No church bells for Good Friday
Mar 20, 2008
THE commemoration of Good Friday is perhaps as old as humanity but hardly understood. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter and it commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus at Calvary. This day is perhaps the darkest in church history, yet branded ‘good’.
By Jamesa Wagwau
THE commemoration of Good Friday is perhaps as old as humanity but hardly understood. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter and it commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus at Calvary. This day is perhaps the darkest in church history, yet branded ‘good’.
Good as it might sound, the commemoration of this day, has more gloom than good in Christian circles. On a Good Friday, no church bells ring and there is a vast spread of calm.
All ornamentations are stripped off, making the houses and churches look bare in a manner that portrays the atmosphere of mourning. Why then is this Friday called ‘Good’?
Chris Armstrong in Christianity Today, wonders how the day Jesus was crucified can be called ‘Good’. He describes it as a ‘supreme paradox.’ The history of the day is still shrouded in a lot of mystery with no distinct root of the term ‘Good’.
Many believe this name ‘Good Friday’ simply evolved as language does. Church history records show that Good Friday took roots in the Fourth Century when the church began observing the Friday before Easter as the day associated with the crucifixion of Christ.
It was first called ‘Holy’ or ‘Great Friday’ by the Greek Church. The name Good Friday was first adopted by the Roman Church around the sixth or seventh century. The origin of the word is not exactly clear.
Some say it is a German translation of God’s Friday (Gottes Freitag) which eventually turned from God’s to Good.
A fourth Century church manual, The Apostolic Constitutions, called Good Friday ‘a day of mourning, not a day of festive Joy.’
Sadness, mourning, fasting and prayer have been the focus of this day since the early centuries of the church. Ambrose, the fourth century archbishop called it the ‘day of bitterness on which we fast.’
Good Friday derives its significance from the Old Testament’s concept of sacrifice. Shedding or Sprinkling of blood as a means of sacrifice was an integral part of Jewish culture. The Jews would slaughter animals as way of cleansing their sins.
The slaughtering of the lambs by the High Priests was done regularly as a means of what was referred to as ‘atonement.’ This sacrificial background, as seen in the Old Testament, should help us appreciate the sacrificial place of Christ in the New Testament.
Painful as it was, His death was a sacrifice to humanity.
As it is put in the book of first Peter, ‘he bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.’
The cross on which Christ died is a symbol of victory to Christians. It is on Good Friday that the son of God manifested His love as written in the famous verse of John 3:16 to carry the burden of mankind by dying on the cross.
Good Friday, therefore, leaves Christians with mixed feelings; a combination of pain and joy. The Friday still remains good because without it, there is no salvation for mankind.
THE commemoration of Good Friday is perhaps as old as humanity but hardly understood. Good Friday is the Friday before Easter and it commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus at Calvary. This day is perhaps the darkest in church history, yet branded ‘good’.
Good as it might sound, the commemoration of this day, has more gloom than good in Christian circles. On a Good Friday, no church bells ring and there is a vast spread of calm.
All ornamentations are stripped off, making the houses and churches look bare in a manner that portrays the atmosphere of mourning. Why then is this Friday called ‘Good’?
Chris Armstrong in Christianity Today, wonders how the day Jesus was crucified can be called ‘Good’. He describes it as a ‘supreme paradox.’ The history of the day is still shrouded in a lot of mystery with no distinct root of the term ‘Good’.
Many believe this name ‘Good Friday’ simply evolved as language does. Church history records show that Good Friday took roots in the Fourth Century when the church began observing the Friday before Easter as the day associated with the crucifixion of Christ.
It was first called ‘Holy’ or ‘Great Friday’ by the Greek Church. The name Good Friday was first adopted by the Roman Church around the sixth or seventh century. The origin of the word is not exactly clear.
Some say it is a German translation of God’s Friday (Gottes Freitag) which eventually turned from God’s to Good.
A fourth Century church manual, The Apostolic Constitutions, called Good Friday ‘a day of mourning, not a day of festive Joy.’
Sadness, mourning, fasting and prayer have been the focus of this day since the early centuries of the church. Ambrose, the fourth century archbishop called it the ‘day of bitterness on which we fast.’
Good Friday derives its significance from the Old Testament’s concept of sacrifice. Shedding or Sprinkling of blood as a means of sacrifice was an integral part of Jewish culture. The Jews would slaughter animals as way of cleansing their sins.
The slaughtering of the lambs by the High Priests was done regularly as a means of what was referred to as ‘atonement.’ This sacrificial background, as seen in the Old Testament, should help us appreciate the sacrificial place of Christ in the New Testament.
Painful as it was, His death was a sacrifice to humanity.
As it is put in the book of first Peter, ‘he bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.’
The cross on which Christ died is a symbol of victory to Christians. It is on Good Friday that the son of God manifested His love as written in the famous verse of John 3:16 to carry the burden of mankind by dying on the cross.
Good Friday, therefore, leaves Christians with mixed feelings; a combination of pain and joy. The Friday still remains good because without it, there is no salvation for mankind.