Today, bracketed between Good Friday and closing of the Lent season, and Easter, feels like every other Saturday. People are buying groceries, running errands, washing the car (or maybe not-might rain), and in every way acting like this is any other weekend.  The only difference might be the festivals organized for today; I believe there are several Easter Egg hunts this morning and afternoon, some organized by commercial groups and others run by local churches.

The What, Where, When, and How questions are easily answered-just read the newspaper community calendar section, or look at the ads placed in the paper. In order to get the biggest attendance, the folks sponsoring these events make sure everyone has the opportunity to hear about it many times over. Don’t want anyone to miss out on the good times!

But Why?

I read online compilations of business articles-they give me an idea of the latest and greatest fad in the business world. Lately, articles about “Purpose” seem to be more common, and the idea that creating a great sense of “Purpose” will guide a modern company through treacherous times. Of course, the articles give many examples of companies that lost or changed their “Purpose” and then shipwrecked. Solemn advice is given about following  the  founder’s original “Purpose”; but three pages later, the article discusses determining if it’s time to adapt your “Purpose” to the changing world.  Congregations follow the same advice, adapting teaching and structure for “Purpose”.

But Why?

Isn’t that the hardest question? Isn’t that the question on every tongue? Every time your heart hurts, isn’t that question you want answered?  So why (sorry) isn’t that the focus of our meditation following Good Friday? Seems to me that instead of giving something up for Lent, our time would be well spent contemplating the “Why” of Good Friday; the “Why” of the time spent in the grave.

Why?

For “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (John 3.16)

Contemplating the Good and True,

Billy Acre