It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming...

The title of a well known sermon, given by Tony Campolo some years ago. Tall Skinny Kiwi mentions it today, and there's a link to a good article by Dr Bob Beltz. Tony tells the story of attending a Good Friday service at his mostly African-American church in Pennsylvania. The pastor would make a few observations about what happened on that first Good Friday and then make the remark, “Its Friday…but Sunday’s coming.” As the pastor went on, every time he made the remark, the intensity of his emotion and the volume of his voice increased. Here is an excerpt from the message:

"It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’. It was Friday, and my Jesus is dead on a tree. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s a comin’. Friday, Mary’s crying her eyes out, the disciples are running in every direction like sheep without a shepherd. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s a comin’. Friday, some are looking at the world and saying, “As things have been, so they shall be. You can’t change nothing in this world! You can’t change nothing in this world!” But they didn’t know that it was only Friday, and Sunday’s a comin’. Friday, them forces that oppress the poor and keep people down, them forces that destroy people, the forces in control now, them forces that are gonna rule, they don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’. Friday, people are saying, “Darkness is gonna rule the world, sadness is gonna be everywhere,” but they don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s a comin’. Even though this world is rotten, as it is right now, we know it’s only Friday. But Sunday’s a comin’. "

Bob finishes with... "I can’t imagine what the original was like, but when Tony gets spitting and sweating, you feel the Spirit move! “It’s Friday…but Sunday’s coming.” When Jesus Christ blew the doors off the tomb (OK – stone) and marched out alive, everything he did and said was proven to be true. Friday suddenly made sense. That is why Easter is the greatest event in human history. And Easter means that all that Jesus endured and accomplished on the cross really makes Good Friday – good!" (Hat Tip: TSK)

My own thoughts on this event (Easter) are always tempered by the desire to make the reality of the death and resurrection of Christ, and the KINGDOM that he sought to bring, relevant and accessible to those who don't necessarily see themselves as 'religious'. The emotional and religious machinations and rituals of the (mainly) evangelical church see to it that various mental gymnastics are performed by the faith-ful to produce sobriety on Good Friday, and then reversed on Easter Day to turn them into Happy Smiley People. Of course, we can be very grateful to God for the work of his son, and its good to remember this redemptive event at a specific time, but oh that we could embrace and express it all the rest of the time too. Also worth mentioning is that, in my experience, God is not very far away at any given time, and that those who don't particularly express any faith, are probably nearer to God than they, or us, realise.