Good Friday.
Tenebrae.
Encroaching darkness,
stillness.

We gather to acknowledge loss–
the loss of Christ on the cross,
that great loss that echoes, honors, confirms our own.
Tonight wraps us in loss.
Tonight we wear the cloak of loss.
Tonight darkness sweeps the earth
    without the promise of dawn–
final, ultimate night.

Tonight, all the year's sadness and disappointment
find voice,
find home,
find rest.

Whatever you grieve, your tears are welcome here.
Whatever dreams have slipped from your fingers,
now is the moment to weep.
It is permitted–no, it is more than this–
it is the moment when your tears mingle, drip with God's,
watering the night…

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.