Lent Day 45: Friday

It’s Friday but Sunday’s coming. Does that thought bring you hope? Comfort? I don’t know what your Friday is like, but I’ve had my share and it’s really easy in the midst of pain, suffering and confusion to only focus on Friday. Sunday’s out there, but it seems light years away.

In just about every house that Nelson and I looked at recently, on our hunt for our new home, that was occupied, had a large screen TV. Each time we found one, Nelson asked the same question: does the TV stay? He knew the answer to the question. He just couldn’t help himself. With that fresh in my mind, I had to chuckle when a friend was opening our Sunday School class and he shared a conversation he had with a young man. It seems that the young man was going through some hard times and he was pretty focused on the difficulties of life. My friend likened it to a large plasma screen TV and a 19” black and white. The young man was looking at his situation and seeing the large plasma screen while thinking that God was the 19” screen. My friend told the young man he had things reversed. He needed to see his problems as the 19” and God as the large plasma screen. And so do we.

It’s Friday but Sunday’s coming. There was a woman, a pastor’s wife, who had a huge impact on my faith journey. When life was trying, she would say: “All this and heaven, too!” We understand the “all this” but we’re not so big on heaven. One salty old church member in the last church where I was the pastor said he wasn’t too much interested in heaven, if all it was there was going to be was choir singing. Life may be difficult, but we’ve done pretty well at making things pretty cushy here. We know how to alleviate much pain and suffering. And if we can’t completely dispose of it, we know how to dull it. Heaven just doesn’t move us. So, we don’t look much for Sunday.

It’s Friday but Sunday’s coming. Someone at work was grousing about how frustrating it was that stores and businesses she needed to contact wouldn’t be open on Good Friday. After all, she said, “It’s not a real holiday.” She’s right. It’s not a holiday, but it isn’t much of a holy day either. Before you race into Sunday, what will you do today to remember the extreme suffering of you Lord? Will you hear the pounding of the nails? Will you think of the spilling of his blood? Will you remember his agony? Will you marvel at his forgiveness? Will you weep with his mother?

It’s Friday.