Good Friday...Indeed it is Good!

Good Friday... all I can hear over and over, "Miss Dawn, Why is it so good??" Good Question!!!

Well, another Good Friday is behind us. Once again, (and reluctantly), I offered my annual Good Friday Camp to wee people. A day to truly walk with Christ during his final hours. This past year, I have been somewhat out of the direct spotlight of Christ...or so I thought. Not teaching Sunday School or Chapel for about 9 months brought me to a new way of being with God. There were moments this past year where I questioned my own walk with Christ. I began wondering if my service had expired. However it did not take long before God picked me up and began to utilize my God-given talent in teaching folks about His life story... God teaching me that at some point We all Walk the Way of the Cross!!!!

(If we are to be any part of the Body of Christ that is!)



Once years and years ago I helped run Vacation Bible Schools for Trinity Church in Newport. An assistant priest at the time and myself would discuss each Spring my willingness to help the church put together children's programming for their VBS. It was a volunteer position for a week. I often felt as time came upon us..."Perhaps this summer I shall take it off completely... just rest." And each year I found myself in Fr. Dave's office discussing the theme of this year's camp once again. One year I related my tiredness to him. I told him I was thinking that God might have had enough of my work and to maybe give someone else a try! He asked me why then, was I sitting before him? My reply was that although I have never earned enough financially to give in the way I'd like too, I felt my stewardship was the least I could. (Mind you, Trinity was not my parish, nor my confirmed faith.) I told him that I get a special joy and confirmation of God's messages after teaching/preaching when I relate God's stories to children. I told him somewhere along the way I learned how to express God's message to children. Dave laughed at me... he said, "Dawn, you can run, but you can't hide from God!" Of course, I agreed and said that none of us can. He went on to tell me that he himself questioned his going into the priesthood. He told me that he really thought it the last occupation he would choose... although God had other plans. He said, "Don't worry... God finds you and better yet.. He WAITS for you!" Hmmm... indeed he was correct. I thought I had given my last Good Friday Camp- I was wrong!

This year's Good Friday Camp ran as a well-oiled machine. It should, I have been doing it for about 5 or 6 years. The efforts of preparation for it remind me of the 6 weeks of Lent as we prepare for our walk with Jesus. There is lots to do... lists to create, supplies to gather, quiet reflection, selection of help for the event. It doesn't seem to get old either! (Although, I am!) The kids are just as enthused ... the story hasn't changed in 2000 years... and technology has not moved it into a new place of media hype.

This year however brought some differences for me. The building changed .. the teachers changed .... some of the kids changed ...but the message remained the same. And really, I didn't change! God, found me in all my shortcomings and plopped me right back to a place where I can change the world again! Incredible. Talk about redemption!



For me, Good Friday this year wasn't just about a day's agenda to plow through with 40 friends. It held much deeper significance. It was truly a walk through Jesus' last week of strife and conflict. It was a reminder to me that even Jesus was revered as a hero on Palm Sunday and crucified 5 days later! It hurt to know that His people would spare a murderer over him. His best friend would deny him. Another close friend turns him in for a few coins, and the rest fall asleep on him! It was sad really to watch Peter try to act in violence in Jesus' name when really just minutes later he wouldn't begin to not know anything about Jesus or His ministry. It especially hurt to watch his friends, one by one, save their own asses, and hide just when he needed them most! It further hurt to consider how folks ridiculed him, teased him, accused him of lying and mayhem, and better yet were so incredibly jealous of him that they would go to any measure to make sure no one knew of him anymore... allow His light to shine! I actually choked back tears after relating this to my young friends. I knew EXACTLY how all of these things felt! Truly. And yet, I was not facing death on a cross. I already had.

These feelings began early that morning. I had a flash of all the horror before I even got to the camp. I found myself uttering, "Father, please forgive them for they know not what they have done," in the Stop-n-Shop with my 3.5 year old nephew going into his first Good Friday Camp! "What you saying Aunt Dew?" I just mumbled, "Nothing..." and that he should help me pick up the proverbial Cross, (the themed snack made from Ritz crackers and Cheeze-Whiz), with me and continue on to Golgotha!

Good Friday Camp, to me, (I have joked for years), is my "penance". I speak for 5 hours straight... haha.. I know... and TRUST me it does exhaust me! As we began the tedious task of painting all 14 stations.. I began to wonder about my own 2mile walk to the hill. I wondered about how I have dropped my cross 3x! (or more!) I remembered a kind woman, (many), handing me a towel along the way to wipe my face. I was hoping I left a lasting memory with her too at some point in my tenure. I felt for Simon , a strange man in a strange land being forced into a situation that he knew nothing about.. fearing that helping this rebel would lead him into a early grave. Instead good things came to Simon, besides his conversion! I thought of those continuing to revile Christ along the way... taunting him with remarks..."You deserve everything you got!"... "This is your karma!"... "Go back to Florida ... I mean Nazareth, where you belong!" and I wondered how it felt for Him when He knew he wasn't a Blasphemer.

As I was on the walk to Golgotha thoughts about the events were racing through my head. I think about how Pontius Pilot was put in a precarious situation and how cleverly he tried to get the people to choose Jesus over Barabbas. Pilot was a smart and clever military man.. he knew that Jesus was not a real threat.. (which meant he was secure in his power). Surely, he could blind the Jewish people by convincing them that a Barabbas out walking the streets was a far cry from a Jesus professing peace and equality.. favoring the unique and meek of this world... and yet, his plan backfired. He too was looking for Jesus to confess to a sin he did not commit to make it easy upon himself, and thus the decision was placed in the hands of the scared and fear filled! Death is an inevitable outcome in a tug of war.

They stripped Jesus of his belongings. They played a game to keep his things. Heirlooms made from his Mother just scattered about the few who could've cared less for the "seamless" labor and love of how they were made. The feeling as though they somehow "deserved" these items. Jesus however, never blinked an eye in the end. He continued to help the grief stricken. Those that could not be healed. He assured the many heartbroken, that in fact, He would come again. He told the children he loved them. They meant the most to Him. The 2 criminals on either side of Him were even interested in His story. One in fact told Him he believed, and asked Jesus if there was a place for him in Heaven.... Jesus invited him along for the ride.

As we remember, His best friend Mary, John, the Disciple he loved the most, and his Mother stood beside Him in his final hours. Thankfully God did not allow the struggle to last forever. It was a quick death! Jesus' body was laid to rest by a kind and giving man named Joseph. He had followed Jesus, and felt that Jesus deserved a place to rest. A new cave... this time not one inhabited by animals in which he first came into this world. It was a prelude to new life.

The rest we know to be History! The rise 3days later that Mary Magdalene was witness to let us all know that out of darkness comes light! No one can keep us in a cave, no matter how large the stone. God has work for us to do and we must keep our attention on that work and let God continue to resurrect us into the light of a new day. The Disciples were called to believe that Jesus had come back- they were invited to touch and see a Risen Jesus!

Hallelujah, Hallelujah He is Risen!

Happy Easter,
Miss Dawn