Good Friday’s coming up of course and I guess a lot of people will be remembering it’s ten years since the Good Friday Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland. And of course, for Christians Good Friday is supposed to be about peace agreements you might say, that’s why it means what it does to Christians. The stories Christians tell is about how the death of Jesus brought about peace between God and us ”“ because it shows we don’t have to be frightened of a god who can forgive the very worst we can do to him and to each other. And so it makes possible a new level of peace between human beings too. And that’s Something that took a good while for people in Northern Ireland who thought they were Christians to discover ”“ but they did at last.
It’s one way in which the original Good Friday story has actually come alive in our own time. When I think about what happened on the first Good Friday, I think about events that have brought it to life for me and others in my lifetime. Not only in Northern Ireland, but other places too.