Easter is easy to understand. When Sunday comes, we know exactly what to do and how to act. We have been preparing for Easter for several weeks. Some of us have been practicing a Lenten discipline for the last 40 days. There are quite a few who have not consumed an ounce of chocolate for what seems like forever. Others have given up soft drinks or coffee. Many have fasted one day in each of the last six weeks. In preparation for Easter, we have journeyed to the mall and spent hours shopping for the perfect, pastel dresses for our young daughters. And, on Sunday, our sons will wear a tie to church for the first time this year.

            We celebrate Easter in a variety of ways with a myriad of traditions. When Sunday comes, we will wake up extra early and hide candy-filled plastic eggs around the living room for our children to seek and find. We will present our mothers and grandmothers with orchid corsages that they will don on their Easter dresses. The entire family will go to church, arriving extra early in order to find a seat in the sanctuary, sitting amongst strangers and familiar faces that have not been to church since Christmas Eve. We will all sing familiar hymns about Christ rising from the dead. Some churches will even be filled with majestic melodies created by brass trumpets and trombones. After the service, we will stuff ourselves with turkey, ham and all the fixings at our favorite restaurant’s Easter Brunch.

            Yes, we know how to celebrate Easter. But how do we to observe this day? What are we to do on Good Friday? Calling this day “good” doesn’t always make sense. We are more often than not unsure about what to do on Good Friday.

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