From The Interim Senior Pastor

“Happy Good Friday, Pastor!”  Now, I don’t know about you, but to me this sounds very strange.  Let me tell you the story.  When I was in seminary, I had the opportunity to work part-time in the library in town.  Several Gettysburg college students worked there as well.  One of them, named Meerdad, was from India.  Meerdad was a Muslim, but was also very curious about the Christian faith, and was always asking me questions.  In fact, even though I was still a student, he used to call me ‘Pastor’.
 
One year on Good Friday, I was working in the morning-before they closed at noon.  Meerdad was also assigned to work.  So he came in that morning, and greeted me with, “Happy Good Friday, Pastor!”  I must confess that I was a bit startled by his greeting.  After all, most Christians would scarcely consider Good Friday a ‘happy’ day.  We experience a lot of emotions on that day-sorrow for our sins, grief over the necessity of Jesus’ suffering and death, regret over the things in our life that are often brought to the surface on such a day.  But, ‘happy’?  Not really.

Over the years I have had plenty of opportunity to think on that experience.  And I have concluded that maybe, just maybe, Meerdad was right.  You might call it a mixed blessing-or a tragic necessity-or a bittersweet experience.  But we do have reason to rejoice-because recalling Good Friday and our Savior’s suffering and death gives it new meaning every year.

How many of us have had similar experiences in our lives?  A loved one is sick for a long time, suffering greatly, then death claims them and brings release from pain forever-and we know the person is with God.  A mixed blessing.  Another person loses a job through layoff or cutback, and though it is an anxious time, God uses the occasion to lead the person into a new kind of work-one that is more rewarding.  A bittersweet experience.  Someone else is arrested for driving under the influence, and is put in jail.  The experience becomes the occasion for the person to embrace sobriety and make a new start in life.  A tragic necessity.

I know that many more similar examples are out there among you.  We have seen God’s hand at work over and over again, even in the midst of tragedy.  I have been inspired by the work done on behalf of earthquake victims in Haiti, and by the work done locally by the organization known as THAW (The Heat And Warmth Fund).  And in all these, I am reminded that the real Good Friday happened once, and NEVER needs to happen again-because the power of God’s love is permanent, enduring, and saves us forever.  The sacrifice of Jesus only needed to occur one time, and from that point until Jesus returns again, believers can rest in the love, grace and mercy paid for by his suffering.  Wow-maybe Meerdad was right!  Happy Good Friday!

In Christ,
Pastor Mary Duersken, Interim Senior Pastor