That was not the case last year, where the Good Friday Service was hosted by my congregation.
I thought I would post what happened last year just in case it is off use to others. I would love to say that what you will see is all my own work. However I am grateful for the creativity of others, and so much of the framework and words are borrowed from something in Seasons of the Spirit from a while ago, along with readings from from other writers. In the text there is credit given. Every so often there is an original thought from me.
Before the service begins an empty cross is carried to and displayed at the front of the church
Greeting
We gather again on this Good Fridayat the foot of the cross
which call us on, not in shame or fear,but ever more deeply
into the costly journey towards life.
There is wounding and there is weeping.
In Jesus Christ, God is not separated from that.
Opening Sentence
One: In the shadow of our suffering
ALL: IS THE SUFFERING OF JESUS.
One: In the shadow of our weakness
ALL: IS THE VULNERABILITY OF THE CHRIST.
One: In the shadow of our pain
ALL: IS THE GOD WHO CRIED OUT.
One: We are never rejected,
ALL: WE ARE NEVER LEFT ALONE.
Hymn 380 “There is a green hill far away”
Prayer
Holy God,
On this dark day
we walk with you into the darkest places of our world,
and our lives.
Bearing your cross
you lead us to discover that even in the darkest places
your love is ever present
that the place of pain
might be transformed to a place of sharing that pain
and in leading us to carry pain and sorrow in life
we discover the healing found within pain and sorrow.
So on this day,
we see the betrayal of friendship and its consequences.
On this day we remember that your enemies appear to have the upper hand.
On this day we remember that all your prophecies about the end were justified.
On this day we see how unreliable your followers proved to be in a real crisis.
On this day we appeared to see the death of God.
As we gather at the foot of the cross,
may we know your presence,
as we reflect upon this day
and the effect it has on our lives.
Enable us to remember
that the passage of events is not some distant history,
but an experience of the religious bigotry, cruelty and unreliability
that continue in our world today.
Grasping at your suffering
may we meet your willingness to walk on the boundaries of what is comfortable
that we might learn the lengths and depths of God’s love.
AMEN.
THE BETRAYALS
Scripture Reading: John 18: 1- 11
Four people gather at the foot of the cross carrying stones.
Reader :
Betrayals lie like stone of death within us,
weighing down our lives with guilt or pain.
We place these stones of betrayal
and lay them at the foot of the cross.
Two stones are placed at the foot of the cross
Scripture Reading : John 18: 15 – 18, 25 – 27
Reader :
Humankind has not changed.
We still give power to those who use it to oppress and destroy.
We still fail to challenge those who allow the good to die.
Pause with silence
We place these fatal stumbling blocks to love,
those which lie in our own lives
and in the life of the world,
at the foot of the cross.
Two more stones are placed at the foot of the cross.
Prayer
God in Christ,
you travel with us towards the most wounded places in our souls.
You know the agony of pain, guilt, and hurt deep within us
as we face the fact that we have betrayed others
or been betrayed ourselves.
AMEN.
Hymn 395 “What wondrous love is this”
THE QUESTIONING
Scripture Reading: John 18: 28 – 40
While reading is being read, there is the sound of paper being ripped.
Reader: “What is truth?”
Now, there’s a question! What is truth? And truth was standing right there in front of him! Had he not said, “I am the way, the truth and the life!” Yet what was a king doing “bearing witness to the truth?” What sort of kingdom could he have?
Hymn 537 “We do not hope to ease our minds”
THE CRUCIFIXION
Scripture Reading: John 19: 17 – 30
While reading is being read, somewhere nails are being hammered into a piece of wood
Prayer :
Lord Jesus Christ,
wounded and crushed;
You gave your life that we might live.
Condemned Christ,
hanging in agony,
sharing the death of criminals,
we pray for those who wait:
those who wait in pain,
those who wait in anger,
those who wait in sorrow,
those who wait without hope.
We pray for ourselves,
wanting an end to pain, anger and sorrow;
aching for a new hope.
May your lingering Spirit
be the source of our life
as we witness to you
sharing pain, anger, sorrow and hope
however we can.
AMEN
(Janet Lees taken from “let justice roll down”)
Hymn 385 “Here hangs a man discarded”
During this hymn a white cloth is laid on the floor to the front of the Apse.
THE CHERISHING
Scripture Reading: John 19: 38
The cross is laid on the cloth.
Scripture Reading: John 19: 39 – 42
Reading : “Myrrh – A Reflection” from “Let justice roll”
Three Kings came
Cradled the Babe in bejewelled arms,
Gave of their gifts and left a different path,
I wonder at their gifts as I
Cradle the Babe in homespun arms.
Gold is a useful gift.
The Babe likes the glitter and clink of it
And we are glad of the security it offers;
As we walk a different path to a new land.
I cradle the Babe in my lap
And wonder at God’s mercy on it.
Frankincense – what to make of that then
Sweet smell and curled smoke rising.
A fitting sacrifice for God’s Son in Jerusalem’s Temple.
‘A sword shall pierce my heart!’
I wonder at those two old dears and their words surprising.
Myrrh – myrrh causes my heart to tremble
As I cradle the Babe against my breast.
Myrrh betokens all the world’s pain and all the world’s loss
Anointing the dead – ah let me hold Him yet awhile –
Sweet, sweet child, grow not away too fast.
Abba, heavenly Father, let me know what is best.
Myrrh anoints all the world’s pain and all the world’s loss.
‘Blessed are they who mourn for they shall be comforted!’
‘Talithi cumi – give her something to eat.’
‘If you want you can cure me.’ ‘Of course I want to be cured.’
‘Do not cry. Young man, I say to you get up.’
As salve takes the sting from the pain
Abba’s son and mine restore them to life again?
I wonder at this gift of myrrh
As I watch his body on the gibbet racked (wracked?)
My heart pierced by the pain he bears,
His head upon my breast and he, inert upon my lap.
Once more I embrace my son and wonder what we lacked
That Abba allowed it thus.
I wonder at this gift of myrrh
As I walk with the women to the tomb
How his body we need to anoint – the last comfort give.
And as I grasp the myrrh’s portent; believe: in entering the pain
Break the barriers to find him living again.
Oh Abba, loving Father, Amen, Amen.
Anne Hine
Fragrant anointing
Reader :
We remember the death of our innocent selves.
We remember the death of innocent fragile things in the person of Jesus Christ
for all eternity, no matter what that may cost.
Let us cherish this Body, as did the first disciples.
Let us reverently touch the place in which our pain now lies
and cover it with fragrant flowers and herbs.
People place petals and herbs from some bowls over and around the cross, and return to their seats
Cloth is folded over the cross to cover like a shroud.
(Before worship on Easter morning the shroud is pulled back and the cross removed leaving the cross mark in the petals.)
Reader:
It is time to leave this place.
Jesus said “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.”
In faith, we also commend ourselves into the hands of a loving God.
After we receive a blessing,
let us sing and then quietly leave this place together.
Sending forth
Go in peace, embraced in the love of Christ.
Walk deeply into your own lives, with all their frailties.
Discover, as you do that in spirit and in truth,
that you are walking towards the joy of Easter Day.
Hymn 378 “Praise to the Holiest in the height”
