In Davenport, Iowa earlier this week there was a mix up about whether the day taken off for Good Friday should be renamed Spring Holiday.  It wasn’t even considered by the city council but someone issued a statement mistakenly that it had. In clearing up the council’s view on the matter one official was quoted as saying that if you’re going to take away Good Friday then you might as well take away Easter—they go together.

Well said. I think the throngs that attend church on Easter or in some other way acknowledge its importance do realize that Jesus had to die before he could rise. That is, after all, the meaning of the resurrection, isn’t it?  So why in our culture does Good Friday get less attention than Easter? 
The only reason I can think of is that the cross staring us in the face on Friday is a grim reminder of our sin. And who wants to be reminded of their sin? Yes, the payment for sin is complete. Christ’s death thousands of years ago took care of that. But Good Friday brings to mind the challenge of Jesus to all who would follow him.  “Take up your cross.”  In other words, it teaches us that while Christ died once for all our sin, we are to die daily to our sin. We Lutherans call that repentance—not the one time conversion, but the daily turning over of our natural self-centeredness to the lordship and grace of God in Christ.

Good Friday is uncomfortable for those who wish to be comfortable with a stagnant, unexamined spiritual life. It reminds us that God takes sin seriously and that for our sake he wants us to also. This Friday is good because the ultimate outcome of truly knowing that God loves us not because of what we do but in spite of what we do is what makes Easter truly a day of greatest joy. There we celebrate that God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice and therefore accepted us. If you do want to change the name of Good Friday I suppose you could call it Spring Holy Day. Either way, it’s still Good. 

Pastor Tom 

P. S. We celebrate the set-up to Good Friday on Thursday at 7:00 PM, then worship at 7:00 PM again on Friday, and celebrate the Resurrection on Sunday at 7:45 AM and 10:45 AM.  Some good things will be going on in between the Sunday services.