Imagine how much trouble the disciples thought the church was in on the original Good Friday, which wasn't good by any means at that point. It was an awful Friday. A dark Friday. A forlorn Friday fraught with existential despair.
Some today are worried about the Christian church, too, as worldly fears and political discord loom heavy in the minds of its membership. But both history and God offer comfort and assurance. More often than not, today's worries tend toward denominationalism--and denominations will wax and wane as they always have, being denominated by flawed humans.
Even for the entire body of believers, the times still feel troubling. But haven't troubled times been a part of the Christian church from the very start?
For today's American Christians, what period of time do we want to compare with?
Churches in the founding era, in which hollow promises of liberty were made with slaves in all of the original 13 states, and no Black or women's suffrage in any?
Churches in Civil War times, in which elders and deacons in sister congregations were pitted against each other in mortal combat over slavery and disunion?
Churches during Reconstruction, in which hypocrisy reigned as racist northern states embraced legally sanctioned segregation while enforcing political integration on the subjugated South?
Or pick any era of the 20th century, when church congregations were often split over Prohibition, New Deal socialism, anti-Asian World War II propaganda and policies, separate but equal schools, and Black civil rights.
All were troubled times for the church and believers. Jesus explicitly guaranteed as much for his followers: "In this world, you will have trouble."
And we do in America, on several sides.
Rancor rates distastefully high just now; lawful respect for life and liberty is at low tide; kids are more technologically exploited but less educated; voters are uninformed about history and disinformed about political campaigns; economic inequality is worsening; partisan zeal has divided the citizenry, often bitterly.
And yet, in many crucial ways, our domestic troubles are less than those of the past. They are mostly (excepting crime, which is a big exception) of the First World variety, but get magnified to distressing distortion by modern communications technologies.
Never before in history have "breaking news" mountains been made so prolifically from misinformation molehills. The advent of social media and pocket screen-devices has led to a continuum of constant agitation. In turn, feelings and facts become conflated, confused and discombobulated. Instead of the prudent perspective of seeking to know what we don't know, we stubbornly proceed to not know things while fervently thinking we do.
For the Christian church, the answer to troubled times originates not from change without, but within.
Every believer is required to examine the plank in their own eye before calling out the speck in someone else's. Grace and the Golden Rule are immutable commandments; the fruits of the spirit are rules of conduct. Lamenting loudly and discouragingly falls woefully short of all those standards--especially when the complaint fodder is so relatively reduced.
Our nation no longer outlaws voting by race or sex, or forces racial segregation in schools. Our laws are much more in line with our charter documents' promises. Our poor are safeguarded by global comparisons, with government safety net programs in place and countless church- and volunteer-based relief funds and organizations as well.
Despite our human shortcomings, faith-based hospitals have healed millions, faith-based universities have taught and trained millions, and church missions have aided millions.
It's Good Friday today in spite of our flawed species, in spite of any denominational infighting. The church is never the building or the clergy; it's the people, joined in the spirit, pledged as believers.
Our constitutional republic is likewise uniquely built on "we the people." It's not the Capitol, or the White House, or those in Washington, D.C.; it's the citizens in the states, united in a nation of laws, and pledged to practicing responsible self-government.
It's natural to worry in troubled times. Finding peace has resulted from supernatural faith for untold generations, by remembering our human inability to see and understand. God's ways are indeed higher than ours.
If we want to change anything--society, politics, the church, the world--we start by changing ourselves. That's how a tiny band of believers, back in circa 30 AD after a Friday they thought had destroyed their church, set about transforming the world.
No thinking social or political or military expert at the time would have given them a chance. Neither would most of today's naysayers. Who today, among those who fear that the church is in trouble now--with more than two billion members worldwide and a two-millennia legacy as one of the leading religions--would not have been ready to count the church out when Roman soldiers executed its namesake leader?
Believers must always take the long view with faith. Humans are bound by time and innate worldly traits. God is bound by neither, and his church needs no saviors from earthlings. It has faced and survived far greater challenges than polarized Trump Republicans and Biden Democrats.
That's the good news on Good Friday in election year 2024.
Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.