A sunny afternoon always brings flocks of students - and preachers - to the Diag, but the Christian student groups that held the annual Good Friday rally on the Diag hoped to create a positive image of their faith while honoring the crucifixion of Jesus.
"What's good about Good Friday?" asked Jim Kushner, a Chi Alpha campus minister who spoke at the rally. "To me, it sounds like a bad joke. What is good about executing God?"
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| ADRIANA YUGOVICH/Daily Pharmacy junior Youngmee Rhee participates in a body workshop celebrating Good Friday on the Diag on Friday. |
Good Friday "talks about a God who intimately knows me," Kushner said.
Hundreds of students attended the rally, which included singing and performances by dance groups representing Christian organizations. Participants said the main goal was to have fun and to get ready to celebrate the Easter resurrection.
"The point of it is not to remember 'this is what people did to him,'" said LSA junior Bethany Crowley. "It's saying, 'Look at what Jesus did for us.'"
University alumnus Brian Duignan said the holiday has a very dry connotation and Christians might not be aware of its true meaning.
"We wanted a very positive, truthful message," Duignan said.
Participants also stressed the importance of making their faith visible on campus. Nursing senior Amy Stewart said that for a lot of young adults, Christianity is their parents' religion, meant for an older generation.
"It might just be encouraging to see people their own age," Stewart said.
By bringing together a diverse group of Christians - the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the Chinese Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Korean Campus Crusade for Christ, Good News and the Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship - the rally also emphasized the common doctrine of a diverse range of Christian denominations.
"Events like this are important to unite the Christian people," Duignan said.
While Christian churches differ in their rituals, practices and organization, "we all have the same doctrine," said LSA senior Rebecca Lee.
"In the essentials, we are unified," said RC senior Jonathan Fellows.
04-13-98
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