It’s Friday but Sunday’s Coming!

In a book of the above title, Tony Campolo recalls an epic sermon he heard one Good Friday.  The Sermon was framed around the lines ‘it’s Friday but Sunday’s coming!’

“It was Friday; it was Friday and my Jesus was dead on the cross. But that was Friday and Sunday’s comin’!”
“It was Friday and Mary was cryin’ her eyes out. The disciples were runnin’ in every direction, like sheep without a Shepherd, but that was Friday. Sunday’s comin’!”

And so he said the Sermon continued, building in volume and power all the time.

“ It was Friday. The cynics were lookin’ at the world and saying; you can’t change anything. But those cynics didn’t know it was Friday. Sunday’s comin’!”

Tony recorded that that the sermon reached such an excitement that when the preacher delivered the final, “It’s Friday!” the whole congregation roared back, “BUT SUNDAY’S COMIN’!”

That may or may not remind you of your church but the sentiment is universal. We’ve journeyed through Lent to Good Friday and look to the excitement of Easter Day!
 
Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again!
 
Sunday’s coming! And that Sunday hope and excitement radiates out of Easter to every day, to our whole lives, to all ages! In a cynical and hurting world it’s hope for the now and for the future!
 
My ministry is to young people and those that work with them, young people growing up in a confused generation:

“Adolescents are not monsters. They are just people trying to learn how to make it among the adults in the world, who are probably not so sure themselves” (Virginia Satir)

 Even those that know something of Christianity know far more about the “Friday” than they do about the “Sunday”, but this is the “living hope” to which 1st Peter refers. It’s this “Sunday “message that presents hope and a vision of what could be; the Kingdom breaking out on earth.

I love what Walter Brueggemann has to say in “The Prophetic Imagination”

"The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the dominant culture around us."

He points out that the prophets tended to weep BUT then present an alternative vision of the future

It’s this “Sunday” inspired view of the future we need to be communicating to young people. BUT its also this view of the future that we need young people to be part of, as the youth strategy says, we need young people to have the opportunity to be “leaders and innovators in the Church”.  We need their energy, enthusiasm, creativity and cultural understanding to be part of living and communicating that vision. Sunday’s here and Sunday’s coming!