Good Friday

April 10, 2009

It was an odd sight. As D and I were driving through town this afternoon we saw a tightly-packed herd (Flock? Gaggle? Swarm? Colony? Litter?) of teenagers walking ahead on the sidewalk. From the backside they looked like ordinary enough kids but just as I was trying to compose some witty remark to dazzle the socks off D about the roving band of wild adolescents cruising the suburbs, I noticed they were walking in such close formation because they were carrying a six foot wooden cross among them in remembrance of Good Friday. Like I said, it was an odd thing to see; teenagers carrying a giant cross on the sidewalk in front of Blockbuster Video. Odd and powerfully moving.

Aside from that drive-by God moment today’s not been exactly a Holy Week centered experience unless you count re-organizing the rental storage space as holy ground and making egg-shaped Rice Krispy Treats as spiritual practice. Even as I write that it’s with the footnote that anywhere or anyplace can be made sacred when our hearts are set on God….it’s just that my thoughts were primarily directed toward the sticky mess I was making of our kitchen. Less spiritually-minded than Windex-obsessed. But there’s hope because in another five minutes D and I will be heading out to join with others in our congregation for a faith walk through the Stations of the Cross. I don’t know exactly what the pastor has planned for us or what it will all look like but I’m eager to turn my thoughts away from storage and sweets to the passion of Good Friday.

tick tick tick tick tick….

Home again. We were gone for less than an hour. We walked the 7 Stations of the Cross alone and in silence. It was an experiential journey and so at every station I would read a writing that was provided and then there would be the sound of a rooster crowing, the cold metal in my hand of a set of antique jailer’s keys that freed Barrabas from his chains, the feel of a leather strap in my hand that I whipped against a tree,  the sound and feel and sight of the nails I hammered into a cross laid before the table, the taste of vinegar on my lips, the smell of incense used to anoint Christ’s body.

Midpoint through the Stations a small splintered cross was placed in my hands that I carried to this door that was closed where I read these words in silence,

You who have carried your cross – help me carry everything that is too heavy for me.
I know I have to carry my own life; I can’t just “shake off” my cares.
I can’t reject my life…neither the pain nor the losses, the rejection or betrayals.

You who have been tormented and died – help me endure the struggles that are mine.
I can’t walk through this life and not face my ordeals.
Give me strength not to turn my back on life.
When difficulties confront me let me face my life with faith and trust.

You who have entered the territory of Death, please stay with me.

When the Wave of Death overwhelms me…wash over me with your waves of Grace.

I cannot prevent the churnings of life;
you know the turmoil of present disasters around me.

I know it is possible to rise up from the darkness,
to rise up from my suffering,
to rise up from death.

I know it is possible to merge with you.

When I had finished the reading, the cross in my hands was taken from me so I could open the door and enter into the labyrinth. I could never walk the path that Jesus walked but I give thanks every day that he is committed and faithful to walk my path with me.

Seven Things I Believe Today about the Cross

• I believe at the moment of Jesus’ death everything that was or ever would be was changed forever. The world you and I live in after the cross is a completely different world than existed before the cross.
• I believe that if we were to ever fully grasp what happened that day on the cross we’d never stand upright again but would spend the rest of our days prostrate before God in awe and gratitude. I mean that literally. On our faces. 24/7.
• I believe that no matter how many times my theology might shift or how many faith questions will rumble around in my mind or whatever doubts will shadow my soul, Christ and the cross will always be the anchors that hold me.
• I believe Jesus knew his life would lead to the cross, not only because he was God but because he wasn’t stupid. Jesus knew that every time he spoke of God’s love for Gentile as well as Jew, ate with outcasts, called a tax-collector friend, allowed a bleeding (unclean) woman to touch him, stood between a stone-throwing mob and an adulterous woman, healed on the sabbath, drove the merchants from the temple, and lived to serve humanity rather than the letter of the law, he was drawing one step closer to a final show down with the religious powers of his day. And still, knowing all this Jesus chose every hour of every day to speak and demonstrate God’s unfailing love whatever the consequences.
• I believe that Jesus’ life was no less important than his death. Jesus came not to die for us alone but to live among us and it is his life as much as his death that has transformed us.
• I believe that in Jesus’ death all of humanity, even creation itself, was saved. I have no choice but to believe in universal salvation because I believe unwaveringly in the unconditional, limitless grace and mercy of God. I believe that Christ’s work on the cross was so complete that it provided redemption for the world in its entirety. (Matthew 18:14, Luke 3:6, John 1:9, Romans 3:23, Romans 11:32, I Corinthians 15:22, John 3:17, Isaiah 25:6-8)
• And finally, I believe that if I spend every moment of every day for the rest of my life thanking God for his gift of grace through Christ Jesus I will still fall short of all the thanks I owe my God and my Redeemer.

Good Friday. Good and glorious.

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Posted in Devotionals