Good Friday is now behind us, but there is always a sense of anticipation that our work as believers in a world that is ignorant of the cross of Christ is not yet done.  In fact, Good Friday always reminds of two things.  The first is a church built on the wall that separates the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.  On April 10, 1998, the Good Friday Agreement brought an end to more than 30 years of bloody sectarian violence, and the wall that separates the two districts represented the best hope for peace.  “Don’t cross the wall,” was the simple agreement to lay down arms.  But that church went one step further.  It sought to bring the peace of Christ into the uneasy political peace, and for more than twenty years has brought many from both sides to the Cross, making them one in Christ and “breaking down the wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14) that caused the war within -the war called sin.  It might interest you that the name of that church is called “New Life City Church (NLCC)”.

 

The second is the work of a man by the name of Danny Wallace who started a movement in 2001 in England called “Join Me”.  It had one simple ask, that in a world of selfish people living selfish lives, those who wanted to be part of the movement had to intentionally do a single act of kindness each Friday to a stranger for which no return or word of appreciation is expected.  Wallace called it “Good Friday”.  The impact was monumental.  People began acting simply with kindness one day a week, and the movement gathered so much strength that Wallace himself was taken aback.  Without advertisement or fanfare, word spread from one person to the next, and Good Friday is now practiced by thousands in several countries across the globe. I did some thinking when I first read about this, and I wonder if we understand that Good Friday was started not by Danny Wallace in 2001 but in AD 33 at a garbage heap outside Jerusalem called Golgotha.  We were total strangers to grace who received forgiveness of our sin and new life in Christ not because of what we had done, but because He loved us (Ephesians 2:8,9).

 

As we live life this side of Good Friday, I wonder if we could take the cue from these two things to be people of the Cross to bring true peace into a sinful world, and to act with grace and kindness without a single shred of expectation but for the love of Christ.  Peace and grace from our Lord Jesus Christ.  May that describe our lives in the days ahead.