Order of Service for Good Friday:

SCRIPTURE READINGS:
Isaiah 52: 13 – 53: 12 & John 13: 33 – 38

CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Blessed be the name of the Lord our God,
All: who redeems us from sin and death.
One: For us, and for the salvation of all,
Christ became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
All: Blessed be the name of the Lord our God!

HYMN # 494 Those Hearts That We Have Treasured

PRAYER:
Good Friday God:
Look graciously, we pray, on us your people
for whom your Beloved Jesus, was willing to be betrayed,
to be laid open to the powers of this world,
to suffer death on a cross.
Grant us your presence on this day of his passion,
that we might be with him, through death to resurrection.
We pray in the name of our crucified Savior. Amen

SCRIPTURE READING: John 18: 1 – 14

CHOIR ANTHEM: All in the April Evening

SCRIPTURE READING: John 18: 15 – 27

HYMN # 132 Bitter Was the Night

SCRIPTURE READING: John 18: 28 – 19: 16a

READING: “It Was on the Friday”
It was on the Friday
that they ended it all.

Of course
they didn't do it one by one.
They weren't brave enough.
All the stones at the one time
or no stones thrown at all.

They did it in crowds ...
in crowds where you can feel safe
and lose yourself
and shout things
you would never shout on your own,
and do things
you would never do
if you felt the camera was watching you.

It was a crowd in the church that did it,
and a crowd in the civil service that did it,
and a crowd in the street that did it,
and a crowd on the hill that did it.

And he said nothing ...

He took the insults,
the bruises,
the spit on his face,
the thongs on his back,
the curses in his ears.
He took the sight of his friends turning away,
running away.

And he said nothing ...

He let them do their worst,
until their worst was done,
as on Friday they ended it all ...
and would have finished themselves
had he not cried,
"Father, forgive them ..."

And there began the revolution ...

SCRIPTURE READING: John 19: 16 – 24

READING: “Savior of the World”
Savior of the world,
what have you done to deserve this?
And what have we done to deserve YOU?

Strung up between criminals,
cursed and spat upon,
you wait for death,
and look for us,
for us, whose sin has crucified you.

To the mystery of undeserving suffering,
you bring the deeper mystery of unmerited love.

Forgive us for not knowing what we have done;
open our eyes to what we are doing now,
as, though wood and nails,
you disempower our depravity
and transform us by your Grace. Amen.

HYMN # 152 There is a Green Hill Far Away

SCRIPTURE READING:
John 19: 25 – 30 & Psalm 22 (Part One) (VU pg 744)

CHOIR ANTHEM: Were We There
(Quartet: Lorrie Laming, Marion McNabb, Barry McNabb, Sam Stewart)

