Good Friday

I hope it's not some sort of sacrilege to say that today, for me, is doubly good.

It is a Good Friday (capital "G") for all of the obvious and Holy reasons. I do not take this lightly, or for granted. Ella is taking a much-needed nap, and so Robert and I are attending our church's Good Friday Vigil (Stations of the Cross) in shifts. We'll pay 2 tolls today to cross into the city, so that we can each take time to grieve and rejoice over the sufferings of our Savior, in which we are so privileged to share. In which we find our justice, our purpose, and our hope for glory.

I hope that having given our full attention to the Lord's incarnation and desecration, and having firmly rooted our hope in the impending resurrection, that it will not grieve the Spirit when we spend our evening in pursuits far less spiritually attuned.

I am upstairs, at my desk, and yet am having no trouble making out each throbbing, passionate lyric as it pours forth from Patty Griffin's lips, and out through the speakers in the living room. The music soaks into the walls of my home, traveling up the stairs and seeping into my bones, an experience that is neither novel or unfamiliar. All morning I have been trembling with anticipation. My Friday is made good in so many ways, not least of which is the Patty Griffin performance I'll be attending tonight with Robert, and our friend Adam. It's been several years since I paid to hear Patty Griffin play in an intimate room at 3rd & Lindsley, and since I didn't pay to hear her at Dancin' In the District. It's been even more years since I was first introduced to her in a tiny little office in Houston, Texas, by a tiny (and charming) little Texan.

And so, on this Good Friday, I give thanks, in this particular order:

Thanks be to God who sent Christ Jesus to be my shepherd and the lamb of sacrifice. Help me to embrace the mystery of salvation, the promise of life rising out of death. Help me to hear the call of Christ and give me the courage to follow it readily that I, too, may lead others to you.

Thanks to Patty Griffin for coming to New Jersey, and to the Camden County Board of Freeholders and the Scottish Rite Auditorium for making it happen.

And finally, thanks Jenni Simmons for the introduction.