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Good Morning - Good Friday - the day Jesus was crucified. How can we possibly call this anniversary of a horrific cruel death on a cross ‘good’? Some say it is really God’s Friday, from the German (gottes): but in Germany today it is known as Sorrowful or Suffering Friday; whilst in Denmark it is Long Friday; and in other countries holy or sacred.   Only in English dare we call this Friday ‘good’. Are we wrong?  Or is there light amidst the darkness in this God who draws all people to himself on the cross ?

Years on, I still remember the sense of wonder on a school visit to Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow, when I first saw Salvador Dali’s majestic Christ on the cross looking down over the world. Dali’s inspiration was a 17th C drawing by the Spanish Carmelite John of the Cross. In this luminous figure on the cross, tilted towards the world, is somehow a glimpse of God’s love for the world – a love that will not let us go – that, amidst the darkness of death and our worst moments, promises life. The Scottish poet Edwin Morgan, catches it:

It is not of this world, and yet it is
And that is how it should be…
‘I have to tell you John of the Cross called
 said to remind you light and death once met .’

Lord, come to us in our pain and draw us into the light of your love. Amen.