Sharyl West Loeung: I Hate Good Friday (and throw in Saturday for good measure)

I Hate Good Friday (and throw in Saturday for good measure)

I would say I have always hated Lent, but let's be honest, I grew up baptist and knew nothing about it. Good Friday, however, is another story. I can remember being a kid and trying really hard to be sad on this day. It was my up most intent every year, but on a spring day with no school, and typically a 5 day weekend in my district, I usually failed. And I felt guilty. Could I not be sad for Jesus for just ONE day? Ironically, in my Southern Baptist context, feeling guilty was something I was good at, and thus, in some ways, I ended up "appropriately" sad, just for another reason. I was a failure.

As I 've grown older, learned to think critically about my faith, and my faith upbringing, I have often found myself needing to rediscover grace and re-examine the use of shaming in my faith development (thank you Philip Yancey and Brene Brown). This has often been incredibly freeing and life-giving. I am convinced this has been a necessary process. The problem then comes in the discernment of moments of true brokenness that need attention, not dismissal. If I might deal in conjecture, I would be willing to bet many recovering fundamental evangelicals* are in the same boat. We have so rejected the shame that we have forgotten how to both talk about and identify sin.

In retrospect, I believe in part it is difficult to be "sad" on Good Friday, because in a linear story, I already knew what Sunday would bring. We are Easter people. Aren't we? We are people of the resurrection, people who have been delivered from sin and death which we celebrate on Sundays, but in particular on Easter. I don't want Good Friday, because it is a reminder that I don't always live in light of Easter. Many a someone told me "once saved, always saved" so I forgot that my wretched heart still needs saving. That my sin is still sin, and it is ugly. I've been particularly reminded this week of this as I've watched good people hurt other good people. People who all around know better, believe better, preach better, but live as less. Live without Easter. Stuck in limbo. I hate Good Friday, and throw in Good (or awful) Saturday too, because it reminds me that Easter isn't just for those poor lost souls who need to come to our broken churches so they can"hear the gospel and get saved" (avoiding another topic for another day, but geez how many times have I read that on Facebook in the last hour). Easter is for you and me, dear Christian friends, that still need saving. That desperately need Jesus to come out of that grave and conquer SIN and death. In my heart, in my home, and in my church, and in my world. Come quickly LORD, come.

*I went back and forth with this terminology, obviously the definitions are debatably and often more connotative than denotative. I'm hoping no semantical arguments insure, that is, if anyone is actually reading.

I Hate Good Friday (and throw in Saturday for good measure)

0 comments

Post a Comment