Good Friday, April 10th

Every Good Friday lays bare for us the worst of who humanity is and invites us again to see beyond our weakness and violence to see a different set of values and a deeper way of living. It’s not that we are called to dwell in our failure. That isn’t the way Jesus talks about. And it is not a day without hope!

Many years ago I went to hear someone called Tony Campolo speak at a youth event. His recurring phrase around which his whole address was hooked, and we were hooked as well, was “It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming”. He repeated it over and over. “It’s Friday, but Sunday is coming”, each time his voice getting louder and louder, with the nuances of Sunday’s coming filling hearts with more and more hope and excitement.

The Faces of Easter Godly Play story captures it too. You can never have Good Friday without Easter Sunday and you can’t understand Easter Sunday without first going through Good Friday. We need both parts of the story for the mystery of how the God who created us enters into our life and death, and resurrects it, renews it, rejoices in it!

From despair to hope, from misery to joy, that is the journey we are called to make, hand in hand with the God who has always wanted to walk beside us, first in a garden and then through the wilderness, then on, always on, because Sunday is always coming! And this year more than most, we look forward to Sunday renewed! But first Good Friday!

Rachel Haig