a little unorthodox

Sometimes I wish I could celebrate Yom Kippur instead of Good Friday. In Jewish tradition, this is the day of atonement, a day of repentance, prayer, the day our verdicts are sealed in the Book of God. For me, Good Friday is this sort of holiday. Easter, even after 21 years in the Protestant church, is not something I can yet wrap my mind around. I feel like something so incredibly holy took place on that day, that to go to church and sing "He's alive!" and smile at the daffodils outside the church doesn't even brush the surface of its magnitude. Even the concept of Passover is still a little out of my league.

Sin is much more of a realistic topic for me to work with.

So in the Easter weekend, I tend to focus on Good Friday. I try to think of those things I can do to make the nails thinner, the sun less intense as it beats down on the hilltop, the cries of the mothers less sorrowful. I think of the things in my life that are truly good, and those things that I can try to make good in the year to come. So today, may we all find forgiveness, and forgive others. Find the grace that we can't understand, but have to accept, and give thanks for it in the only way we can: by showing grace to others.