Fresh Start - Good Friday, 2014"   -   (John 10:11-18)

Good Friday, good? The day you died;
“Good Friday, good?” Your mother cried,
For deep the cost with mortal pain
The day You died – to live again.

And us? How best to mark that day?
Show up for work, accept no pay?
Give all of self to others too?
Or die for one, and play the fool?

Lord on this day of almost rest,
When liquor stores can sell their best
For first time since they cut it out
To put the “demon-rum” to route –

Good Friday – yes to world it’s good,
For to their minds it’s understood
As being day when evil won,
And worst the world could do was done.

But wait a minute – you said won?
Is kangaroo court (stacked), though fun
A victory for evil’s troops
(And self-promoting men in boots)?

I think not – it’s the victory
Of One who laid down liberty,
That He should die so we might live,
And join Him in the gift He gives.

He said himself, “I lay it down”;
No man removed, replaced His crown;
“And then I take it up once more”
“That all might have in life, a door”.

“ ’Course if you claim I’m not alive –
Or if I’m not – then evil thrives,
And you’re in trouble deep indeed,
And for a Savior still have need.

Just take a look around your world,
Where evil lurks for boys and girls
Who celebrate the end of term,
And die, as tears of mothers yearn –

For life that’s lost; potential snuffed;
For hope that’s gone; À that’s stuffed
As sparse remains of miracle,
Born to them short years ago –

“Good Friday, good? For you’re now gone.”
Good Friday, good? For mother, son?
Or daughter lost this Holy Week,
Who mourn their loss and answers seek?

Lord, on such mourning hearts pour balm;
Into their aching hearts where gone
Are wisps of dreams held days ago,
Your presence pour that they might know –

Good Friday’s here where evil won,
But in Christ’s death new life’s begun
For all, as we’re enriched by grace –
Salt, light, and leaven, for each race.

That God should care for us despite
Our love of darkness over light;
That He should find a way to fix
The mess we’re making with His kiss –

Upon our world – to manger born;
Who grew, then worldly might He scorned,
That blessing of two thousand years
Of learnings gained through Jewish tears –

Might jump those boundaries – firmly set
In culture’s stone and mortar, yet
Not capable of stopping life,
As candles in the dark shed light.

That Christ, in dying, took our sins,
And dealt with them, that life begin
For us, in God – “Fresh Start” indeed;
His death, Good Friday – what we need.

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