What Makes Good Friday Good?

     I was told tonight of a moving letter written by a church member who had realized what Good Friday meant to him.  As I listened to the recounting of the words that this person used and said, “Amen!”  I was also given pause to think about what Good Friday meant to me. 

     I worry that in modern Christianity, or in predominantly western protestant denominations to be a bit more precise, we have come to a place in which we are all too often satisfied to skip over Good Friday so we can get to the good stuff of Easter.  In a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, we get to spend time enjoying the good news of our salvation.  In remembering Christ’s sacrifice, we are reminded of our failings and a call to be better through a sacrificial existence, modeled by our King.  Sunday morning we get candy and baskets and wear our new Easter outfits… Friday evening if we take time to reflect, we get to think about depressing things, and images that are just too ugly and foreign to comprehend, plus, no candy.  Sunrise service reminds us that “Up From the Grave He Arose”!  Friday reminds us that our shame and sin put Him in the grave in the first place.  Easter Sunday reminds us that Jesus goes to prepare a place for us… Good Friday reminds us that His love was meant to transform us as we are freed from sin and death through His pardon and atonement; and we hate to be reminded that we need those things in the first place.

My latest confession...

I Must Confess That I Struggle With These Topics…

     This afternoon, as I picked my daughter up from school, she told me about a young man who has gone public with his desire to be a young woman.  This child is suing the school for the right to live as a teenage girl, including the use of the girls’ restrooms in the school. This teenager is obviously courageous in the fact that this is an issue that could bring so much trouble into a life that is already apparently filled with angst, and yet chooses to move forward in this attempt to live in a way that he or she feels is authentic.  But what is the desired outcome, and what will the measurable outcome be?  I’m just not sure.

      
     The teenage years (even as far away as I am getting from them now) are some of the most difficult years we face as we struggle to find out who we are and who we want to be.  So how do we engage in honest dialogue about these issues with our children and young teens?  How do I as a person of faith, who tries to lead others in their faith walks, engage in discussion of issues that have found no end of argument for as long as humans have been recording their thoughts on the subject?  And am I being authentic in my proclamation of God’s word and its authority in my life, if I don’t recognize that the subject is dealt with fairly clearly in that Word? 

     This is truly a Kingdom shaping moment.  God’s word has been misused so many times in the history of humankind that it renders it vile in many people’s opinions… I am very conscious of that fact.  I tend to be cautious when I approach subjects like this for just that reason.  But because it (like all gifts in creation) can be used for destructive purpose, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t valid or valuable.  It gets tangled and messy.  It challenges us and stretches us.  It tells us things that we don’t want to hear.  It clearly contains language and passages that are foreign to our current experiences.  But it is that “outsideness” that gives it value. 

Visible Faith

"Anything which claims space is visible. Hence the Body of Christ can only be a visible body, or else it is not a Body at all." - Deitrich Bonhoeffer ("The Cost of Discipleship")

An internal and personal faith is important, but only if it moves us to externally transformed lives. It isn't about a showy or false "look at how good I can be" existence, but rather a faith that allows us to do what is right even when noone esle would care. (though God always cares) An invisible faith lived out, is visible and measurable. It shouts when justice, mercy and righteousness are called for, and it is quiet when it needs to be. But in everything it is indisputably there, reaching, teaching, and healing.

Hope to SEE you tomorrow! 

Chris