Song of the Day - 18th April
Today is Good Friday - the day when Christians globally remember the crucifixion of Christ on the cross. Members of many Christian denominations observe Good Friday with fasting and church services. In many Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist churches, the Service of the Great Three Hours' Agony is held from noon until 3 p.m.—the hours the Bible records darkness covering the land until Jesus' death on the cross. The term Good Friday comes from the sense 'pious, holy' of the word good. Less common examples of expressions based on this obsolete sense of good include 'the good book" for the Bible, 'good tide' for Christmas or Shrovetide, and Good Wednesday for the Wednesday in Holy Week. The poem I have set to commemorate this solemn day is "Good Friday" by Christina Rossetti. In it, the narrator is struggling with a crisis of faith, that they can contemplate the crucifixion of Christ, His suffering and sacrifice without being moved, as ot...