Good Friday

Dear Church Family

   Here we are on Good Friday and you may be feeling a bit like this. “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” (Jesus, quoting Psalm 22) But we do feel like that, why are we still sick?, why are we still stuck here?, why is life so difficult now? How long can this possibly go on? How many will lose their jobs? How many more people have to get sick? How many more people will die? How many will I know? The list of questions and those feelings and many others linger.

   One of the Good things about Good Friday is that we have Jesus to help us identify with that feeling.

“Also, let’s hold on to the confession since we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, who is Jesus, God’s Son; because we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize with our weaknesses but instead one who was tempted in every way that we are, except without sin.”    (Hebrews 4:14-15 CEB)

   When we pray, when we talk to God about this challenge, we do have one who understands what we are going through, and that should give us some kind of comfort. We are not alone.

   Good Friday makes it clear that the troubles and the barriers we have between us and God, the targets we’ve missed, the choices we’ve made, the reluctance to do what we know we should do or have done or not done, is FORGIVEN. The barrier is torn down, the distance is narrowed, we are again welcomed into the Garden of Eden fellowship with God. We are welcomed home like the son when he came back from the pig farm in the parable of the Prodigal.

   God goes to extraordinary measures in order for us to see how incredible the love of God for us is. The extreme circumstances of betrayal, denial, injustice, abandonment, is all understood by God. We do have someone we can rely on to seek help from. No matter what you are going through, Jesus understands and travels this road with you.

   We have been reading the Story together this year, the condensed version of the Bible, so that we can learn the main points of God’s love for us, and God’s desire to bring us back to our relationship with the Creator like it was intended to be. That is the Upper Story. The Lower Story is what we go through before we get to understand the power of the love of the Upper Story. Over these few days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and into Easter, we see how we are being restored, renewed, forgiven, transformed and blessed.

   In all that is going on, we need to remember that God loves us, and wants what is best for us. We don’t always see it that way, but we can grow and learn that it’s true. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who so ever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

   Sometimes we realize that when we are down and out, we renew or rediscover our need for God and that brings us to a much higher level of life. In Jesus’ upper room conversation he promised that if we love him and follow him, and do his teachings and his will, he will give us abundant life. That’s far better than ordinary life. That is far better than life that looks like our neighbors or our culture tell us what we should have. The coming good news is all about the joy and the abundant life that God provides.

   May the reflections of this Good Friday, bring you to a glorious Easter. Join us on Zoom, and please invite your family and friends to see us there.      

Blessings.  Pastor Jeff