Good Friday. First disclaimer. This is not my art work. It was created by my niece, Diane. She was born with Down's Syndrome. She loves art. And although her communication skills are limited, she is expressive with color and seems to intuitively understand the relationships between colors. I find it fascinating. But her art and her persona came to mind as I read scripture for Good Friday, from the prophet Isaiah: "Surely he has born our infirmities and carried our diseases, yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted." (52:13) I was caught by the invisibility and the shunning of those who appear different. We grievously and mistakenly conclude that somehow they are less than we are. Their condition is someone's fault or a punishment from God. How wrong we are. The core of the salvation story of Holy Week is about a man who willingly suffered punishment and death because of a sinful, unjust political and religious structure. And through that death came life for the invisible and the afflicted and the suffering. And rather than being ignored, dismissed, overlooked, abandoned, we all are gathered into one embraced community with a diversity of color and gifts.