“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.
By your holy cross you have redeemed the whole world”

Good Friday begins with our solemn meditation on the sacrifice of Christ.  The altar is bare, symbol of his humiliation and beating.  Psalm 22 is read with its vivid imagery of Christ’s suffering and haunting cry from the cross — “My God. My God, why have you forsaken me?”  We remember.  We pray for the world he died for. But we do not end our prayers on a note of grief and forlorn longing. This is all part of God’s plan, and when God makes the plans the ending is never disappointing or grim.

The time of Good Friday draws to a close when we lift up our eyes and look beyond the cross and beyond the grave and beyond the only humanly possible to God’s impossible triumph and victory. The best kind of cross is not the cross with the crucified savior nor is it the cross empty against a sunrise horizon.  The best cross is the cross with the risen Jesus welcoming with open arms all who would draw near.  The Cross Victorious. This is Good Friday and the cross that figures in God’s plans.

“So shall our song of triumph ever be,
Praise to the Crucified for victory”

Lift High the Cross,
The love God proclaim
Till all the world
Adore His holy name”

Blessings,
Rev. Nicholas J. Zook