It may sound a bit strange, but during my childhood years I always looked forward to our Good Friday Mass. In my opinion, Catholics and the Orthodox do Good Friday better than anyone, because they don’t try to get around the messiness of the day. I think we Protestants at times try to skirt Good Friday in order to get to Easter Sunday. Make no mistake about it, Easter is at the heart of our faith, and it is a glorious day. However, you cannot have Easter without Good Friday, or at least Easter as God intended it to be.
My home parish’s Good Friday Mass was slow, calculated, and precise. It was full of bells and smells, with the Stations of the Cross and strong incense. It invited you into the agony of Christ’s sufferings with all five senses. We mourned the graphic nature of Jesus’ death and did not make excuses for our sorrow because we knew that resurrection awaited the Savior. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and we celebrated that in an intentionally contemplative and introspective way.
That type of service may not appeal to you, and that is understandable. But we do need to remember, regardless of our denominational backgrounds (or lack thereof), that Good Friday was the climax of the law and the old covenant and brought death. We celebrate the passing of the old into the new, but we should not forget what it cost God to accomplish that. An Easter where Jesus wakes up from a good night’s sleep and proclaims a new day of God’s favor is meaningless. An Easter where Jesus is gloriously, supernaturally and powerfully raised from death, even death on a cross, is the power of God and the salvation of all who believe (1 Cor. 1:18).
Our own Good Friday service will not look like a Catholic or Orthodox mass, but we will talk about and focus upon the death of Jesus Christ. We will worship and remember, we will contemplate and celebrate. We’ll consider the sights and sounds and smells of that first Good Friday, and then we will share in a time of communion with God and with one another.
Our Easter services will be joyous celebrations, as they should be. We’ll offer three identical services at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 a.m. If you are a regular attender at LifePoint and you are able to attend the first or third service, that would help us greatly. We would also politely ask you to consider carpooling if at all possible. Please feel free to mingle after the services, but be mindful of the fact that parking will be at a premium, and we want all our guests coming to the service following the one you attend to be able to find a place to park, so please don’t mingle too long.
Hoping that you all will experience a meaningful and wonderful Easter weekend, and that it will be full of joy, family and the presence of Jesus of Nazareth, the Lamb of God who has died, who has risen, and who will come again!
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym