Good Friday

I write this posting at nearly the completion of the first hour that Jesus was on the cross before he cried out "Eli, Eli, lema sabbachthani?" translated as"My God, my God, who have you forsaken me?"

The pilgrimage that Jesus took this week is for all of creation. It was by going over the threshold of death, through the portal, that Jesus confronted death, and death lost its sting. It is no wonder that at the time of his death the curtain of the magnificent temple of Jerusalem was torn in two, from top to bottom, that the earth shook, and that rocks were split open, with the tombs opened and bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, just like Lazarus before them, entering the holy city of Jerusalem and appearing before many.

The Isenheim altar-piece is an iconic work of art. By viewing the art, the pilgrim is to look deeply into the art as the art looks deeply into the life of the pilgrim, in which our wounds are healed through the mysterious presence of the one who alone fulfills and makes us whole. It is by us lifting up our hurt, our wounds, our suffering, unto the One who is forever the Creator of the universe that miracles abound.

On this Good Friday, "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" is our song. But we sing this hymn of faith in the deeper knowledge of what is to come on this pilgrimage path: we know what is just around the corner.

Pilgrim peace,

Brett