These words "The Good Friday experience is one of feeling the pain of an entirely unfiltered reality. It is as if the atmosphere, the protective layer between us and the sun, has for a moment disappeared and we are being burned. I wonder if God is like the sun in that way and is the reason Moses could not look at God, because we need a protective barrier. We need God for light and warmth, but we also need some protection from God" may be the best I've ever read on the experience of Good Friday. Especially with the unfiltered realities that are upon us right now. I'll never see barking dogs in the same way now.
Wow, my heart is still resonating from last night’s Maundy service at our small Congregational church. Doubling down with this broken open heart now — raw, aching, finding strength to hold the frailty of that which makes us human. Finding moments when grief and suffering opens up a portal to knowing compassion, even love, while still smothered, gasping to the wonder of so much mystery. I, too, am grateful for tears this morning and the beauty you have brought to me on Good Friday. Thank you, Nadia.
I read this book of yours years ago and LOVED it. Thank you for reminding me of what Good Friday is really all about. My heart needed this reminder today. Thank you, Nadia!
Thanks for sharing this one again. As a UU, I find it a helpful reminder to reread Theodore Parker's 1841 sermon "The Transient and the Permanent in Christianity" with its searing charge that the essential element of Jesus is that he is human and thus a model for what humans can endure and do if they must to serve what I would call the Spirit of Life-Giving Love: "Doubtless the time will come when men shall see Christ also as he is. Well might he still say: "Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me?" No! we have made him an idol, have bowed the knee before him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews;" called him "Lord, Lord!" but done not he things which he said. The history of the Christian world might well be summed up in one word of the evangelist -- "and there they crucified him," for there has never been an age when men did not crucify the Son of God afresh. " Just like we do to each other.
Weeping with the beauty of this. I left religion but not the core, the heart, the soul, the hope. You bring me down and raise me up because you go to the depths of despair and the root of humanity, Nadia. The unbearable suffering is only eased by union such as this.
This is the first Easter season that I truly followed with my heart and mind as we all are going through such difficult times of being in the onslaught of our own Caesar.....everyday is a reminder to be merciful and these Holy Days of Christ..the Passover should be a reckoning to us all as humans to look to our hearts for the truth of who we are as a people......
We used to have a Good Friday Walk in our cluster of neighborhood churches. They never hit the church where I was a Deacon at Prince of Peace in Troy, because we were the outlier in the cluster, and those who took care of organizing the walk thought it was too far. Somebody should have told me that the few times I had to walk when the snow was too high.
The Pastor of the local Missionary Baptist Church always included a graphic detail of the crucifixion as part of his section every year, with very few details omitted.
People would squirm, but to understand the Crucifixion, you have to UNDERSTAND the Crucifixion! Most of us, except for those who did further study, still had that Sunday School understanding of the event.
Christ on the Cross, no biggie.
Except it was a biggie, and Lord knows it hurt a lot. The fact that our sins were whisked away at Calvary is important, but I think the "process" is just as important. We should never be forced into the "box" of thinking Scripture as being "trivial".
As a recovering Catholic, I have always thought "Well, it certainly wasn't a very Good Friday for our good friend." I appreciate you sharing this story (that I could barely read) to remind me of what Good Friday truly is. Amen sister. And thank you!
Someone once wrote “ We are an Easter people in a Good Friday world”
I could barely breathe reading this.
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
These words "The Good Friday experience is one of feeling the pain of an entirely unfiltered reality. It is as if the atmosphere, the protective layer between us and the sun, has for a moment disappeared and we are being burned. I wonder if God is like the sun in that way and is the reason Moses could not look at God, because we need a protective barrier. We need God for light and warmth, but we also need some protection from God" may be the best I've ever read on the experience of Good Friday. Especially with the unfiltered realities that are upon us right now. I'll never see barking dogs in the same way now.
Wow, my heart is still resonating from last night’s Maundy service at our small Congregational church. Doubling down with this broken open heart now — raw, aching, finding strength to hold the frailty of that which makes us human. Finding moments when grief and suffering opens up a portal to knowing compassion, even love, while still smothered, gasping to the wonder of so much mystery. I, too, am grateful for tears this morning and the beauty you have brought to me on Good Friday. Thank you, Nadia.
I read this book of yours years ago and LOVED it. Thank you for reminding me of what Good Friday is really all about. My heart needed this reminder today. Thank you, Nadia!
It's very, very rare that I'm moved to tears by someone's writing. Thank you, and God bless you.
Thank you for doing this. I love this. I want to sing His agony for us in some place so dark and so needing His Grace . . . like my heart.
Thanks for sharing this one again. As a UU, I find it a helpful reminder to reread Theodore Parker's 1841 sermon "The Transient and the Permanent in Christianity" with its searing charge that the essential element of Jesus is that he is human and thus a model for what humans can endure and do if they must to serve what I would call the Spirit of Life-Giving Love: "Doubtless the time will come when men shall see Christ also as he is. Well might he still say: "Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me?" No! we have made him an idol, have bowed the knee before him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews;" called him "Lord, Lord!" but done not he things which he said. The history of the Christian world might well be summed up in one word of the evangelist -- "and there they crucified him," for there has never been an age when men did not crucify the Son of God afresh. " Just like we do to each other.
Wonderful way to spend Good Friday. Thank you very much!
Weeping with the beauty of this. I left religion but not the core, the heart, the soul, the hope. You bring me down and raise me up because you go to the depths of despair and the root of humanity, Nadia. The unbearable suffering is only eased by union such as this.
Thank you for taking me with you.
This is the first Easter season that I truly followed with my heart and mind as we all are going through such difficult times of being in the onslaught of our own Caesar.....everyday is a reminder to be merciful and these Holy Days of Christ..the Passover should be a reckoning to us all as humans to look to our hearts for the truth of who we are as a people......
I am inspired and love the idea of Good Friday when the protective layers protecting us from the sun are removed!!
SHALOM,
joanne
We used to have a Good Friday Walk in our cluster of neighborhood churches. They never hit the church where I was a Deacon at Prince of Peace in Troy, because we were the outlier in the cluster, and those who took care of organizing the walk thought it was too far. Somebody should have told me that the few times I had to walk when the snow was too high.
The Pastor of the local Missionary Baptist Church always included a graphic detail of the crucifixion as part of his section every year, with very few details omitted.
People would squirm, but to understand the Crucifixion, you have to UNDERSTAND the Crucifixion! Most of us, except for those who did further study, still had that Sunday School understanding of the event.
Christ on the Cross, no biggie.
Except it was a biggie, and Lord knows it hurt a lot. The fact that our sins were whisked away at Calvary is important, but I think the "process" is just as important. We should never be forced into the "box" of thinking Scripture as being "trivial".
ab uno disce omnes,
Ken
Again and again Nadia your writing reconnects me with weeping, compassion and the anguish and awe of grace. Thank you for sharing this today. 💔🙏
As a recovering Catholic, I have always thought "Well, it certainly wasn't a very Good Friday for our good friend." I appreciate you sharing this story (that I could barely read) to remind me of what Good Friday truly is. Amen sister. And thank you!
Amen.