Why Call It Good Friday?

Why do we call this Friday "good?"   This is a perfectly understandable question asked recently by members of our 5th Grade class.  Since the Friday of Holy Week is the day we associate with Jesus' death on the cross, "good" doesn't seem like....a good word to describe it.  On this day, perhaps the year 33 CE, Jesus was put on trial, abandoned by his friends, mocked, scourged, and painfully put to death.  Jesus is in Christian theology the very embodiment of God, in no way deserving of the punishment he received on this infamous day.....so, why call it Good Friday?  First, we need to realize that words can have more than one meaning.  In this case, "good" is used in an old and uncommon sense of "pious" or "holy."  Much in the same way that we might refer to the Bible as the "Good Book."  So Good Friday is a day that is spiritually edifying.  Observing this day puts us in touch with the mystery of God's saving action....which brings me to a second point.  Even in the sense where "good" means helpful or beneficial, we can think of it describing this day.  Good Friday marks the day in history when Jesus demonstrated God's love for us by laying down his life.  He paid the price for our sins and transgressions.  Thanks to Jesus' sacrifice, love is the final word and all of the failings of humanity are, by comparison, like "a live coal dropped into the sea."  When you think of it this way, it really is Good Friday.

Advent Wilderness

Lighting a candle of the Advent Wreath

If we’re not careful, Christmas can come and go in a flurry of torn paper and overeating, so fast that we miss the meaning.  I’m telling our students that if John the Baptist were among us today, he would warn us of the danger of focusing too much on ourselves….what we want, and what we’re going to get.  Self-focus has a way of blinding us to the core meaning of the Season.  As I write this, we’re lighting 2 candles of the Advent Wreath in school Chapel, so the inexorable march to December 25 continues.  I’ve done about half the things on my list and the other half wants to send me into a panic.  I can succumb to the anxiety, complete the list, go beyond what is reasonable…over-achieve, over-compensate, over-do….but at what cost?  Let’s remember that Advent began with the lighting of a candle and, while it’s not too late, perhaps we can find other kinds of illumination to hold up against the backdrop of the season’s cloud of frenzy.  Here are some ideas: grab some coffee, sit, listen and reflect upon a piece of sacred music, be intentional about giving some of your time to a worthy cause, read the Christmas story to someone you love, write in a journal about what Christmas means to you and share with a trusted other, buy a gift for someone you don’t know (i.e., Toys for Tots) and pray for that person or family.  Being intentionally spiritual about Advent is not one more thing on the list….it flavors and informs all the stuff we have to do and, by the Grace of God, may lead to the sublime.

Occupy Thanksgiving

Is the glass half full or half empty?  What we see may depend on our general outlook on life.  Do you always focus on what's missing, what you wish you had, the things that could have been?  There is a danger in only dwelling on what we lack, on making a place in our hearts for feeling like life has dealt a bad hand.  The risk is that in so doing, we lose sight of the half full glass....the great gifts that we have in life.  Thanksgiving Day offers us the occasion to take stock of our blessings, to be more intentional about noticing the water in the glass.  This Thanksgiving let's not forget the people we love, our good memories, the things that interest us, the simple things that we can enjoy but never own.  Take some time each day to search your heart for gratefulness....with God's help, it may just change the way you see and allow you greater joy in life.   

Unearth Your Hidden Talents

On Sunday, November 13, the Revised Common Lectionary specifies “The Parable of the Talents” from Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 25:14-30).  The word “talent” captured my initial thoughts because it refers to a staggeringly large amount of money.  One talent was equivalent to 6,000 denarii, and each denarius was the amount a laborer would earn for a day’s work.  Hypothetically, if a worker in Jesus’ day did not have to eat and could have saved everything he earned, I suppose it would have taken almost 20 years to accumulate wealth at this level….and this is the level of the slave who only received one talent.  We are not supposed to feel badly for the slave who was entrusted with the least amount….like he was somehow receiving the “short end of the stick” from the master.  The point is that each was entrusted with a fortune!  In the Kingdom of Heaven every servant of God has bountiful blessings, and each is called to be mindful of these gifts and to put them to good use.  Do you know the “fortune” that God has invested in you?  Spending some time reflecting on what God has given us may help to bring this “wealth” to consciousness...to unearth hidden talents, so to speak.  This might mean trying new things to see how they work.  There are always risks with trying something new.... embarrassment, lost time and energy, misunderstandings... but, we can't live life to the fullest if we let fear shut us down.  Moving forward, we place our trust in God....the only way to lose is not to try.   

A Blessing

Several people have asked me for the blessing given at the end of the 10:30AM Eucharist on Sunday, October 30.  I heard this one from The Rev. Grayce O'Neill, one of the faculty members at the Episcopal CREDO conference I attended in October.  She was kind enough to send it to me, and now this blessing is a permanent resident in my Book of Common Prayer:

May the Spirit of the living God, made known to us most fully in Jesus Christ our Lord:

Go before you to show you the way

Go above you to watch over you

Go beside you to be your companion

Go behind you to push you into places you would not normally go yourself

Dwell inside you to remind you that you are loved beyond your wildest imagination

And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with you now and always.  AMEN.

Confidence

I have recently returned with our 6th Grade and chaperones from several days amidst the the piney woods of Camp Allen.  Every year our students participate in the Discovery Program there, a curriculum that includes team building, outdoor living skills, environmental education, archery, rock wall climbing, and orienteering.  One of the greatest privileges for me is being able to witness confidence break out on the faces of students who successfully complete goals in these various activites.  The photo I'm featuring here shows one of these kiddos just after he's been lowered from the top of the high elements climbing wall.  It wasn't easy for him, but he persevered and made it to the top...the pride of achievement is written all over his expression!  Do you see it?  I am reminded that nothing we parents and teachers can say to these youths can make them have self-confidence.  We can encourage, cajol, comfort, pamper, and reprimand, but we can't make anyone feel good about themselves.  It is only the experience of setting goals, working hard, and achieving success that builds self-esteem.  Confidence cannot be given....there is no substitute for finding and claiming it on your own.  When we see youths who show a lack of confidence, the best thing we can do is help them find a passion by giving them different kinds of experiences.  Find a youngster who is keenly interested in something; interested enough to become fairly expert and or skilled in that area....and you will have found a youngster who knows the feeling of confidence.

The "Whole Enchilada"

My next preaching assignment at Trinity Episcopal Church (Sunday, September 18) coincides with the “Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” found in The Gospel According to Matthew (20:1-16). Only occurring in Matthew, the parable serves as a clear reminder not to apply the rules of the marketplace to God’s love. In the story, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a landowner who decides to pay every harvest worker the same wage, a full day’s wage…even to those who were hired near the end of the day. It doesn’t make sense….you can’t run a business that way. Those who had worked the entire day were understandably irked. But God’s family is not a business, and there is no such thing as a “salary deduction” or a “partial payment” from God. The message is as simple as it is poignant: there is no such thing as a part of God’s love. Every child in God’s family receives the “whole enchilada” as my seminary professor Charlie Price was apt to say. This divine love and our place in God’s family is nothing to which we are entitled, not something we have earned. It is pure gift; freely given….the challenge before us is to lay aside our marketplace mentality when it comes to our faith. We are called to open our hearts, simply receive God’s gift, and respond by allowing thankfulness to rule in our lives.