Yesterday was a Bad Friday For Jesus, a Good Friday for Us

Last night I went to my first-ever Seder service at our church, followed by a Good Friday service.  I was there from 6 pm to 8:45 p.m., ostensibly to be available if any nursery-aged children arrived, but none did, so I joined the parishioners.  I'm glad I did.

The Seder service was instructive and compelling. It's the traditional Jewish Passover meal; the event commemorates the "passing over" of God's wrath toward the Israelites' own intrinsic imperfections (no one is blameless) and their deliverance out of Egypt after 20 generations (400 years) of slavery and cruel treatment by the Pharoahs.

During the meal, we ate foods reminiscent of the trials and tribulations the Israelites endured.  Although I'm well-versed in Old Testament scripture and history, taking part in the Seder service was emotionally compelling and a terrific reminder of how faithful God is to humankind when we do our best to walk in His ways (heck, even when we fail to walk in His ways! One pastor I know proclaimed, "There's a myth that says the Bible proclaims, 'God helps those who help themselves. It doesn't. Instead, what it shows is that God helps those who can't help themselves.").

After the Seder service, additional parishioners joined us for the traditional Good Friday service. We visited the four points of the cross (indoors and out) and heard the story about what happened on the night Jesus was betrayed, followed by a kangaroo trial and his scourging and crucifixion. Some of the older children were involved in the re-telling: they "carried" his burial cloth in, and then carried it out with "Jesus's" body (the cross) after we all placed spices in the burial cloth.

Although inexpertly done (how I pray for a more realistic and dramatic portrayal than the ones churches usually essay), I was still touched personally as we sang appropriate songs from the hymnal punctuated by a contemporary verse that all Christians sing in churches today ("My chains are gone, I've been set free, My God My Savior has ransomed me, and like a flood His mercy reighs, unending love, amazing grace). I went inward and relived the last hours of Jesus' life as I knew it had to have been (after seeing THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST), and that did it.  I was emotionally spent by the end of the service... thanking God for what He did to make a way for us all.