Tonight Friday, April 18th, 2014 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: Good Friday! Worshipping at the Good Shepherd Chapel at Concordia University Irvine
Tonight we worship in Good Shepherd Chapel at Concordia University Irvine located at 1530 Concordia, Ivine…the service begins at 7:00 pm
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Good Friday is also known as God’s Friday and it is NOT a funeral service for Jesus! Its darkness commemorates the extreme passion of our Savior who gave Himself on the cross to save us from sin and death (and it provokes the appropriate reverence and humility we ought to show for it), but underneath the quietness and darkness is a celebration of our salvation through the power of the cross of Christ.
The world doesn’t see this. All it sees represented in the crucifix is death (and perhaps a symbol of “love,” that in the end, came up short). The truth, however, is that this cross of Christ was the medium through which the Lord shed His blood to atone for the sins of the world; that cross facilitated God’s life and light to enter into the realm of death and darkness. It was as if a divine virus (this one good and holy) spread through death and in the end death was destroyed…Jesus’ death killed death. What we celebrate on Sunday will confess the fulfillment of this truth.
This is why today is GOOD Friday…God’s goodness prevailed; God’s goodness known in the conquering blood of Christ won for us the good gift of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. This is why St. Paul emphasized the message of the cross of Christ. “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1st Corinthians 2:2)
Please join us for Good Friday service this evening at 7:00 pm in the Good Shepherd Chapel at Concordia University, Irvine. Invite a friend. This is the second to last day of Lent and the single most important day of Lent…it is God’s Friday…it is your Good Friday!
In Jesus’ Love,
Pastor Espinosa