Easter is a time when music plays an important role in gospel presentation. Choral societies everywhere are performing ‘passions’ and other crucifixion-centred oratorios.
Most of us will still be getting music ready for the Easter weekend in our churches too. The ability of music to stir our hearts to reflect on the Easter events can be very powerful indeed.
The common pattern in many of our meetings is to be mournful on Good Friday, and then joyful on Easter Sunday. I wonder whether this is a right pattern. None of the gospel writers encourages a spirit of mourning over the action of Jesus on the cross. The only mourning and grief that is encouraged is over our sin — ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children’ (Luke 23.28, ESV).
