Good Friday and Christians from a range of churches in this area meet to walk quietly and determindly through the main street behind one carrying a large, heavy, wooden cross. Not an easy thing to do where Christians are in the minority and where the cross risks causing offence.
Some talk of reclaiming the public space for faith in this country but can we honestly say that Christians here ever really understood this? Isn’t it more accurate to say that this is one thing we are learning from engaging with our devout Muslim neighbours – that faith is not/cannot be a private affair. The truth of the words spoken earlier in the day ring clear:
When we talk only of Good Friday as what happened between me and God we reduce it and rob it of it’s full glory. What happened on Good Friday was BIG, very big. It was far, far beyond the confines of my individual concern. Salvation, redemption and reconciliation touches all of humanity, creation, and the cosmos. A private affair? Hardly!