If you think about it, it’s a bit weird to intentionally focus on Jesus’ death isn’t it? Imagine if we did this for literally anyone else. Consider someone in your life who passed away, maybe a grandma or other relative. Now consider if, every year on the anniversary of their death, you spent time intentionally thinking about their death – why they died, how they died, the pain and suffering they endured, etc. – not how they lived or any particularly fond memories you had, but specifically all the details about their death itself. I mean, that’s just objectively a strange thing to do. And yet this is more or less what we do each year on Good Friday. 

So if you’re struggling to get into the right frame of mind this year, I totally get it. And yet as weird and odd as it may be, I still think it’s important we try to do so because contemplating the crucifixion can help draw us closer to understanding God’s incredible love for us which in turn can cause us draw closer to God which in turn can change our hearts toward greater obedience which can in turn begin to cause new creation to flourish all around us, in us and through us. And that’s…. kind of beautiful. But it starts with contemplating Jesus’ death.

But still… I get it. It’s weird.

To maybe help in this, I put together a Spotify Playlist (and copied it to YouTube as well for your convenience) specifically for Good Friday and I invite you to subscribe to it and spend some time intentionally listening to these songs and meditating and praying. We’ll be singing a few of these songs on Friday at 7pm at the church as we journey through the story starting at the Garden of Gethsemane and ending at the grave. I hope you’ll join us there as we wrestle with this tragic affair as a church family… as weird as this whole thing might be 😉

Grace and Peace,
Steve

PS – Don’t forget, Sunday’s coming…