Good Friday

“Quiet in the earth a drop of water came,
and the little seed spoke: “Sequoia is my name.”

— William Stafford

It is Holy Week 2023. What I write today – Tuesday – will be delivered to your inbox on Good Friday. The verse above I found in a Tuesday Holy Week reflection by Diana Butler Bass in her newsletter “The Cottage.” I commend it for your own Good Friday Reflection. The term “Good Friday” is intentionally confusing as it refers to the specific day in history when Jesus was crucified. From our vantage point, we know that was the turning point, not the endpoint. But that day those who had put their trust in him to turn a very bad situation around did not know that was not the end. It was not a good Friday for them.

That day they had no way of knowing he would not only return but would launch a movement that has shaped the world ever since. That day they only knew the one they had trusted, followed, loved, and depended on to make their lives worth living had been taken from them through acts of violence.

Endings and Beginnings

That not-Good Friday they were overcome with despair, frustration, fear, anxiety, discouragement, bewilderment, and a host of other jarring emotions. Much as I am this week – and perhaps you are as well. We’ve witnessed yet another slaughter of innocent grade school children. Meanwhile, nearly all media eyes are focused on a man who has had far more than his share of the public limelight. I’m not mentioning his name, and I’m writing this before we know the outcome of today’s court appearance. Nor am I rendering a personal opinion on the subject. When will it end? How will it end? Who knows? Surely, I do not. We are on the not-knowing side of a historical event, just as those dejected folks were two millennia ago.

Good Friday was not the end of the story. Much good has come from that day. The movement that began with a few frightened and discouraged people grew. At first slowly, as the mighty sequoia starts from a small seedling pushing its way up through obstacles of dirt and debris. Then more joined in, and more and more. Those who claim affiliation with that one man and what happened that one weekend centuries ago continue to have shaped society.

Love is the Trunk

A mature sequoia can rise 350 feet above the ground, with a trunk 20 to 40 feet in diameter. But that growth takes time. It may be 30 feet tall in ten years and only 100 to 150 feet tall in 50 years.

St. Catherine of Siena compared our lives to a tree. She wrote that the trunk is love, the core patience, the roots self-knowledge, and the branches discernment. Love remains the most powerful force on earth, but it does not stand alone. It is sustained by patience and fed by self-awareness of both our individual worth and our capacity to influence others. It fulfills its purpose through awareness of where and how we can most effectively spread love.

Where to Focus

For the past few weeks, I’ve been in a weekly e-mail exchange discernment process with another author about where to focus my writing efforts. I’m more than old enough to officially retire and savor the many wonderful opportunities before me now. But writing is as much an addiction as a craft or calling. I cannot not write. So the issue is not whether to write; the issue is what to write about and what to do with what I’ve written.

On this annual procession through Good Friday to Easter I wonder if anything I write will make even an iota of difference in influencing the current context of conflicts, hostility, cruelty, arrogance, and senseless slaughter of innocents all around us. I do not know. But like the sequoia seed pushing through the dark dirt toward the bright sun, I feel compelled to try.

Each One Reach One

Here is my idea. In light of all that is troublesome right now, think of one person you know who could use a word of encouragement. Call, write, or visit that person just for the purpose of staying connected. No agenda. No advice. No request. Just “I was thinking about you and wanted to connect.” That’s it. Just connect with one person and do what is within your power to make this Friday a good one for one other person.

Will that stop the school shootings? Probably not. Will that put an end to the contentious political environment? Not likely. Will that end cancer or resolve world hunger? No and no, but it will increase the level of love in the world through that one connection and that matters.

“Quiet in the earth a drop of water came, and the little seed spoke: “Sequoia is my name.” by William Stafford.

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Mary Brewster’s Love Life and Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures: available wherever books are sold. Bookshop.org/Mayflower; Mary Brewster
Amazon.com/Mary Brewster’s Love Life
Amazon.com/Mayflower-Chronicles
BarnesandNoble.com/w/mayflower-chronicles
BarnesandNoble/MaryBrewster Autographed copies available at my website.