2020 = A Long Friday The 13th

Chrystal Lake. Jason Voorhees. Camp Counselors who need a healthy dose of wisdom (if not acting). If you grew up as a slasher movie lover in the ’80s and looked at the calendar today, you’d make a connection.

Friday the 13th — not just a bad horror movie, but a date on the calendar that is considered the most unlucky day in human history. It is a day when many play tricks on others, pretend to be afraid, and celebrate it as a sub-Halloween.  

I’ve often pondered the genesis of this day. So here it is from Wikipedia – a reliable source of all internet information. jk

The irrational fear of the number 13 has been given a scientific name: “triskaidekaphobia”; and on analogy to this, the fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskevidekatriaphobia, from the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή, meaning “Friday”), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς, meaning “thirteen”).

According to folklore historian Donald Dossey, the unlucky nature of the number “13” originated with a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party in Valhalla. The trickster god Loki, who was not invited, arrived as the 13th guest and arranged for Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Dossey: “Balder died, and the whole Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned. It was a bad, unlucky day.” This major event in Norse mythology caused the number 13 to be considered unlucky.

Reading that, it feels like 2020 is merely a long “bad, unlucky” Friday the 13th. We hoped a great beginning to the decade back in January has turned out to be a nail-biter. I won’t make a list of the chaos because you can do that yourself. It causes stress, anxiety, depression, and soul fatigue (click here for an upcoming webinar).

Yet we are not without hope. I adapted part of Psalm 46 to say,

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Because of that, we will not fear. Even though the Earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. Even though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Even though Covid, riots, elections, and disunity rears their ugly heads, we will not be dismayed.”

So let Jason try to pull you into the lake. He’ll fail. Let the darkness try to convince you all is lost. It cannot. Let fear attempt to capture, overwhelm, and paralyze you from living forward because ultimately, fear is drown in the safety and promises of God. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He doesn’t play tricks on you, and you can dive into this day knowing he has always been and always will be Lord over every Friday the 13th. 

Peace!