Today amid religious traditions, such as Yom Kippur, a Jewish day of serious reflection, and Ramadan, the Muslim 40 days of fasting, abstinence and prayer, Christians mark the silence and stillness of Good Friday, the holy day between Passover and Easter marked by many as the most somber, reflective day in the Christian year.
We are inspired to realize very deeply the tragedy of Jesus’ death in the context of our own sorrows and trials. Today’s headlines command our attention and echo the brooding spirit of the days leading to Jesus’ death as noted in the gospels. As Anne Lamott notes, “Good Friday is the day my [our] audit report arrives from the Eternal Revenue Service.” And some say, “It’s not pretty.”
Lyrics of an old, deep spiritual song, Were You There (click here to listen), call attention to the choice we might have made had we each been standing in that angry mob yelling, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” The reality is, WE ARE THERE! This week’s headline’s command our presence and our choice:
Are we there … with Chinese workers in the U.S. losing their visas?
Are we there … with doctors, nurses and medical professional across the globe risking it all on the frontline of the coronavirus?
Are we there … with Jerusalem police standing guard as ultra-Orthodox Jews in Tel Aviv protest against the coronavirus restrictions near the funeral of Rabbi Tzvi Shenkar?
Are we there … with residents in sub-saharan Africa as it falls into its first recession in 25 years due to the coronavirus?
Are we there … with Ecuadorian refugees returning home to dead bodies left in the streets of their cities and villages?
Are we there … with the five-year-old in Vista, California, who collected enough money door-to-door to pay off the negative lunch balances of 123 students at her school?
Are we there … with millions of people as they grieve loss of home, food, job, relationship?
Are we there … with Mother Earth as she offers every resource she has in spite of unjust revoking of protective policies?
Are we there … with thousands at the borders seeking sanctuary?
Are we there …?
Are we there …?
Are we there …?
Can we be there in silence, stillness, solidarity this Good Friday, praying with scripture scholar Walter Brueggeman (Gift and Task, 127):
“God who knows the depth of death,
forgive our too-eager rush to joy.
Give us resolute honesty
to resist the easy assumption of our culture
that refuses this long Friday
and craves easy well-being.”
—Ann Jackson, PBVM, Prairiewoods spiritual services coordinator