Good Friday 2024

 

Well, here we are at Good Friday again, and yes it’s a little early this year.  This has been noted repeatedly.  A lot to do quickly!  But the big help this year was that much of the presentation of the gospel is very similar to last year, with actors revisiting their roles and other workers back at their positions from last year.  Mom is busy repairing costumes and creating new props to replace old ones that have been misplaced.  Our dancing team has been spectacular, and our actors have been solid and flexible throughout the week leading up to this moment. 

 

So today at noon we had our first of eight services, and it was packed.  It’s such a strong telling of the gospel.  Camille and her team have been so amazing with the make-up for Jesus – it’s a very brutal and realistic picture of what Jesus endured for all of us on the cross.  I am one of the remaining people at the foot of the cross, and one of my places is at the foot of the cross, in tears.  It’s not easy to be emotional there, as all the actors – even the Romans who are beating Jesus – find themselves backstage, deep in thought, emotional and shaken.  We’re also at the Last Supper, of course, and after that I appear in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Maddie is back on the big screen again too, which is great to see.  She’s anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jesus on Palm Sunday – this is before we all race forward with our palms to greet Jesus, riding in on the back of a donkey.

 

The Equestrian people have been great.  They’re supplying horses for Roman soldiers to ride in on.  Really, it’s just more of their staff, riding in wearing costumes that Zena has prepared for them.  

 

Maddie had a much quieter day today, and given the schedule at church, I went over to pick her up in the car line, this because we needed to get back to the church earlier.  There was a little time for rest in between.

 

The group of people here is so good.  So many great volunteers working backstage, or as disciples and people from the crowd.  The church feeds everyone here, and we all wait around in the music room, or in my case wander back and forth from visiting with Mom in the costuming area.  We can all watch the production from downstairs, a live feed showing in the music room.  Or there’s a traditional spot backstage, although there are lots of set pieces rolling about back there.

So things were packed out, a full sanctuary with people in overflow, and that was at noon on a Friday.  Of course it's Good Friday, so there's that.  But we had a break until the next service, and that one was going to be super full.  We got home quickly and Mom was getting a few of the dancer costumes repaired, and there's so much laundry to do between services with the clean-up of the garments and towels for Jesus.  I picked up Maddie from school, and immediately we all returned to the church to get ready for the second production on Good Friday.

Maddie spent much of the night in the music room with other cast members watching the production, and sometimes editing some of the pictures she took while hanging around with friends and doing something else rather special:  gathering people to sign a card of sorts that we made for Mom for Easter.  She's been working very hard on Mom's Easter basket, being super helpful!

It was a good night.  The portions at the cross are so strong and so emotional, and so powerful.  We know this is an effective life-changing service.  It's all very moving, and we're all so honored to be a part of it.

We got home later, of course, and we had laundry to do - Mom did that, anyway - but we sat and watched some episodes of "Ultimate Spider-man," just a few before turning in for bed.  We read for a bit, the next entry in "From a Certain Point of View," a short story about poor Greedo.  No mention of "MacLunkey."  

We said our prayers, and then it was time for bed.  Easy to go to sleep after that though - it was a really long day.