{"id":6047,"date":"2016-03-25T06:27:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T11:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=6047"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:46:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:46:43","slug":"good-friday-the-crosses-we-create","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2016\/03\/25\/good-friday-the-crosses-we-create\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Friday: The crosses we create"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, this high holy day, at liturgies worldwide, we will know no sacrifice at the banquet table.<\/p>\n

Communion will be different, stirring up spiritual hungers to remind us of the pain of our loss, the awfulness of the absence of Christ.\u00a0On this solemn day, an unusual ritual will file us forward; all of us are all called to reverence the cross.<\/p>\n

\"station<\/p>\n

For me, reverencing the cross is really a ritual of bizarre paradox.\u00a0All at once, we grieve the death of our beloved Jesus and<\/em> give thanks for the freedom his death has permitted us.\u00a0We meditate on his wounds, the lashes, the whip cracks and the cries of anguish and <\/em>celebrate his non-violent love so freely expressed.\u00a0And, we kneel in awe and wonder and<\/em> cry with an awareness that our sin caused his pain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ultimately, in the midst of paradox, this is the day for us to acknowledge our sins, simple and complex, which have created crosses for others.\u00a0We ignored an opportunity to learn about an overwhelming social issue and enter into solidarity when we turned off the bad news. We became part of the crowd that yelled, \u201cCRUCIFY.\u201d<\/p>\n

We refused to speak out against\u2014or to even realize\u2014the ways that we accept and allow racist systems to continue<\/a>, economically and politically. We burdened others with heavy beams.<\/p>\n

We wrongly decided to put our recyclable waste in the bin headed straight for the landfill. We cut wounds right into God\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

We let selfishness consume us and ignored our coworkers in need of God\u2019s mercy. We handed them a crown of thorns.<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t learn to love our hurting, peaceful, Muslim neighbors and reacted to the news of another terrorist attack with cruel assumptions and accusations. We decided we didn\u2019t want to love our enemies. We pounded them with nails of violence and judgment.<\/p>\n

We gave into materialism and wasted our wealth on superficial pleasure, cheating on our fasting. A spear of greed pierced our side.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are part of the picture of Jesus crucified. Rightfully, our hearts are sad and dark on this day.<\/p>\n

Let us unite with Jesus on the cross, for his drops of blood reveal our sinful ways.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Yet it was our pain that he bore,<\/em><\/p>\n

our sufferings he endured.<\/em><\/p>\n

We thought of him as stricken,<\/em><\/p>\n

struck down by God and afflicted,<\/em><\/p>\n

But he was pierced for our sins,<\/em><\/p>\n

crushed for our iniquity.<\/em><\/p>\n

He bore the punishment that makes us whole,<\/em><\/p>\n

by his wounds we were healed.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013Isaiah 53:4-5<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n