Here, in this famous Christian poem, the origins, and authorship which are in dispute, speak of the presence of Christ in our life when we feel abandoned and alone. When we think that God is not there, the reality is ever-present in our lives. He is working out the best for us so that in the end, our life may glorify Him. Humanly speaking, if you think the Hand of God is not present in your life, look again, and you will see that he is indeed present, but in a way that our human eyes cannot understand or perceive.

If we listen closely to the hymns of the Holy Friday service, we will hear a lot of emphasis on how the Jews killed Jesus. In fact, in my opinion, it personifies them as guilty of the crime. Indeed, they are guilty; but so are the Romans, and so are all of us.

Although the Qurbana is not a chronological order of the events of Jesus Christ, it does in some way highlight His birth, the institution of the Eucharist, and close to the end of the service when the Priest presents the Holy Mysteries to the congregation, the second coming. The Priest, before turning around toward the congregation says, “From thy Altar, may there descend pardon for they servants of Son of God, who came for our redemption, and who will come again for our resurrection and for the renewal of our race.” Here, close to the end of Qurbana, people are left with a sense that Jesus is coming again. That is, Christ is coming back to judge the world and to bring his believers to His kingdom. It leaves us with a sense of hope that we will see Jesus and reign with him forever. It also gives us a sense of relief that this world is not the end of our existence; there is more, and what lies ahead is better than what is here in the present.