4.10.2009

Good/Tragic Friday

I'll admit it; I struggle with Good Friday. I have a love/hate relationship with "Good" Friday which I'd really prefer to call "Highly Tragic Friday." And I would imagine I am not alone. In a few hours, the family and I will head to church and watch the altar being stripped. We will find a seat in a pew and listen to the difficult words of Psalm 22. I struggle on this Friday of Fridays with how much to immerse myself in the horror of the cross.

Thinking about the cross leads me to thinking of all the terrible things that are happening today, in this present moment, all over the world. Good Friday is not just about an isolated event 2000 years ago. Good Friday is an annual reminder of all the evil and sin and oppression that is part of thehas human experience. On this difficult night, I am pierced with a longing for Easter morning. I cannot wait to wake up on Sunday. This longing is no longer about a beautiful basket (although they are always adorable and candy-filled), but for the peace that comes with knowing that once again, Christ is risen and death has been ultimately defeated.

And even though sin and evil and anger and greed sometimes seem to have the upper-hand in this broken world, we get to be reminded Sunday morning (and really every day) that none of those powers are strong enough to defeat the most life-giving, resurrected love of all. It is to this hope I am clinging.

Some pictures from this afternoon:

2 comments:

  1. Read Craig's Good Friday sermon (if you haven't already heard it) when it goes online. It was great, and might help you take the Johanine point of view, at least one day a year.

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  2. you have a wonderful eye for pictures!

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