.

“And, of course I can negotiate. I was voted ‘Most Likely to Succeed by Negotiation’ by my Temple group,” she says.

“I’ll negotiate a trade…I’ll let Him use my boat for a few hours if we can maybe go to dinner or just sit down for a chat.

In search for Jesus, Hannah tells the congregation, “…every time, I’ve been, what is the phrase you use, ‘A Day Late and a Dollar Short.’

“Yes, I feel like I’m failing miserably, but I feel the need to meet and know Jesus SO badly.”

Hannah sees a crowd of people starting to gather along the shoreline.

She sits behind her booth and waits.

She reads a magazine. (You have to enlarge the photograph by clicking on it to read the titles of the articles in this first century “Enquirer.”)

And waits.

As Jeremy Camp’s song,

“I Wait for the Lord,”

is sung.

She waits for business.

Not just any business, but a visit from Jesus.

She takes a lunch break.

And waits.

The day passes slowly.

She lowers the rental price from 10 to 8 silver coins.

The song,

“Get on the Boat”

plays.

She rips off a couple of numbers from the “Take a Number of Service” pad so Jesus will think she is busier than she is.

She is getting tired.

Really tired.

Exhausted.

The way waiting for something to happen exhausts one.

She yawns.

Hannah waits some more.

The afternoon doesn’t fly by.

Hannah moves a chair in the direction where she sees the crowd and stands on it.

Hannah moves the chair closer to the crowd.

“I don’t believe it. He’s there.

“And, he’s on a boat.

“Where did he get the boat?

“I have the boat.

“I’d just give it to him if He’d just spend some time with me. All I want is to talk to him.

“I think he sees me. He looks shorter than I thought.

“He looks so tired. Really tired.

“I think he just waved at me.

“I can hear him.

“I think he’s talking to me.”

And the tableau ends as she leaves the stage.

Pastor Dave Seyller delivered a short message about how people cannot serve two masters.

He pointed out that we cannot entice Jesus with discounts.

We can’t bargain with Him.

“Too many people are searching for Jesus in all the wrong places, instead of searching within oneself.”

The service was shorter than usual, but I didn’t find anyone who felt short-changed.

The Methodist Church in Crystal Lake is located at the intersection of Crystal Lake and Dole Avenues, both of which intersect with Route 14.

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All the photographs can be enlarged by clicking on them.

The blond in all of the pictures is first year Cary-Grove High School teacher Logan Fraser. Author and director of today’s skit, officially titled, “Trying to Buy Jesus – Boat for Rent,” Jeannie Patterson can be send advancing the clock’s hands. The woman with Logan Fraser in the top picture is Lori Morrow, who played Jesus’ half-sister in the second playlet of the series. Directly below that picture is SueAnn Fraser, Logan’s mother-in-law. Logan’s father Dave Hill is seen singing.