Passion of the Christ

Letter 1
Recently I was working on a major event that was not going as well as I had hoped. As the date approached we began to experience discouragement and worry to the extent of almost canceling the event.

We had not sold nearly enough tickets. All the volunteers and crew were not yet in place. The budget for that day had yet been fully raised and I was feeling the pressure and the eyes of our planning committee looking at me in question, and that question was this: “At what point do we cancel?”

Last Sunday I had the priviledge of watching “The Passion of the Christ” (movie) for the third time. Through the duration of the movie, I felt God tugging on my heart saying, “Yeah, I know you’re feeling down, tickets aren’t selling, people aren’t stepping forward, but…don’t throw in the towel. Don’t give up on me yet!”

The day of the event we had just the right number of volunteers, crew, over 100 in attendance with no mechanical/technical/food/beverage problems or injuries. The day flowed as God had intended and lives were saved. To God be the Glory!

Letter 2
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most memorable moment(s) for me in the last 12 months were two things that happened in the same week. On Wednesday night, we helped transport a youth group to see “The Passion of the Christ” (movie) and then food and discussion followed. And that Sunday, my oldest son came to church with renewed determination to restore his relationship with Christ. My son is to the way I remember him at home and my faith has been ignited to witness and believe that we may bi in the “last revival” before Christ himself returns for us. PTL! PTL!

Letter 3
Communion

Before seeing The Passion of the Christ [movie]:

A ritual of remembrance; a bowing of the head in a prayer of thanks.

After seeing The Passion of the Christ:

The eating of the bread (body) will constrict my throat; the drinking of the juice (blood) will sting and bring tears; the prayer of thanks will bow me low with love and be felt in every fiber of my being. – One Step Closer

Letter 4
My wife and I went this last Friday to see the Passion of the Christ. It really changed our lives. I don’t think a person can walk away from this the same as they were before. I wish I could share what I am feeling but I just don’t have the words. I don’t know what you say about something like this. All I know is it has rekindled a fire in my heart. Everyone needs to see this. – Changed

Letter 5
In light of the vivid images of the crucifixion of Christ and having just seen the movie, I came across these verses in Hebrews in my devotions yesterday that bring it right down to where we live. Hebrews 6:6 says “You cannot bring yourself to repent again if you have nailed the Son of God to the cross again by rejecting Him, holding Him up to mocking and to public shame.” Every time I choose wrong instead of right I am grabbing a nail and hammering it into Jesus once again. It is not just what I saw on the screen, or those people two thousand years ago, that nailed Jesus to the cross. It is what I did yesterday, what I do today, and what I will do tomorrow. But Jesus forgives me when I ask! What a great love, for He is love. – Forgiven

Letter 6
I accepted Christ when I was five years old. I remember the day like it was yesterday. My family and I attended church regularly and we were very involved. It wasn’t until I saw this movie that my eyes were opened to the sacrifice that was made for me. I knew that the crucifixion was not a pleasant thing; the movie brought a realness to Jesus’ death that I had never experienced before. I sat in the movie theater feeling sadness for what he was going through and then it became guilt. My problems at home and at work seemed so trivial. I felt guilty for not being the example I should be. I felt guilty because I couldn’t explain some of the characters to my spouse. I felt guilty for not making sure my family was in church on Sundays and being more involved. He made the ultimate sacrifice, why couldn’t I make a little sacrifice? When someone says “He died for us” it brings on a whole new meaning! Having a son of my own I could not even begin to put myself in Mary’s shoes. I don’t think I could bear to see that.

To say the least the movie made a huge impact. My goal is to dive into my Bible and not just read it but ponder it and understand it. If we aren’t in church you will know that someone in the family is sick or we’re out of town. I came to realize I am responsible for giving my children the same opportunity that my parents gave me. I couldn’t think of a better gift.

It was funny, all day Monday I was thinking of ways to become more involved in church. On the counter when I arrived home that night there was a postcard from the church letting us know about a new Small Church that was beginning for people our age! I would love to find out more about this class. -Renewed

Letter 7
I have now seen the movie The Passion of the Christ twice. The first time I think I was so caught up in the suffering and agony of Jesus that it left me with a sickening, empty feeling – one that I could not get out of my mind during the days after we saw it. I just felt so unworthy and guilty.

The second time I think I realized just how much God loves me… no matter how many times I have disappointed Him, or how many times I have not followed His leading. While there were many new feelings during the second viewing, the one thing that really stood out to me were Mary’s eyes at the end when she was holding Jesus… they were as if she was looking at me and saying… “He did this for YOU!” -Awed by His love

Letter 8
For me, the most profound part of the movie The Passion of the Christ was when Mary ran to Jesus, she was flashing back to when he was a boy and he fell and skinned his knee. That scene literally took my breath away because at that moment it became real to me that Jesus was a real man; not just God’s son but he was his mother’s child. The heartbreak of his pain and suffering became more real for me. As a mother myself, this tugged at my heart in a way that Jesus’ suffering had never hit me before.

