Friday, April 10, 2009

Good Friday: Life and death are with us

Good Friday is now complete, at least for me. The day has been long, and full. We held three services today at St. Paul’s, each with its own character. 

Life – and death – were ever present with us.

We have a homeless man who frequents St. Paul’s (those of you who are regulars know him). He spent Thursday night in jail, and I found him in a pew this morning. He asked me to put him on train to New York so he could go stay with his daughters. So after our noon service, I got him on the train. Please keep him in your prayers.

We also found out at noon about the death of Hugh Davidson earlier in the day after a very short illness. Mr. Davidson was a retired French professor, and a kindly, dapper gentleman with a wonderful smile. He will be much missed by his friends, and we will keep you posted about the date and time of his memorial service.

Our Good Friday services each had their own character, and each was so very moving. The Rev. Margaret Via preached at noon and again at 5pm, giving us a tapestry of ideas to make sense of the death of Jesus, and how God can emerge from the morass of evil to bring us good.

We held a Tenebrae service at 8 pm, reading from Lamentations and putting out candles.

And then there was cellist Marvin Brown, gracing us at noon and 5pm. He played the Kol Nidre, by Max Bruch, a piece of music taken from Jewish chants for the evening of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. His music got me thinking that on Good Friday, not only is Jesus killed, but we take away his Jewishness. Perhaps Marvin gave a little of that back. You can hear his performance today by clicking HERE

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