LITURGY: Seven Words From the Cross
All: Father, forgive them.
They do not know
what they are doing.
(pause)
One: Before you die, Jesus Christ,
and the world goes into deep darkness, take from our lives,
from our souls,
from our consciences
all that has offended you, all that has hurt others,
and the intransigence which has made us numb to the plight
of those whom we could help or heal.
Lamb of God,
All: you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
One: Lamb of God,
All: you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
One: Lamb of God,
All: you take away the sin of the world, grant us your peace.
One: On this day, at this time, irrespective of our faith or lack of it,
we accept deeply in our hearts the only words that can set us free:
your sins are forgiven,
your sins are forgiven. Amen.
All: Today you will be with me in paradise.
(pause)
One: Lord Jesus, remember us when you come into your kingdom.
Remember us,
not for our impressive accomplishments,
not for the things which we hope will appear in our obituaries.
Remember us,
not for the virtues we occasionally display
or for any credit we think we have in our moral account.
Remember us,
as one of the criminal community who hung at your side,
and if life will not let us be in paradise with you today,
keep a place for us tomorrow. Amen.
All: Mother, there is your son …
(pause)
One: For our families,
where they are open, loving, supportive,
that their joy might be kept safe,
Lord, hear us,
All: Lord, graciously hear us.
One: For our families,
where they are tense, troubled, fragmented,
seething with suspicion, that they may find a way through pain,
not a path away from it.
Lord, hear us,
All: Lord, graciously hear us.
One: For our churches,
where they risk welcoming the stranger,
where, in language, hospitality, evangelism and service,
they employ the imagination rather than the rule book,
that they might be encouraged and surprised by joy,
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord, graciously hear us.
One: For our churches,
where they have become introverted, suspicious of the stranger, obsessed with dead rather than living stones,
suffocated by tradition,
that they might be redeemed from the pawnshop of past glory
and renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit,
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord, graciously hear us.
One: For ourselves,
In this place of worship,
surrounded by people whose journey we have not traveled,
whose depth of faith we do not know,
whose potentials we cannot imagine,
that we might somehow know we belong to each other,
Lord, hear us.
All: Lord, graciously hear us.
One: And before you leave the cross and we vacate this building,
if there is one of your family for whom we should care more fondly, direct our gaze to them, as you turned Mary towards John. Amen.
All: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
(pause)
One: Lord Jesus,
by your cry of desperate honesty,
rid us of superficial faith which is afraid of the dark.
Not so that we might be justified pessimists,
but so that we might discover profound joy,
give us, when we need it, the courage to doubt,
to rage,
to question,
to rail against heaven until we know we are heard.
We do not ask for easy answers to hard times;
there are many who can offer these.
We ask for a sense of your solidarity,
that will be enough to let us know that we do not walk or cry alone; that will enable us to go through the dark
and find light again in the morning. Amen.
All: I am thirsty.
(pause)
One: You have made us for yourself.
We know it, even if we cannot name it.
We have had these bodies and these minds
long enough to learn to live with our limitations.
Yet despite this,
something is us longs, yearns, thirsts
for something better,
something greater which we know is there.
Beautiful music ends
and we wish it could continue.
We embrace,
then refrain from embracing
and wish that we could be held forever.
We think deeply or feel deeply
and wish that this sense
of being caught up in living
would not be interrupted
by the mundane things of life.
We sense the disappointment in dashed hopes
that deserve to be fulfilled,
in missed opportunities
which should have led to joy not frustration,
in people whose potential
has been buried or denied and deserves to flourish.
So much of life demands a resolution.
So thank you for this incompleteness,
thank you for this yearning,
thank you for this thirst.
Thank you for giving us enough of you to want more,
and so to sense the fullness of eternity
within the limits of time. Amen.
All: It is finished.
(pause)
One: Now, Lord Jesus,
you can let go of us.
You have convinced us of our sin
and you have forgiven it.
You have convinced us of your way
and have engaged us on it.
You have shown us a foretaste of heaven
and have made us members of its commonwealth.
You can let go of us now.
Having overcome the sin of the world,
death will be a small obstacle.
Just as you foretold
that you would be handed over to be crucified
and this has come true;
also as you foretold,
on the third day, you will rise again.
And we will be your witnesses. Amen.
All: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
(pause)
One: Go, silent friend,
your life has found its ending.
To dust returns your weary mortal frame.
God, who before birth,
called you into being,
now calls you back, his accent still the same.
Lord Jesus, we let you go.
You cannot cling to life forever,
nor can we cling to a dying frame,
nor do we begrudge you
that peace which passes understanding
which you have promised us.
So go to heaven,
where you will welcome those who die in your faith,
whose death, with your death, we remember.
Tell them that we love them,
that we miss them,
that they are not forgotten.
And cheered by the prospect of a day
when there will be no more death or parting,
and all shall be well and all shall be one,
may they who have died before us be among the first
to welcome us to heaven where with you enthroned in glory,
and in the company of the blessed virgin Mary
and all the saints,
we will share the everlasting feast of your family.
‘Til then, keep us in faith,
fill us with hope,
deepen us through love,
to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

HYMN # 436 (vs 1,2,3,4) Abide With Me

READING: “They Went Out and Followed…”
They went out and followed him,
those who had sat with him at the table.
He led them to a garden
where he prayed while they slept,
prayed while they slept,
prayed while they slept.

