Friday, April 21, 2000
Solemn ceremonies to commemorate
Good Friday today
By Loretta Fulton
Reporter-News Staff Writer
“My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me?” is the most human question Jesus asked during his lifetime
and one still posed by people in despair.
The answer, then and now, is in the silence
that followed, Dr. Phil Christopher, pastor of First Baptist Church,
said during a luncheon Thursday sponsored by Abilene’s four
downtown churches.
“It’s in the midst of the silence
that God speaks loudest,” Christopher said.
Christopher was the final speaker in the
annual Holy Week luncheon series. Theme for the week was “Questions
That Matter.” Christo-pher’s topic was based on the
Bible’s account of the last words of Jesus as he was dying
on the cross.
The most solemn day in Holy Week, Good Friday,
will be observed today in several Abilene churches. Good Friday
is commemorated by Christians as the day Jesus was crucified,
only to be raised from the grave in a victory over death that
is celebrated on Easter or “Resurrection Sunday.”
The silence that Jesus experienced after
asking his question was in sharp contrast to hearing God call
him “my beloved son in whom I am well pleased,” Christopher
said. It was in contrast to the “hosannas” that Jesus
had heard from an adoring crowd just the Sunday before as he rode
into Jerusalem on a donkey.
“It was the silence—that’s
what our Lord heard,” Christopher said.
Just like the prophet Elijah and Jesus experienced
God in the silence, so do people today. Loved ones of victims
of violence at a Colorado High School a year ago and the bombing
of an Oklahoma City building five years ago are still asking the
same question Jesus asked, Christopher said.
The question is perhaps the most human question
Jesus asked during his lifetime, Christopher said. And for that
reason suffering people of every generation can relate.
“We have been there,” Christopher
said. “Maybe that’s one way we can get a handle on the
question.”
It’s human nature to want to skip painful
experiences, just like Bible readers may want to avoid reading
about the crucifixion and focus instead on the miracles attributed
to Jesus. But avoiding pain is not only impossible, Christopher
said, it’s not wise.
“There are some things we just don’t
learn except through the experiences of suffering and pain,”
he said.
As Jesus experienced the excruciating pain
of crucifixion, it is important to note that he cried out for
God, Christopher said. Instead of an “answer,” Jesus
experienced a holy silence. Just like him, people asking the question
today don’t get an answer.
“We get something better,” Christopher
said. “We get him.”
Following is a list of churches that will
observe Good Friday today with special services.
 The
Chancel Choir of St. Paul United Methodist Church, 525 Beech,
will present Joseph Martin’s “Song of the Shadows”
at 7 p.m. The music will outline the last days of Christ’s
life in a Tenebrae or Service of Darkness, with candles used for
illumination.
The choir will be accompanied by a chamber
orchestra and organ.
The
Rev. Monte Jones will preside over the Good Friday Liturgy at
7 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 3150 Vogel.
The
Good Friday Liturgy will begin at noon at the Episcopal Church
of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander.
A Good
Friday service of music and drama will be held at 7 p.m. at Grace
United Methodist Church, 1402 Grape.
Zion
Lutheran Church, 1011 Briarwood, will have a Good Friday worship
service at 7 p.m.
Stations
of the Cross will be read at noon today at Holy Family Catholic
Church, 5410 Buffalo Gap Road. The Good Friday Liturgy will begin
at 7 p.m.
The
Stations of the Cross will be observed during a 7:30 p.m. service
at Grace Lutheran Church, 1202 S. Pioneer.
St.
Vincent Pallotti Catholic Church, 2525 Westview, will read the
Way of the Cross at 3 p.m. The Passion of the Lord will be observed
at 7:30.
St.
Francis Catholic Church, 826 Cottonwood, will have morning prayer
at 8:30 a.m., The Way of the Cross at noon, and The Passion of
the Lord at 7:30 p.m.
Sacred
Heart Catholic Church, 837 Jeanette, will have Stations of the
Cross at 3 p.m. and Celebration of the Lord’s Passion with
Holy Communion at 7 p.m.
Contact religion writer Loretta Fulton
at 676-6778 or fultonl@abinews.com.
Copyright ©2000,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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