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Dear People of St. Paul's,
Planning a lesson for the all-school chapel at St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School can be tricky. One of the biggest challenges is trying to teach something that speaks to both toddlers and middle schoolers. Sometimes, in an effort to reach everyone, the lesson ends up overly complicated.
As is our practice at the day school, we held our all-school chapel this week. Even though it was a shorter week for the students and a busy one for the clergy, we still made time to gather and commemorate Holy Week. This year, I decided to keep things simple. I read a short poem about Holy Week that I had found while sorting through some old Sunday School curriculum. For Good Friday, the poem reads:
“On Friday of Holy Week,
Jesus Christ was crucified.
The Son of God and Son of Man
Hung on a cross and died.”
After chapel, one of the teachers commented that the poem almost made them cry—that it was a meaningful way to remember the importance of this week. At first, I was surprised that a simple children’s poem could move someone to tears. There was no deep theological reflection or profound insight. The poem just told a simple story in simple words.
And then it dawned on me: the power of the message is in its simplicity.
Too often, we overcomplicate Christ’s sacrifice and lose sight of its true meaning. We get so tangled up in secondary doctrines of atonement, trying to explain exactly how salvation occurred, that we forget the core truth—Jesus died for us because God loves us.
Today, let us rest in the goodness of Good Friday. The goodness of this day—and the reason for all of Holy Week—can be boiled down to one simple truth: love.
The Apostle Paul said it best in his letter to the Romans:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Amen.
Mtr. Brittany
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