Good Friday is a very sacred day. It is the one day of the year where the altar in many churches is stripped bare, reminding us of what Jesus did for us on Good Friday almost 2,000 years ago.

The black cloak draping the cross reminds us of the darkness that beset the land that day. The dark clothes worn by clergy remind us of the solemn nature of this day as we mourn the brutal death of the One who chose to die rather than have His beloved lambs go to slaughter themselves.

It is a day to mourn. It is a day of sacrifice remembered. It is a day to be forever embraced by the reality that, on this day, when Jesus died, grace was born, and it became, for all who believe in Him the guarantee of eternal life.

Grace is the word we will forever use to define just how amazing it really is. Good Friday is the day we remember what it really means to live in grace by sacrifice.

On the day Jesus died, the word grace was defined forever. It was on that day He spoke seven sentences from the cross.

Those seven last words said everything that needed to be said about grace, but the ones that defined grace most clearly to us were the first three.

With spit landing on His body, with jeers pelting at His ability to maintain sanity, with the pain vivid on every part of His body, he rises above everything and says to those who are doing everything to degrade Him to the lowest of low, when He should have called on the legion of angels and said, “Kill them all!” He instead says, “Father forgive them.” That’s grace!

In the second word from the cross, when the thief next to him, you remember him right, he’s the one who shouted obscenities at Jesus at the beginning but who suddenly felt the presence of God in his life for the first time, realized this man on a cross next to him was the true definition of grace, He was God Himself … remember that thief – we ought to for we are him.

This crook in dire straits for everything he did all his life to deserve his fate and at the point of death, reached out from the tumult and asked for forgiveness to be given, Jesus said to him, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” That’s grace.

When Jesus saw His mother in agony and His beloved disciple there trying to comfort her, Jesus looked beyond the fact that this followers had betrayed Him by running away when Jesus needed Him most, looked beyond the fact that this man still hadn’t figured things out despite what he had seen Jesus do and heard what Jesus said, looked beyond this man’s sinfulness and instead focused on someone else in need and responded accordingly by saying, "Woman, this is your son." Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother."

Serving to the bitter end, caring to the bitter end, a shepherd to the bitter end, and committed to grace to the bitter end? That’s grace.

The truth is we can never give enough when it comes to grace … that’s why it is free and that is why it is so important for this community!

Sharing that grace for the betterment of Lucerne and beyond is imperative at a time when the neighborhood is in such need of it.

Living in grace through sacrifice. We can do that with our neighbors here and now in Lucerne!

Please join us at First Lutheran Church on Friday at noon as we remember the sacrifice of Jesus on Good Friday.

Chris DelCol is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lucerne, Calif. The church is located at 3863 Country Club Drive, telephone 707-274-5572.