I have always known as long as I can remember that Jesus suffered and died for my sins but there was something about this movie that affected me on a very personal level. It sounds trivial but Jesus seems more real to me. His physical pain was felt like a human, like I would feel but his love for mankind and for me is more than I can comprehend. During the movie I cried at moments, I had to turn away because it was too painful to watch, but I didn’t leave the movie brokenhearted. I left the theater feeling empowered by the love I felt for Jesus and I want everyone to know what he did for us. Because of his death for me I love him and I am free. -Freed

Letter 9
The Passion of the Christ movie has impacted my life with thoughts and shame of what I did to our Savior. I was deeply moved by what I saw.

After viewing the movie I will never understand how any of us can sin again after the extreme torture Christ endured for us. I truly hope I can stop sinning.

I will never partake in communion again without visibility in my thoughts and meditation remembering the scenes of His broken body and his blood shed for me. Communion should bring us all to weep!

The movie was too violent, moved me to sobbing to view His brutal crucifixion, to see what He really did for me, not just to read it in the Bible. It showed me what we are capable of doing as human beings. The Passion is not for the world to see, but for Christians to have changed lives for others to see.

I have been changed by The Passion of the Christ. I now have a deeper appreciation of Jesus paying it ALL for me. What happened, happened. Jesus was right all along. We must tell others. I hope I can continue to be changed.

Letter 10
The movie The Passion of the Christ is rated “R”. The “R” of course is because of the violence. In movie terms “R” stands for RESTRICTED, but in this movie “R” stands for RELEVANT, for

REALISTIC, for it
REALLY happened for a
REASON because we were
REBELLIOUS we needed a
REDEEMER.
We needed to be RECONCILED, we needed to be
RECOVERED, we needed to be
REGENERATED. Jesus needed to be
REJECTED so that we could have a
RELATIONSHIP not just a
RELIGION.

The “R” is to
REMIND us to
REMEMBER what Jesus did to
REMOVE our sin to
RENDER Satan powerless, to
RESCUE us from eternity in hell.

The “R” rating is to show that Jesus was
RESPONSIBLE for giving you
REST. As a
RESULT of his death Jesus
RETIRED your debt.

The “R” rating means that some will be
REPULSED, some will
REFUSE to believe, some will be
RELUCTANT, some will think you are
RIDICULOUS in believing that a death was
REQUIRED.

The “R” rating means that the
RESULT of sin has been
REVERSED and now through faith in Christ your
REWARD is eternity and you are now
RIGHTEOUS before God because you have
RECEIVED Him as the
RULER of your soul.

What a REVOLUTIONARY and RADICAL solution to REDEEM
mankind. REJOICE!!! He is RISEN!!!

Letter 11
FMC was able to purchase a large block of tickets for one showing of The Passion of the Christ due to the generous donation of a family in the church. Here is the story of how God worked in their lives and provided the funds to do this.

I was off work for three days this week and decided to organize papers that were stuffed in file cabinets, boxes, etc. This took a lot of time, but I spent a lot of time thinking of God’s touch on my life. One main area was with my ex husband. I had been so angry and bitter toward him for so many years for many things. One of the reasons was his irresponsibility for financially taking care of our son. I came across a large file full of medical bills he was supposed to help pay but never did. I decided at this time that these memories were old and harmful and belonged in the trash. It felt good and I thanked God for the freedom I felt after over ten years.

Another part of my anger was child support. My son’s dad had never kept a job and was quite behind in child support since the court order was set. The man never paid more than $39.50 a week and was at one time several thousand dollars behind. This came to my mind when I threw the file away and I decided that if his dad never finished paying that, it didn’t matter.

Well, by this time I was pretty joyful. Then on TV I heard a preacher talk about miracles and how, if you don’t think they will happen to you, you’re right… you have to believe that God is surprisingly giving. That hit home. I can be so complacent about God’s ability. The next day my husband came home and showed me the trailer from The Passion of the Christ. Wow… that’s when we discussed the tickets, the cost, and the theater. We don’t have a lot of money but I really wished we could somehow come up with the $1,100 it would cost to buy tickets for one showing. My husband agreed. The next day when I got the mail I opened my child support check (expecting $20) and could not believe what I was seeing. $1,350. Unbelievable!! A lot of things went through my head. The first was that I’ve never gotten such a large amount at one time from my ex, even when I asked for the lump sum at our son’s 18 th birthday. The next was, “what are we going to do with this money?” As my mind raced over things to pay off or a shopping spree, it hit me. God gave me this money for the movie! What an amazing feeling. In less than 24 hours of wanting so badly to share Jesus’ story with others, God said, “Here you go, here’s the money you wished for.” Words cannot express my amazement at God’s grace and love. I am in awe to be in His family.