the memory of Your abundant goodness

A lost one posed a question many would concede already has an answer -- and not only an answer, but a decidedly clear alternate for differing opinions. "What is the most important holiday for a believer?"

Already know the clear majority of my kind of believer would reply without hesitation Easter. Paul states in 1Cor15 that without the resurrection, the faith is in vain and we are to be pitied. Easter brings the victory and the hope of eternity. No question that without Easter, this is not a living faith.

Already know that those who don't answer with the above would mostly take the position that Christmas is the only other legitimate answer. That on that wondrous day, the angels of Heaven sang a chorus. That on that day, the good news of God descended in the form of a present wrapped in swaddling clothes. That the ministry that ended on Calvary began in that manger.

Not underestimating the significance of either of the preceding two. But I'd like to make the argument that Good Friday will not for me be restrained to one day of solemnity. If the love of Christ is the difference-maker, if the love of God is the central force behind both Christmas and Easter, if as Jesus says, the whole of the Law rests in love (of God and of neighbor), if all of these things are true, then Good Friday, the day He loved us most, the day THE atoning sacrifice was made, the day His actions spoke louder than His words, the day when the plan of God culminated on a cross on a Hill, the day our slates were wiped clean by the blood of the Lamb of God, then that day, my friend, that day holds second place to no other.