I grew up in Wisconsin and my family attended a small Lutheran church together each week. Every year on Good Friday, we went to a Tenebrae service. It was a very unique service....one that made a lasting impact on me for several reasons.
The word tenebrae is Latin for darkness and the pastor would read from the Bible the events describing the arrest, trial, beating, crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday.
After each section was read, one of the candles at the front of the church was extinguished and the building lights were slowly dimmed.
With each event that Jesus Christ endured,
the church sanctuary got darker and darker.
The weight and significance of what He went through increased as each one of the flickering lights was put out...one small flame at a time.
We would sing special hymns that would only be sung on that evening....
"Oh.....sometimes it causes me to tremble.....tremble....tremble"
This lament echos in my head and I am brought back to a younger me.
A young teenager on the verge of independence...
It was the spring of my freshman year in high school. I was not sure who I really was yet or what I wanted to be. So much lay ahead of me and that year, the Tenebrae service hit me deeply. The reality that someone would go through that much pain and darkness brought me to tears. I remember as just a few candles were still shining in the front of the church...I was overwhelmed with emotion and whispered "Jesus...I love you".
Then up near the alter area, a face slowly formed in the shadows of the darkness. I gazed into a pair of sparkling, slate blue eyes that were filled with such deep love, they took my breath away...
Next a warm, tender voice spoke to me...."I love you too, Krista"
It is one of my most treasured memories and yet it brings me both extreme love and sadness because within six months of that encounter with Jesus, I fell away.
I started hanging out with the popular crowd and was tempted into a life of drinking and darkness. I stumbled around on that path for decades but thankfully the Lord Jesus always goes after a lost sheep.
He was standing waiting with open arms when this prodigal finally heard his voice, turned around and came back home. God forgave me for all my mistakes and covered me with his love. My life has never been the same since....
Good Friday truly is good because without it,
we would all be lost in darkness FOREVER.
This world is falling apart because it is full of lost souls.
But there is HOPE!
God loves each & every one of us and sent His only Son to rescue us! Jesus willing drank the cup of God's wrath so we don't have to for all those stupid things we regret we ever said or did. All those sinful choices are forgiven instead of exposed when we admit we need a Savior to rescue us from ourselves! We can be set free from the darkness and are called back into the light! Life as we were meant to live here on earth and more importantly in the life to come.
May your Good Friday be truly GOOD and filled with the love of your Heavenly Father who longs to welcome you home with Him.
