Shared by Raymond Wilson
Tony Campolo writes – One Good Friday there were seven of us preaching one after the other. When it was my turn to preach , I rolled into high gear, and I want to tell you I was good. The more I preached the more the people in that congregation got ‘turned on’, the better I got, I got better and better… I was absolutely thrilled to hear the hallelujahs and the cries of joy that broke loose throughout the place. I sat down next to my pastor [an African American] and he looked at me with a smile…
“You did all right, boy !” he said. I turned to him and asked, “Pastor, are you going to be able to top that ?” The old man smiled at me and said, “Son, you just sit back, ’cause this old man is going to do you in !”
I didn’t figure that anyone could have beaten me that day. I had been so good… But the old man got up, and, I have to admit, he did. The amazing thing was that he did it with the use of one line. For an hour and a half he preached one line over and over again. For an hour and a half he stood that crowd on its ear with just one line. That line was “It’s Friday but Sunday’s comin’ !” That statement may not blow you away but you should have heard him do it. He started his sermon real softly by saying “It was Friday; it was Friday, and my Jesus was dead on the tree. But that was Friday, and Sunday’s comin’ !”
One of the deacons yelled, “Preach, brother, preach !”
It was all the encouragement he needed. He came on louder as he said. “It was Friday and Mary was cryin’ her eyes out. The disciples were running in every direction, like sheep without a shepherd but that was Friday, and Sunday’s comin’ !”
People in the congregation were beginning to pick up the message. The women were waving their hands in the air … some of the men were yelling “Keep going ! Keep going !”
The preacher kept going. He picked up the volume still more and shouted, “It was Friday. The cynics were lookin’ at the world and sayin’ “As things have been so shall they be. You can’t change anything in this world; you can’t change anything” But those cynics didn’t know that it was only Friday. Sunday’s comin’ !”
“It was Friday ! And on Friday, those forces that oppress the poor and make the poor to suffer were in control. But that was Friday ! Sunday’s comin’ !”
“It was Friday and on Friday Pilate thought he had washed his hands of a lot of trouble. The Pharisees were struttin’ around, laughin’ and pokin’ each other in the ribs. They thought they were back in charge of things but they didn’t know it was only Friday ! Sunday’s comin’.”
He kept on working that one phrase for half an hour, then an hour, then an hour and a quarter, then an hour and a half. Over and over he came at us, “It’s Friday but Sunday’s comin’ ! It’s Friday but Sunday’s comin’ !”
By the time he came to the end of the message, I was exhausted. He had me and everyone else so worked up that I don’t think any of us could have stood it much longer.
Abridged from It’s Friday but Sunday’s comin’ by Tony Campolo. Word Books,1985