He was kissed,
and because he was kissed he was arrested,
and when he was arrested, his freinds fled,
some to go into hiding,
one to stand beside a bonfire
and say I never knew him,
I never knew him,
I never knew him ... until a cock crowed.

He was brought before the religious authorities
and accused of the sin of blasphemy
and of thretening insurrection.
Having no power to deal with him,
they handed him over to the state governor,
who listened to the accustations,
then asked the accused:
what have you to say?
what have you to say?
what have you to say?
... to which the response was silence ... utter silence ...

He had said it all.

He was not found to be guilty of any criminal charges,
but because he was an embarassment it was decided
that his own people should determine his fate.
This they did by shouting,
crucify him!!
crucify him !!!
crucifiy him !!!!

He was cursed and spat on,
whipped and humiliated,
and on his shoulders a gift was placed,
whcih he accepted with grace.
Under the weight of this gift,
he stumbled and fell
stumbled and fell,
stumbled and fell ...
all the way to Calvary.

On top of a garbage dump,
he was nailed to a cross of wood,
and left to die,
while soldiers gambled,
critics joked,
religous leaders smiled with satisfaction
and his mother watched and waited,
watched and waited,
watched and waited ...
until in the end she saw a sing of the beginning ...

PRAYER:
One: So there it is,
the ugly shape of beautiful wood,
rough hewn by human hands.
All: Lord, where are you now?
One: And there it is,
a tight-shut tomb,
a borrowed grave,
sealed with stone and silence.
All: Lord, where are you now?
One: And there it is,
your broken body,
shrouded in linen,
clothed in darkness.
All: Lord, where are you now?
One: And somewhere stand your people,
crying though tired of crying,
their eyes sore and bloodshot.
They will not sleep tonight.
All: Lord, where are you now?
One: And out in the streets,
the children have stopped their playing,
the sound of music has gone sour,
even the unlikely people fidget and wonder.
All: Lord, where are you now?
One: And here are we,
saying “If only,”
murmuring, “Surely not,”
counting the cost for once of our carelessness
and our lovelessness and our sin.
All: Lord, where are you now?
One: Trying so vainly to gain all,
we’ve bartered you away in the transaction.
We have lost the one who found us.
With the Peters and Marys of all time, we wait,
for only you can tell whether we are worth rising for.
All: Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING: John 19: 31 – 42

HYMN # 182 Stay with Us through the Night

READING: “It was a Saturday…”
It was on a Saturday
that he was not there.

Those who don't like corpses
can't stay away from graveyards,
unless there's some prohibition to stop them
revisiting the dead end
of their hopes and their dreams.

It's as if they think
that should the voice speak again,
it will speak there
or a sunbeam will dance
or a floor will shoot
and give a sign of misinterpreted life.

But close the cemetery,
or confine, through custom or constraint,
the wailing ones to the house
and it looms larger ...
the loss,
the lostness,
the losers ...

Men shiver in an upstairs room,
warm though the day is.
Women weep in an uncharmed circle.

Memory is forced on memory.
The mind's eye tries to trace
the profile, the face,
the smile,
the gentle twitching of the nose ...
and it fails ...
And panic sets in,
because it seems he can't be remembered ...
Was he ever known???

It was on a Saturday
that he was not there ...

HYMN # 182 Stay with Us through the Night

COMMENDATION:
The shadows shift and fly ...
the ... whole ... long ... day ...
the air trembles,
thick with silence,
until finally,
the footsteps are heard,
and the noise
of the voice of God
is upon us ...

The Holy One
is not afraid
to walk
on unholy ground.

The Holy Work is done,
and the world awaits
the dawn of life ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the darkness, we await the dawn…