10:30am and I am thinking about the church I attend and those going to the Good Friday service - I am also remembering when I ventured into a Good Friday service two years ago and found the home I had been looking for.

This year I am working and on call in the hospital. 10:30am and I am called down to RESUS - to Mary, who is suffering. There is another Mary who is suffering at the foot of the cross today.

More so, the suffering of Jesus on the cross is beyond words, he died for us so that we can know the love, joy and peace that is beyond our understanding in eternity. Where pain and crying and tears shall be no more. We journey forwards in hope and faith. This is not a straight forward journey. But we are met in our struggles.

We read some Psalms together and I ask her what her favourite hymn is (the Chaplain with the music strikes again!) She mentions a hymn which has the words the “still small voice” luckily I can quickly track this down to the final line in “Lord and Father of Mankind” which was what she wanted to hear. The music breaks through the noise of all the beeping machines and anxiety and brings a moment of calm in the suffering. She looks at me directly in the eyes for a long time - I trust that something unspoken is speaking clearly to her. I put my hand on her shoulder and say nothing but silent prayers - she responds with reassurance. “Yes”

I underestimated the power of some of the prayers and lyrics in the hymns on Good Friday, it really brings our onward journey home.

Mary held a cross in one hand and a stone with love on it in the other.

“Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living”

We both said the Lord's Prayer together and looked to the days ahead - where Jesus is risen and we have hope in eternal life. Although the truth of Jesus dying on the cross and rising again is almost lived out on a daily basis - we are looking for hope, falling down, wandering off, feeling lost, then coming home to the truth that we are held in that love for all eternity. Jesus is with us always, “the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom then shall I fear?”

Those words Mary wanted to hear fall right at the end of that hymn “O still small voice of calm”. The calm in the storm, whispering that we are sustained and held in love.

What always speaks to me powerfully in this Easter journey are the words from Gethsemane on Maundy Thursday “not my will but your will be done” the words of this hymn also reflect this in service “the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word rise up and follow thee.” We have all been called to listen for the still small voice and “the silence of eternity, interpreted by love”. However, taking up your cross is not a walk in the park.

I pray for all who live every day as Good Friday - suffering and in pain, mentally, physically and spiritually. Those who do not know Jesus and are desperate to find him. I hope they can walk into the arms of the risen Jesus, into love and hope, so that their lives become more like living Easter Sunday each day, held and supported.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
re-clothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
beside the Syrian sea,
the gracious calling of the Lord,
let us, like them, without a word
rise up and follow thee.

O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love!

Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still small voice of calm.