Yesterday, after Evening Prayer, we removed all the adornments from the Chapel, then we sat down for a one more meal in Egypt. It was a simple affair: lentil stew with greens, bread, olives, raisins, wine and grape juice… chocolate cake. We talked about God and faith. We laughed at each others jokes and listened to stories. We shared each other’s life.
Today, we’re looking over our shoulder as we leave that old world behind. We knew what to expect there. The food was good, the living was hard but manageable, maybe it wasn’t safe all the time but, by God, we knew where we stood. Today, we’re following behind the One promised by God who will set us free but can we trust this One? We’ve been lead out of our homes and our lives into a trackless waste. We look behind us, and the task-masters from our old are coming up from behind, threatening to drag us back. We look ahead and all we can see is the great and wide sea. We feel trapped. And this One sent by God is telling us it’s time to cross.
We stand on the sea’s shore, uncertain about the future that lies a head of us. The One says, “Follow me.” But through the sea? The sea of heartache and disaster? The sea of rejection and betrayal? The sea of death?
Because we know the end of the whole story, it’s easy to call today Good Friday. But we don’t know the end of today, and Jesus calls us to pick up our cross daily and follow him. What will following Jesus mean today of all days? What would it mean for us, our Church, our world to trust him as we walk through that Sea? Do we trust that there will be dry ground? Do we trust that God will set a table in the wilderness? Do we trust that there really is a promised land at the far end?
Today of all days, do we trust?
St. Augustine's Chapel 