Good Friday Reflections

Good Friday is definitely my favorite service of the year at St. Paul's. For me, the Holy Week journey and Easter celebration is incomplete without a sustained meditation on the Cross of Christ. In many respects we have a tradition of doing the same thing each year; and in other ways each year is a totally unique and unrepeatable experience.

We always do a Tenebrae service (which means a "Service of Darkness") combined with readings based on the Stations of the Cross combined with some form of multi-media, artistic/creative element and music--and then we close the service with a time of response to the cross. We focus on the cross, pray at the cross, touch the cross, attach prayers to the cross, and lay flowers and palms on the cross and at the feet of the cross.

The whole service leads people to the foot of the cross, where they encounter Jesus in a deeply profound way. Watching people at the cross is an unbelievably humbling for me. Men, women, and children are all respond in different ways... often moved to tears... powerful!

Each year the cross is done differently. One of our talented artists in the church comes up with a different concept each year... and it makes each experience totally unique.

This year, our Jazz team led by Kris & Jen Allen and Earl MacDonald wrote and arranged the music for the service. All I can say is WOW! The music literally led us on a journey, captured different emotions as we went, and somehow managed to penetrate heart, mind and soul --- something that in my experience only Jazz can really do. A lot of music can get you at the heart and soul level, or at the mind level --- but it is rare that it gets you at all three. Today, I was gotten!

And watching people respond today was really like watching an unscripted human drama unfold... and each part told the story of how God encounters His people.

This service was seriously stunning and moving... and the best part about it is the staff team had nothing to do with it! A part from our tech, it was all done entirely by volunteers. This really was worship and art and creativity at its best in the church!

And now I am ready for Easter.