Release Date: April 22nd, 2026Easter People Living in a Good Friday World
- by Doug Amstutz
Recently I ran across the phrase that Christians are an Easter people living in a Good Friday world. That phrase stuck with me. I liked it. We certainly know what a Good Friday world means. A world of darkness and violence and injustice.
If Good Friday stands for the day that Jesus was unjustly tried and convicted and sentenced to death, then shouldered his own cross to Golgotha where he was crucified (a violent and torturous death), then we have our definition. A day that turned dark at noon, chaotic with earthquakes and torn curtains and the dead walking out of their graves.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Every day we read about wars and rumours of wars. The bloodshed is so common that we are almost inured to its horror. From Ukraine to Gaza, from Venezuela to Iran, from Sudan to Myanmar. We have read about the injustices of the systems we live in, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Homelessness is on the rise. Gaming the system to make millions of dollars is so common that it hardly gets a mention in the media.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Jesus lived and died in a Good Friday world. 21 centuries later we are also living and dying in a Good Friday world. It is enough to make one despair. Indeed, depression and suicides have been rising, especially since the beginning of the Pandemic. The world feels like a hopeless place to many young people. Loneliness is compounded by the isolation of social media. Everyone, all ages, can be seen scrolling on their phones in public places when they have a moment of boredom. Their community is online but rarely can emotional needs be met there.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
But Christians are Easter people with a message of hope. Just as Jesus brought a message of hope with his resurrection, Christians bring a message of hope as well. Jesus’ life, his words and deeds were given authenticity through the resurrection. Miracles were important signs that point to who Jesus was, but being raised from the dead added the exclamation mark. This is the Christ. The universal Christ of creation. God choosing to break into human history with a message which saves . . .
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
We believe and so we follow. And we gather regularly to bond as a community of kindred spirits, bonded around our commitment to follow Jesus in life, daily. To weep as Jesus wept. To love as Jesus loved. I loved the Mennonite Church’s Vision of Healing and Hope some 30 years ago. God calls us to be followers of Jesus Christ and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to grow as communities of grace, joy and peace, so that God’s healing and hope flow through us to the world.
As I close, may I suggest that the prayer commonly attributed to St. Francis, be the daily prayer for us Easter people as we walk in a Good Friday world;
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love.
Where there is offence, let me bring pardon.
Where there is discord, let me bring union.
Where there is error, let me bring truth.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith.
Where there is despair, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, let me bring your light.
Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in forgiving that one is forgiven,
it is in dying that one awakens to eternal life.
- Doug Amstutz is pastor at Mannheim Mennonite Church