GOOD FRIDAY SANS IRONY

In the beginning the elohim created skies and earth.

Let’s think about just how good Friday is.

Some of my brothers and sisters want to believe that God controls everything.  “God is in control,” they say when the lid is about to be blown off their lives.

“All things happen to the good,” they say when disaster strikes.  Inside they must feel terrified and sorrowful, albeit resolute too.

The problem with the “God is in control” idea is the big “if” that goes with it.

If God is in control, then God is either incompetent or mean.  Throw in all the free will you want, life is screwy without any of our choices and life is mean.  God did that if the control crowd is right.

It comforts me not to believe God is in control. I derive my divine comfort from the words of Christ, "I am with you always." 

No matter what happens, I have strength to see it through. That comes from God. How do I know that?

When I think of concentration camps, and I admire the courage of those who lived through them and emerged blessing life nonetheless, I marvel that such spiritual steel exists in humanity and wonder whence it came.

I prefer Job’s answer.  I prefer to think that life is what it is because being is what it is.  Life is screwy and mean.  In the sense that everything comes from God, then I reckon we could all be pissed at our God of love if the goodness of creation did not shine through.

And, I might add, if Jesus never happened.

However, good Friday without irony refutes the all controlling God notion.  A work week can be tough and dry, but Friday is sopping wet with the goodness of creation. 

God did not directly create good Fridays.  Over time, people in response to the influence of the Sabbath day, plus labor laws, and then throw in sports on TV--all that, and more, brought us good Fridays without irony through a process of social evolution.

When I think of having two days off tomorrow and Sunday, I want to TGIF with a glad glad heart.

Blessings…