A Very Good Friday

We had the privilege on this Good Friday to participate in several worship services.  A gentleman from our church, Bruce (who also happens to be a real-life knight!) and his wife, Janet, took us first to a Catholic monastery, The Clonard Monastery, for its Good Friday prayer service.  Words escape me for an adequate description of the beauty of that building.  Its 101 year old majesty set the backdrop for humble worship within its walls on this holy day.  The monastery is run by a progressive order of priests known as the Redemptorist Fathers.  They believe in inter-denominational unity, and thus invited Bruce, a Presbyterian, to read some of the scripture.  After the service, we chatted with one of the priests who came to Belfast from Cork, Republic of Ireland, in 1990.  He said at that time, in the thick of The Troubles, he had to learn which pubs were Protestant and which were Catholic.  He expounded that his Republic of Ireland accent alone would have resulted in a black eye had he gone into a Protestant bar some 23 years ago.  Thankfully, though, times have changed, as was evidenced in our next worship service.  We went with Bruce and Janet to Ormeau Park, not too far from our house.  When we arrived, people from seven different churches and different Christian denominations had gathered just inside the park walls to mark the beginning of an ecumenical Good Friday service.  We all huddled against the wind as Protestant pastors and Catholic priests passed around a megaphone and read from the Gospel.  After that, one of the Catholic priests led the procession with a black cross out of the park, down the street, and into a Presbyterian church to conclude with the remaining Gospel readings and praise hymns.  Watching a group of peaceful Protestants and Catholics marching together under the banner of simply “Christian” in a city with such a violent religious history nearly moved me to tears.  As much as religion can be a divisive force, thank God it can also create unity on monumental days such as Good Friday.  The capstone of the day came at our own church with a moving evening tenenbrae service.  Exiting the church in the silent darkness of the Irish night set an appropriately somber tone for the remainder of Good Friday evening, allowing for us to anticipate the gloriousness of Easter.