Lipscomb hosted an unique chapel service Friday in order for campus to assemble in observation of Good Friday.
The Chapel office informed students and faculty at the beginning of Holy Week that Friday’s 11 a.m. classes would be cancelled for the service, and students in attendance would receive two chapel credits.
The service began with a short video of various peers detailing what reconciliation through Christ meant to them, personally. Then, campus minister Cyrus Eaton took the podium, explaining the magnitude of the pre-Easter holiday.
“[Good Friday] reminds us that reconciliation is the act of restoring what was broken or lost, and that only God can bring peace and justice in the midst of chaos and corruption,” Eaton said.
The overall message was one of forgiveness and restoration through the Gospel, with a heavy emphasis on Jesus’ death. Eaton went on to explain that in order to give or receive forgiveness, sacrifice is crucial. While there is good news of resurrection on Easter, Eaton noted the solemnity of Good Friday.
“Good Friday asks us to take a hard look into darkness,” Eaton said.
Following Eaton’s message, three Lipscomb students read the story of Jesus’ betrayal and death from the Gospel of Luke. In response, the Gathering sang, “O Sacred Head,” a hymn originally written in the Middle Ages about the sacrifice God made in sending Jesus to Earth to die to reconcile humanity after sin.
Dr. Ken Durham took to the stage, and his message focused specifically on God’s power over death.
“Death makes a pretty convincing case,” he said. “It has a pretty impressive finality about it.”
Durham recalled recent events of violence that took place in the country, the school shooting in Parkland being the most recent.
“Now is when we are forced to look death in the face whether we want to or not,” Durham said. “And who does?”
He went on to explain that though death is a reality humanity must confront, Jesus has the last reality on when “it is finished.” For that reason, he saidd that Christians must observe and respect the day for what it is but live in anxious hope for Easter to follow.
Nicole Eaton, another on Lipscomb’s campus ministry team, followed Durham. Eaton referenced the story of reconciliation in Tuesday’s Gathering.
“Their story sits in the shadow of the ultimate reconciliation story,” she said.
She also referenced her husband’s call to forgiveness through sacrifice by saying that the disciples gave up everything to follow Jesus, and they were crushed to see him hanging on a cross and later sealed in a tomb. She reiterated a hope she said humanity has through His resurrection, but she mostly focused on the chaos the disciples felt through his death, saying that many can relate.
“We know that He is risen, and we see His promises, but we see the weight of the dark world. We long for love to finally win out over hatred. Friday is hard and dark and painful, but Sunday is coming. The kingdom is coming.”