Good Friday

Today in the service I sang with the choir and the readings for the day were broken up between myself, the pastor and the other teaching parish student. I dont consider myself a traditionalist in any regard however it seemed really weird not to sing "Were you there" or "Beneath the Cross of Jesus" for a Good Friday service. I realize that those hymns just scream good friday to me. So I came home and found those hymns in my ELW and felt the need to sing them.

However in the context of good friday I cant help but think of my own reaction to group behavior. If a group tends to not go in a direction that I am entirely pleased with, I strive for understanding. Maybe if the group seems receptive to it, I would offer critique. But if the group doesnt, I just back off. There are a lot of compromises that occur in the context of being with a group of people. Maybe thats why I sometimes prefer to do my own thing. But when I am in a group of people, I make sure that I dont say or do anything that would compromise the direction the majority of the group would be heading. Like I said I offer critique if it seems to be wanted. And some personalities are easier to do that around than others. And sometimes even if I dont agree with the sentiment the rest of the group has, I realize that the mood of the group is quite contagious. So if I am initially reflective but the rest of the group is in a joking mode, the joking mood wears off on me. If I dont like something but the rest of the group does, I will think of the reasons why I should be more positive. I think of my behavior in the context of a group on a good friday because I dont think I would have initially wanted Jesus to be crucified. However I think that it only takes a few people to think he would have been crucified and I would have been likely to get sucked into that mood, contributing to the death of Jesus.