Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Lent Devotion: Good Friday Friday, April 2, 1999 John 19:25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Daffodils are blooming everywhere in Champaign-Urbana. They finally popped their sunny yellow faces because it rained. The events on Golgotha could never be described as "good", not on the day they occurred. But I can't remember a time when I wasn't anticipating Easter on the Friday before. I know how the story comes out. As Tony Campolo remembers the title of one of his favorite sermons, "It's Friday . . . but Sunday's comin'!" I'm ready to go to heaven. This world, this Friday world, is not my home, I'm just passing through. Thank God it's Friday, because something else is coming. To bridge the gap between Friday and Sunday is the fascinating pastime of our human "being", what we often mistake as our human "doing." Today is a waiting day. We stand with the Marys below Jesus' cross. In the words of Ruth Fox, "we each bring to the cross our unique and simple gift of trust and surrender. And if we feel our gift is worthless, we can take comfort from these words of the poet Jessica Powers: If you have nothing     Gather back your sigh     And with your hands held high Lift up your emptiness. Of course that is all we have. We are "beings". Like the daffodils, we raise our faces to the sky and wait for the rain. "; Add      Edit    Delete