(Each member of the congregation is handed two toothpicks as he or she enters the sanctuary.)

It seemed like the beginning rather than the end. At least it seemed like the beginning as it is recorded in Genesis 1:2 -- The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep .... The world of so many people seemed formless and empty that Friday so long ago. And darkness seemed to have covered the face of the land with its black mask. It was a moral darkness as well as a physical murkiness.

The one who had come as God-in-person was rejected, but far more than that. Jesus was not just ignored. He was pure, absolute unadulterated truth. He evoked the kind of reaction from various groups and individuals that caused them to shout, "Crucify him!" Jesus set off a chain rea…