A collection of thought-provoking reflections inviting us to contemplate the events of Good Friday in new ways.

It is all-too-easy to become so wrapped up in the celebration of Easter Day that the preceding days are forgotten. The reflections are diverse, from Peter’s clumsy fear to the Seven Last Words, and are based on a series of addresses given during the two hours at the foot of the cross on Good Friday.

The Passion and death of our Lord are not only God’s business but ours too. The real paradox is that we stand in horror at the foot of the Cross while something else in us is busy hammering in the nails.

The mistake of the Reformation was, I believe, to forsake its own rhetoric and rationalise the death of Jesus instead of simply being awestruck by the degree of God’s solidarity with us in our created imperfection.

Kevin Carey

This book is a very rich and intelligent series of reflections and meditations that come from a sense of dissatisfaction with the kind of Christianity which just settles for what it can get from (Easter) Sunday morning. Carey has specially come to regret the neglect, as he sees it, of Good Friday; and this book is the fruit of years of Good Friday addresses and reflections. … [A] very fine volume of meditations for Holy Week. There is plenty of material here for the hard-pressed preacher and pastor to ponder, and lots of meat on the bone for anyone else. The Revd Peter McGeary, The Church Times