80 degrees and sunny. And somber.

"Happy death day" was the salutation in an email from my brother-in-law today. I think the irony was intended. (He's a pastor, too).
It's Good Friday, which seems to be a pretty difficult day for a lot of people. The fact that it's 80 degrees and sunny and spring break don't make it any easier.
I know, you're thinking, "What - they're not clamoring to fill the pews and hear about Jesus' trial and sentence to death, and then his gruesome dying on the cross?"
But today matters. I so wish that everyone who's planning to be here on Sunday morning would make it to worship tonight. Easter doesn't make sense without Good Friday. In fact, the "Great Three Days," or Triduum, began at sundown yesterday and end tomorrow night (when Easter begins), and they are all one service, liturgically speaking. There's no resurrection without the cross, without death, first. Hard, but true.

Lord Jesus Christ,

as we kneel at the foot of your cross,

help us to see and know your love for us,

so that we may place at your feet

all that we have and are.

Crucified savior, naked God,

you hang disgraced and powerless.

Grieving, we dare to hope,

as we wait at the cross

with your mother and your friend.