Today is known as Good Friday in the Western Christian church.
It is a solemn celebration. Many believers contemplate death as the Bible readings are presented.
Today the churches in my city will not be crowded. Most will not be open. Instead pastors and priests are encouraging individual prayer on this holy day.
Where is your favorite place to pray? A traditionally decorated church? A modern building? In a park?
Would you like to pray while shaded by “The Great Vine” at Hampton Court?
Boxing Day!!!
No, don’t get out your gloves or head to the gym to work against a heavy bag. (Unless that’s your normal exercise routine.) But this is the appropriate time to give a gratuity (Christmas box) to those in service jobs – delivery, housekeeping, home care.
The association of gifts with Christmas goes back long before the origin of Boxing Day. And don’t worry about being a day late. The Magi brought gifts to the Christ Child — but they didn’t arrive the night he was born.
Traditional. Not historically accurate.
Every person’s life is marked by events. The early ones are often controlled by our parents. As we grow and mature, we make more decisions of our own.
As regular readers of this blog are aware, I’m old enough to have experienced many of these “turning points” in my life. They come in both positive and negative varieties.
Recently I was privileged to witness one of these events in the life of a son.
While the ceremony was solemn, the congratulations and handshakes which followed were sincere. I’ll add my private best wishes as he continues to follow the religious path he has chosen.
Now join hands. Everyone step to the left and sing. “Ring around the…
The song changes from generation to generation and from one culture to another. The idea of children (or adults) joining hands and moving in a circle could be taken as the first step in developing or learning a folk dance. Perhaps a drum was added first – a stick against a hollow log. Flutes and harps are older than Bible stories. And the human voice may have been the very first musical instrument.
But not all circles are fun and games.
“Circle the wagons!” The cry is heard in multiple American West movies and television shows. Two or more people with their backs together make a good defense.
A circle with the people facing in allows many to see the same object or event at the same time. (Think theater in the round. Or a boxing “ring”.)
This circle has stood the test of time. It wasn’t created in a hurry and if they designed it as a puzzle they were successful. Even the best of scholars include lots of qualifiers – may, believe, approximate, unknown – in their explanations.
“Ring around the giant stones.
They’ll be standing when we’re bones.”
Today Western Christians mark Good Friday.
(Okay, enough with the jokes that all Fridays are good because you get the weekend off.)
Like millions of my fellow Christians I will spend of portion of this day thinking of events and emotions larger than the sum of my experience.
A God too big and bold to stay in any mental box devised by man. An Eternal being. Forever is too huge for my mind to conquer. A Deity that made promises and kept them – every one!
Take a little time today. Think of spiritual things. The Christian God or another belief. What role does it play in your life? Has He awed you? Comforted you? Inspired you to conquer fear and do good things?
