Good Friday
April 06, 2007
"The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there."--Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, April 6.
This morning our family had the opportunity to participate in a Good Friday service. About fifty of us from TCIS gathered in a living room, read John 18 and 19, prayed together and I lead some worship songs on my guitar. We considered Jesus' death upon the cross. We sang of Jesus on the cross. We remembered Jesus on the cross. We spent some time abiding in the place of the cross.
Good Friday? The story of John 18 and 19 is a grisly accounting of betrayal, injustice, false accusation, meanness, hatred, pain, torture and death. What is good about that?
I saw some good today in Good Friday. In all of the darkness, silence and pain of Good Friday I found fellowship and life. This morning we sat together, abiding in the place of the cross. We shared in silence and in prayer the doubts, the fears, the questions, the lonliness, and the pain that still seems to linger--even after last year's Easter morning sunrise service--and in the midst of the darkness we found....love.
"....the greatest of these is love."
On the cross we see Jesus. In the cross we find hope and life. Through the cross we find the means to love others.
The life we find at the cross is love. Spend some time there and.....
Have a Good Friday.
Yes, even after the 2006 Easter service reminding us of Jesus' resurrection, the doubts, fears, questions, loneliness, and pain DO show up in the rest of the year, don't they? But your reflection on Good Friday made me really stop and think about the fact that we DO find love despite it all. The love of our family and the love of our friends keep us going during times of tough, heart-rending occurances that show up without an invitation!!! But the most important thing is that when we look at the cross, we find His love for us and for those who may be 'un-lovely'. How human of me to look at everything at my level and see many situations and people as truly 'un-lovely'. And how Divine of Him to look at everything and everyone at His level and see it all as lovely.........beautiful...........worthy of His sacrifice. The days don't get any brighter sometimes but realizing that the darkest time on earth was the hours when Jesus hung on the cross for me, opens my eyes to the beauty that can be found in the most un-lovely situations and people. The possibility is there...........can I see it? Will I look for it? Lord help me to see Good Friday and Your love more often than once a year.
Thank you, Ryan, for washing a clean spot in the smudged windows of my sight. Mom
Posted by: Leona Roberts | April 16, 2007 at 05:44 PM